How to Buy or Sell a Green Home

How to Buy or Sell a Green Home

Workshop Coming Up!

Wed, April 2nd
6:30-8:00pm
North Austin

Short, sweet and green, this workshop will cover all the basics of buying or selling your green home.
What to look for and how to find them, how to price and market your home, green financing and lots of other cool stuff!

Details and RSVP here:

www.GreenHomeWorkshop.com

Natural Home Mag Votes Mueller #1

Natural Home Magazines listed Mueller here in Austin as #1 in their Top 10 Green Neighborhoods article this month.

The Mueller Neighborhood got the kudos for their progressive green initiatives such as:

- green home options like tankless water heaters and solar panels

- greywater systems

- pedestrian friendliness

- 25% of housing for lower income households.

Congratulations to Mueller!

Patty Sylvana

Green Realtor

Keller Williams Realty

patty@GreenAustinProperties

(512) 297-5658

Austin Green Homes- Mueller

Unless you're dead, you've probably heard about the Mueller Development. A rehabilitation of old city airport land, this development is making waves for all kinds of progressive and green ideals. Here are a few highlights-

The green homes at Mueller are in a unique situation because the City of Austin owned the land. The City was able to implement some really progressive features including green requirements and low income homes.

What makes Mueller Special?
- Close to UT and Downtown (at 51st and I-35)
- Green Green Green built
- Parks surrounding the entire development as well as interspersed throughout
- Pedestrial focused- not just sidewalks, but ACTUAL places you could walk to!
- Town Center
- Commercial Center

This is definitly an urban high density neighborhood. There is no sprawling lawn to maintain, and you'll probably ACTUALLY get to know your neighbors. Wow, what a concept!

This is your Green Realtor
Stay Tuned and Stay Green
Patty Sylvana
Realtor by Trade, Green at Heart
Keller Willilams Realty
patty@GreenAustinProperties.com
(512) 297-5658

The Fight Against My Lawn

I've been battling with my lawn. For years I've been fighting. Slowly but surely, it surrenders, but not without a tough fight. Now it is pretty rewarding for me to fight my lawn. I've come to relish the battle. Mostly because I always win, but also because the hard work feels good after sitting so much.

First we put in a big front porch.
Then I put in some square foot gardens.
Then I put in some more walkway.

My current project is removing the grass between the sidewalk and the road. We're planning on some crushed granite, a few crepe myrtles, some sage and some clump grasses. That way folks will be able to walk through easy enough. I figure that at the rate I'm going, I'll be able to cancel my gym membership and we'll retire the lawnmower in a few years.

It helps that everywhere I go, I see great examples of other people's hard work. Thank you to all those folks I never met that have been fighting their lawns for longer than I!

(why fight your lawn? if you replace it with local drought tolerant plants, you'll reduce fertilizer usage, waste less time on the lawnmower and reduce your water usage as well. Saves you some time and money in the long run)

This is your Green Realtor
Stay Tuned and Stay Green
Patty Sylvana
Realtor by Trade, Green at Heart
Keller Willilams Realty
patty@GreenAustinProperties.com
(512) 297-5658

Solar, Rainwater Cisterns and more

10700 Bubbas Bluff-
Don't let the name fool you, this is no home for a country bumpkin. Solar panels, two 10,000 gallon rainwater cisterns, metal roof, almost 1.5 acres, kiva fireplace, programmable thermostat and double pane windows. Only $275,000, and located in Lake Travis ISD.



This is your Green Realtor
Stay Tuned and Stay Green
Patty Sylvana
Realtor by Trade, Green at Heart
Keller Willilams Realty
patty@AustinGreenRealtors.com
(512) 297-5658

Free Toilets from the City

Thanks to the City of Austin for re-introducing this popular program!
Free High performing toilets to customers who have old clunker toilets (pre-1996).

The new toilets have flapperless technology which means that you won't have to trade out leaking toilet innards ever again.

You can get up to 3 toilets per household.

Send in your application, receive your voucher in the mail and pick up your toilet.
It also comes with a matching seat, wax ring and bolts for installation. You might want to call a plumber to have them install it for you.

GET STARTED HERE

or call the city at 512-974-2199

This is your Green Realtor-
Stay tuned and Stay Green
Patty Sylvana
Realtor by Trade, Green at Heart
patty@austingreenrealtors.com
(512) 297-5658

Green Water

Thanks to my buddy Rob Marley over at www.mediamorgue.blogspot.com who wrote this great article on water bottles-

"700 YEARS FOR WATER BOTTLES TO START DECOMPOSING". Stick that thought in your cap.

Being environmentally conscious is more than just the latest trend to hit the tree-hugging hippie crowd. Its a vital part of our ability to continue to live on this planet. Its something all of us can do to live in a better world. And who doesn't want that?

Some people think that "going green" is a time-consuming process where everything fun and convenient has to be sacrificed for the better good of the environment. Not so. All being more environmentally conscious requires is that you think a little bit (hence, the "conscious" part of that phrase.) There are several things you can do that can make a big impact on the environment for the better, and require very little effort on your part.

One of the easiest things you can do is with your water bottle. Sure its really easy to pop into a convenience store, pick up a bottle of the latest trend and pat yourself on the back for living a more healthy lifestyle. According to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, bottled water is the single largest growth area among all beverages including juice, soft drinks and alcohol. Its great that we are drinking more water instead of sugary, calorie-laden sodas, but while this may be more healthy for your body, how healthy is your environment? Once you've finished quaffing that basic element of life, where does the bottle usually end up?

The answer is the landfill. According to Environmental resource Earth 911, Americans drank about 167 bottles of water each, but only recycled an average of 38 bottles per person in 2006. This equates to about 50 billion plastic bottles consumed, with only 23% being recycled, which means that over 38 billion water bottles ended up in the ground.

To manufacture a plastic water bottle, manufacturers use a petroleum product called polyethylene terephthalate, or PET. The manufacturing process also uses oil. According to independent research group The Pacific Institute, the process of making the plastic for water bottles uses approximately 17 million barrels of oil per year internationally. The energy consumed in the process of making bottled water could power almost 200,000 homes. And to manufacture one ton of PET products, manufacturing plants produce around 3 tons of carbon dioxide. In 2006 alone, bottled water created more than 2.5 million tons of CO2.

Then, once they are consumed and tossed into landfills, a plastic water bottle takes 700 years before it even BEGINS to start decomposing.

Maybe now you can see how all of this starts to add up to a very real problem.

There are recycling programs out there for water bottles, but not everyone uses them. Part of this is because water bottles are usually consumed away from home, making it difficult to find a recycle bin nearby. But instead of contributing to the growing problem of burying trash that is going to be around for the next 700 years, why not just use that bottle more than once?

Let's do a little math:

The average price of a bottle of water is around $1.20. Now think about how much bottled water you drink in a week. Conservatively, let's say 3 bottles per week. That means you are spending $187 per year for the convenience of drinking bottled water. Is it worth it? What could you do with an extra $187? By buying a bottle of water once and re-using it several times, you could cut your costs in half or more. Or go one better, and just use the heavier-duty sports bottles that bicyclists and campers use and save even more money.

If you don't like the taste of tap water, use a Britta filter, which is a cheap and effective way to purify what you are drinking. And if you are image conscious, know that no one is going to know the difference between the stuff filtered through the Alps and the stuff filtered through your kitchen sink unless you tell them.

Being environmentally conscious means being conscious about the things you take for granted. Something as simple as a bottle of water can make a big difference on how much pollution there is in our atmosphere and how much garbage is packed into our landfills.

Resources:

http://earth911.org/

http://refillnotlandfill.org