When the summer and winter approach many people are more comfortable in their energy efficient homes during the hot and cold seasons. It is not only the future high costs of energy that concerns many people today, but the climate change.

Borrowers must first tell their lender they want an EEM. The process of getting one starts with an energy rating, or acceptable documentation. Then the borrower decides what improvements they want and they apply for a loan.

In one mortgage, a borrower can finance cost effective energy saving measures and also stretch debt to income qualifying ratio increasing the borrowing power. The unique mortgage allows borrowers to include the costs of energy improvements into the mortgage. The value of the home is adjusted by the value of the energy efficient upgrades.

The Energy Efficient Mortgage (EEM) is typically used to buy a new home that is already energy efficient. Energy Star homes are qualified homes. Homes not rated typically require a certified n energy star rater, an independent certified residential energy professional, to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the home’s energy use to produce a home energy rating. The energy rating is a measure of the homes energy efficiency using methodology that is uniform throughout the United States. The national guidelines are referred to as HERS guidelines – the Home Energy Rating System. This comes before the financing is approved. It provides the lender with the estimated monthly energy savings and the value of the energy efficiency measures – known as Energy Savings Value.

The Energy Improvement Mortgages (EIM) was developed so homebuyers of an existing home could finance more money to make their home more energy efficient. No need for more funds for down payment, the EIM is included in the purchase mortgage for existing homes that need energy efficient improvements without increasing the down payment. The savings in utilities finance the energy improvements. EIM’s are available to homeowners wanting to refinance their energy improvements too.

EEMs are sponsored and nationally underwritten by FHA VA and Conventional secondary mortgage institutions market lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Thrift conscious consumers are applying for the EEM today; they are financing and spending more on housing expenses initially because they know they will spend less on their energy costs over time. It is the health of their families, and the future high costs of energy that concerns many people today.

Home building is an exciting process that involves a lot of planning and efforts. After all, you are going to build a home you have always dreamed of owning one day. Each individual is different when it comes to house plans and designing. This is where custom home building comes into the picture. If you are planning to build your dream home on your lot in Indianapolis, you may seek the guidance and service of professional home builders.

There are many renowned home builders in Indianapolis offering their expert services to help you convert your dream home into reality. To avail their services, you only need to own a lot in Indianapolis, as they build homes on land you own.

Before you choose a house plan or decide the floor plan for your house, it is important to prepare your lot for home building. This usually includes making provision for electricity, water supply, septic, and construction driveway. However, you need not have to worry too much. Most leading home builders in Indianapolis offer an outside work package that covers much of the work needed for lot preparation at a small additional cost. In case you do not choose to go for the package, you could still seek their help and guidance to manage things on your own.

Next important step is choosing the right floor plan on the basis of your requirements. You could choose from several flexible designs and house plans, including country house plans, cottage house plans, log home plans, ranch house plans, one story house plans, luxury home plans, small home plans, and many more. You also get plans with 3-4 bedrooms and 2-3-5 bathrooms.

The professional home builders in Indianapolis understand how important building and owning a home is for you. It is not everyday that you build your dream house. This is the reason why they customize their house plans just for you. They will not only help you in choosing the plan that best suits your building site, but also modify the plan or design one from scratch. They usually offer a variety of square footage options when it comes to space. Their onsite design experts give you the plan you want for your dream home. It is advisable to review all available floor plans thoroughly because you need to find the configuration that exactly fits your family’s lifestyle.

Several leading home builders in Indianapolis offer easy financing options to their clients. They provide different financing arrangements to make the process of securing a loan for your dream home easier for you. It may include fast and easy loan application process, same day loan approval, below market interest rates, and so on. So, lack of finance can never be a hindrance on your way to building your dream house.

Once you have chosen the floor plan and also arranged for the finance, you are in a position to sign the agreement and other contract papers. You also need to obtain all necessary permits and arrange for builder’s risk insurance. Here also, you may rely on your professional home builders in Indianapolis. Once you fill out the permit application, their representatives will follow up with the permit departments and pick up the permits for free.

With all necessary permits in your hand, you may now give a green signal to the home builders to start with the construction process.

Let’s narrow that definition down a bit by taking a look at the components. Real Estate markets usually segment into commercial, industrial, new home construction, residential resale, leasing, vacation destinations and time share. These broad categories identify specific market segments with each having a unique group of participants. Conceptually, when we talk about the real estate market in the broadest sense, it includes all of these and other uniquely identifiable business models that support and enable the process.

Parallel business models that take part in the process are: Mortgage & Financing, Title and Escrow services and a broad category of additional providers called Ancillary Services. Ancillary Services include: homeowner insurance products, flood insurance, tax certification, home owners warranty (HOW), legal services and documentation, home improvement and repair, painting, heating and air conditioning (HVAC) landscaping, appliances, property and mechanical inspection, municipal utility districts (MUDS), home owners associations, notice to the public – I’m running out of breath. You get the idea. Improved real estate is a complex animal, and there are many participants that comprise the process by which real estate is bought, sold, financed, transferred and ultimately occupied.

In looking for the “who” or “what” that exercises control of the industry; we should consider the role of government regulatory or quasi-governmental entities. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack were created to stimulate and control the flow of mortgage financing dollars and to provide stability within the mortgage industry. Oops! Ginny Mae guarantees the timely repayment to the investor on loans that it guarantees. These guarantees are provided through Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) or pools of loans that contain VA and FHA originated mortgages. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides regulatory oversight, and the Treasury provides an occasional bail out. This group of entities is introduced because they have certain powers and influence over technical, legal and procedural aspects of the industry. They do not control the “how” things are done within the process. The private sector determines “how” things are done.

Any control or “ownership” of this market then will exist within the private sector. Identifying the “who” (forgive me Dr. Seuss) can be done intuitively. The components of the broad real estate industry fit more or less into four primary areas. Let’s call them:

1. New Construction

· Commercial

· Industrial

· Single Family Residential

· Multifamily

· Pre-fabricated Structures

2. Resale

· Existing Buildings

· Existing Homes

· Other

3. Mortgage and Financing

· Construction Financing

· Mortgage Financing

· Refinancing

4. Title, Escrow and Ancillary Services

· Title Insurance Companies

· Title Insurance and Escrow Agents

· Legal and Documentation

· Recordation or Registration

· All Ancillary Services

These four categories are industries or business models within the real estate game. The major companies that operate within these categories would have insight and knowledge as to how to connect the dots and to accomplish the transaction. Each of them, in turn, exercises certain control or influence over their part of the process. There are multiple large players in each of these arenas, and they compete aggressively. There exists no such thing as an industry accepted solution that defines “how” the component business models integrate, but there should be. The level of redundancies and inefficiencies keep the process paper bound, disparate and errors are often time consuming to correct. The labor intensity of the process alone makes it more expensive and requires more management. A seamlessly integrated solution can change all that, and as a byproduct can achieve what others cannot – a commoditization of the real estate market.

The terms “transaction coordination,” “transaction facilitation,” and “transaction integration” were coined along with an effort to streamline and to integrate this process. This was an ill fated attempt to gain some level of control over the process. Working to gain an edge, each player offers partial solutions toward an industry standard. These solutions are often tied to their specific software architecture with bridges that invite their customers and agents to participate. They are not comprehensive, do not reach a large enough cross section of the market, and they do not provide an acceptable global solution.

Homebuilders are focused on competing with other home builders; realtors compete with other realtors; mortgage lenders compete with other mortgage lenders and competition is intense between the title and escrow providers. Should one player come up with a solution that improves the process, they would want it to be proprietary. Competitors would be reluctant to adopt it, and would not constitute a solution.

Fannie, Freddie, Ginny, HUD and any governmental entity has a different mission. A concept age visionary will be the one to combine the attributes that provide a more global solution, and in the doing of it, ownership of the thread and commoditization of real estate can be created. The right platform will benefit all participants. The idea is to facilitate the process to the level that its use will be natural, almost viral. By not using it, you are opting out. Soft Sell has the concept, vision, and the knowledge to create this platform.

With the right development partner, this platform and solution can be brought to market in real time. As the real estate and financial markets make a sustained recovery, Soft Sells solution would be in place to provide the structure for revolutionary change. As a side note, Fannie, Freddie and virtually every large bank has a portfolio of short sales and foreclosures that will continue to grow. It will be several years before these are recycled. Soft Sell would be an ideal platform for managing these assets through the process.