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New Home Communities Evolve as Real Estate Rebounds

"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings."

Eric Hoffer

"The greatest thief this world ever produced is procrastination, and he is still at large."

Henry Wheeler Shaw

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

Howard Thurman

It’s Easy Living Green

Eco-Friendly Homes Reduce Carbon Footprint, Save Energy, Money

Everywhere you turn, there’s something “green” – whether it’s a commercial for a hybrid car or a reminder to pick up reusable bags at the local grocery store. The green movement is under way and concerned Americans are looking for ways to do their part to reduce energy use and pollution, and preserve natural resources.

Whether by changing their daily routines like biking to work instead of driving, or taking up a new hobby like planting trees in the community park, more and more Americans are going green. One aspect of the multifaceted greening of America is the building and buying of “green” or eco-friendly homes.

According to a recent survey conducted for McGraw-Hill Research and Analytics, consumers list environmental concerns among the top three reasons to purchase a green home, along with lower operating costs and health benefits for occupants. Across the country, homebuilders and homebuyers are realizing the benefits of green building and living, from reduced construction waste to better indoor air quality. Homes planned by green developers can also reduce utility bills by more than 50 percent, minimize pollution and demands on infrastructure, and provide greater environmental protection.

“It’s amazing how small steps can add up to big results,” says Fred Maas, president and CEO of Black Mountain Ranch LLC, the developer of Del Sur – a new green 1,800-acre master-planned residential community in San Diego, Calif. “For example, tankless water heaters are as much as 50 percent more efficient than conventional water heaters – and heating hot water is second only to heating and cooling in terms of residential energy use. If every household in the United States converted to high-efficiency, tankless water heaters, America could save the equivalent of 300 million barrels of oil a year and reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by up to 150 million tons.”

Similarly, replacing just one light bulb in each American home with an efficient compact fluorescent bulb could save enough energy to light more than three million homes for an entire year. This could save more than $600 million in annual energy costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an amount equivalent to removing more than 800,000 cars from America’s roads.

Residents of the Del Sur community are learning firsthand the advantages of green home features. Del Sur used its unique size and buying power – 2,500 market-rate homes and 469 low- and moderate-income homes – to negotiate lower prices for solar, tankless hot water and weather-based irrigation systems, making these energy-saving, environmentally-friendly features more affordable for homebuyers.

“All things being equal, homebuyers want to go green, but they don’t want to pay a fortune to do so – and they shouldn’t have to. Our vision of sustainability is to integrate a core set of ‘attainable’ green elements into our homes that do their part for the environment and increase value and savings for the consumer,” says Maas.

By providing homebuyers with green features at lower costs, homebuilders can help to reduce the nation’s carbon footprint and preserve the environment without putting all of the burden on the homeowner. By taking advantage of available tax credits and incentives, it is possible to equip homes with solar photovoltaic technology to generate electricity at a reasonable cost, greatly reducing homeowners’ electric bills.

“Our homeowners with solar power can draw power from the grid at night and make the meter spin backwards during the day,” says Maas. “Some have cut their electric bills to nearly zero. When homeowners realize the savings, they really get a kick out of showing their new energy bills to neighbors and friends in the community.”

“When I see American families living the Southern California lifestyle in 3,000-plus-square-foot homes with gourmet kitchens and all the latest appliances – and their monthly electric bill is close to zero – I know there’s no barrier to America going green,” says Maas. “We’re doing it here in San Diego and I think that, community-by-community, the entire nation can go green.”

Courtesy of ARAcontent

SIDEBAR:

Top Five “Green” Living Facts

* According to a recent McKinsey Global Institute report, the U.S. residential sector is second only to Chinese heavy industry in terms of inefficient energy use.

* The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that if every American home exchanged the five most frequently used bulbs with efficient compact fluorescent bulbs, one trillion pounds of greenhouse gases would be kept out of the air over the course of the bulbs’ lives (a lifetime range of five to as many as eight years or so). That’s equivalent to the annual emissions of 8 million cars, the annual output of more than 20 power plants, and $6 billion in U.S. energy savings.

* Many conventional building materials and coatings release chemical vapors into the air, sometimes for decades after construction. Green building design and construction dramatically reduce or eliminate emissions of volatile organic compounds, such as formaldehyde.

* According to the Environmental Protection Agency, nationwide, landscape irrigation accounts for almost one-third of all residential water use. If all residential irrigation systems in the United States were replaced with weather-based systems (systems that adjust irrigation levels based on local weather conditions), America would save 24 billion gallons of water annually.

* The National Association of Home Builders estimates that building a 2,000 square-foot home in the United States generates an average of four tons of construction waste. With a little planning and preparation, it is possible to recycle as much as 90 percent of the construction waste from the homes without raising costs for builders or home buyers. Green home building practices could eliminate more than four million tons of construction waste annually.

Are You Dumb Enough to Be Rich?

A Smart Real Estate Investor’s Secrets Revealed

The cost of living is higher than ever, there’s weakness in the job market, stocks are in a free-fall and the housing market is in a slump. Sounds like a bad time to be a real estate investor, or is it?

According to G. William Barnett II, author of “Are You Dumb Enough to Be Rich?” from AMACOM Books, exactly the opposite is true. “These are the times smart real estate investors live for. There’s more money to be made in chaos than at any other time, and no other investment strategy has created more millionaires than real estate,” he says.

In the just released second edition of his book, Barnett, who has more than a decade of experience in real estate investing, has added chapters that lay out his strategies for being successful in the current marketplace. The key, he says, is knowing how to decipher not only which markets to invest in, but which neighborhoods hold the key to wealth.

“One of the greatest frustrations I had early in my career was reading about places where great things were happening, but not having the confidence to take advantage of them,” says Barnett, who still regrets not investing in Hawaii back in the late 1990s when the crash of the Japanese stock market sent housing prices into a free fall. “Back then, I told my wife we have to invest in Hawaii. She said, ‘No, we don’t know anything about that market.’ If I had known then what I know now, boy would I be better off.”

Barnett has spent the past decade finessing an investment strategy he calls “Hot Mapping,” which is outlined in the new edition. “Basically it’s a business overlay that you can apply to any market in the U.S. to identify the areas in that market you should be investing in,” he explains.

Here’s a brief synopsis of how it works. Step one is to establish a market’s median price which you can do with the help of resources on the Internet. Next you’ll want to purchase two maps. One electronic, the other a 6-by-6-foot map that covers the town or county you want to invest in. Step three will be to break down the market from a pricing standpoint using color coding.

“Once you finish making your map, pick up the classifieds and start adding pins representing each of the homes for sale. This technique gets you to the point where you can just pick up the phone, call an agent and tell them exactly which subdivision you want to look at and how much you’re willing to pay. You’re in essence equipping the agent to do a great job for you,” says Barnett.

In “Are You Dumb Enough to Be Rich?,” Barnett offers other strategies for making a fortune in real estate, including instructions on how to find and take ownership of troubled properties before they go into foreclosure and how to move faster than your competition when it comes to getting your hands on lists of already foreclosed properties the banks and mortgage companies want to sell.

As for the housing markets Barnett likes best right now, he says number one is Las Vegas, which currently has $10 billion worth of commercial construction going on and will soon have a demand for thousands of new employees. He also likes San Diego, which due to this summer’s fires doesn’t have enough housing to meet its citizens’ needs; and Central Florida which thanks to the Disney empire will always have room for growth.

“Real estate is cyclical. Before you know it, the economy will recover and banks and mortgage companies will once again become more creative in their lending practices. Then there will be another string of foreclosures, and smart investors like you will be lined up to help clean up the mess,” says Barnett.

The second edition of “Are You Dumb Enough to Be Rich?” is available for purchase at bookstores nationwide or visit www.amacombooks.org for more information.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

"Spiritual Beings do not allow their thoughts and feelings to flow from their actions, they understand that their thoughts create their physical world."

Wayne Dyer

Facing Foreclosure? You May be Eligible for Tax Relief

When your home is losing value and your family is facing the financial stress of foreclosure, the last thing you need is to be hit with an enormous tax bill. The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 helps protect Americans facing foreclosure from higher taxes while they attempt to refinance a home mortgage.

This temporary act creates a three-year window for some homeowners to refinance their mortgage and pay no taxes on any debt forgiveness that they receive. This means if the value of your home drops and your bank or lender forgives a portion of your mortgage, the federal government won’t treat that amount as taxable income. This exclusion only applies to discharges made after 2006 and before 2010. Additionally, the basis of the principal residence must be reduced (but not below zero) by the amount excluded from gross income.

“To claim mortgage tax forgiveness on your 2007 tax return, taxpayers need to complete IRS Form 982 – Reduction of Tax Attributes Due to Discharge of Indebtedness (and Section 1082 Basis Adjustment),” says Stephanie Behrends of 2nd Story Software, makers of the popular TaxACT tax preparation software and online services. However, because it wasn’t until late December that lawmakers signed this legislation into law, the IRS only just started accepting the Form via e-file on March 3.

“TaxACT Standard, our completely free tax preparation program that prepares federal income tax returns, and our premium TaxACT Deluxe software edition both include Form 982 as part of the software package,” she adds. Because not all taxpayers whose homes have been foreclosed are eligible to claim mortgage tax forgiveness, it may be necessary to consult a tax professional or attorney prior to submitting Form 982 to the IRS.

More information regarding The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 can be found at www.IRS.gov. Use key word “Form 982.” Information regarding TaxACT can be found by visiting www.TaxACT.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

"Gratitude, like faith, is a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it grows, and the more power you have to use it on your behalf. If you do not practice gratefulness, its benefaction will go unnoticed, and your capacity to draw on its gifts will be diminished. To be grateful is to find blessings in everything. This is the most powerful attitude to adopt, for there are blessings in everything."

Alan Cohen

"Trials are but lessons that you failed to learn presented once again, so where you made a faulty choice before, you can now make a better one and thus escape all pain that what you chose before has brought to you."

A Course in Miracles

"View any and all obstacles as lessons, not indications of failure. Keep in mind that you are practicing patience and detachment from outcome. When anything appears to be an obstacle, do not use that material fact to deny the existence of the universal energy that is your essence. - Everything that shows up in your life is supposed to. This includes the falls in your life, which provide you with the energy to propel yourself to a higher state of awareness."

Wayne Dyer