I am a Realtor in the œgreen city of Decatur, Georgia.   Decatur is a truly delightful town just outside of Atlanta and Recycle-Reuse-Repurpose is our mantra.

A great many of the houses here were built between 1920-1950 and one of the most sought after homes is the 30™s Tudor style that is easily found in the Great Lakes part of town (the streets are named after the Great Lakes¦. Superior, Erie, Huron, etc.).   I love that style of architecture even more than I love the Craftsman Bungalow style that is also found throughout the city.   My office sells a lot of both these styles.   Fact is, though, these old houses are woefully inefficient structures.

I head The Carol Team.   We are Realtors and builders and, since 1998, have been buying falling-down-dumps and rebuilding them into modern, efficient buildings that anyone would be proud to call home.   We build energy efficient, modern new homes, too.   Fact is, it just plain costs a lot of money for us to build in this manner be it a rehab or  new construction on an in-fill lot.   Let™s face it   —   it is a whole lot easier and cheaper to just œslop something together  and sheetrock over  a bunch of flaws.   So, what™s the problem with higher costs?   The problem is that most consumers are not willing to spend the money necessary to buy these œgreen houses.

Isn™t that the case, fellow Green Weenies?     We talk a good game about energy efficient, earth friendly products.     That is, until it is time to get out our wallets and put our money where our mouth is.

New home builders across the country are going out of business by the truckload because so few of us are willing to buy a new home (It is estimated that 75% of Atlanta™s builders are bankrupt or on their way to insolvency because new construction won™t sell).

Yes, a big part of this selling œdifficulty has been due to problems obtaining mortgages.   A bigger part of it, though, is that we, the buying public, refuse to buy.   Fact is, mortgages ARE available to the vast majority of us and interest rates are the lowest they have been in 50 years!!!   Couple that with some pretty darn good home prices and you are looking at what is likely the very BEST time to buy real estate that you will see in your lifetime!!

Here is the challenge to all of us œgreen advocates that have clamored so long for energy efficient, non-resource wasting, earth friendly products:   Buy a NEW home.

It is really hard to find a more resource conserving structure than a NEW home.   What are we waiting for?

Green Construction

There is currently a great clamor in the construction business for œgreen materials.   From out of the din, numerous products are emerging that truly are environmentally friendly. That is surely win-win for all of us and I am happy about it.   Bamboo floors and low VOC paints and formaldehyde free insulation are tremendous improvements over past products.   Even most carpet has been rid of noxious, off-gassing fumes and, of course, asbestos has been banned for years.   Virtually every building code specifies increasingly energy efficient methods and materials for home building.   I am glad to see it.   This is just plain old common sense.

I am a Realtor and I am a builder in the œgreen city of Decatur, Georgia.   I have no problem spending a few extra bucks today on a furnace system that will heat & cool a home for years to come without using nearly as much fuel as the older, inefficient systems.   I love the new insulation products that keep conditioned air on the inside and raw elements on the outside.   One insulation product is made from shredded newspaper and another uses Blue Jeans lint.   What could be better re-purposing than that?   (There is even clothing fabric made from bamboo!   Wow, what next?   But that is another topic.)   Windows have seen a new light, too.   Self-cleaning double and triple glass panes filled with Krypton and treated with reflective coatings are the greatest things since sliced bread.   I recently saw an amazing demonstration that erased all my doubt about how much these windows really help   —   ask me and I will tell you about it.  You will be amazed, too!

Tankless water heaters, reflective shingles, solar collectors, kitchen counters made from paper (yes, PAPER).   The list is endless.

My favorite products are the œengineered offerings that combine saw mill floor sweepings with used plastic milk jugs to produce boards that don™t twist, won™t rot and termites won™t eat.   They even hold paint better, too.   Made by man but truly heaven sent!   I also love the engineered I-joists that are made from scrap wood chips and small strips of inferior lumber.   They are way lighter than solid lumber so they cost less to transport and are easier to handle on-site.   They don™t twist and crack and it is easy to cut holes for ductwork and wiring and plumbing without compromising the structural integrity of the joist.   Plus, they let architects design some really wide room spans without needing posts or walls in the middle for support.   Cost more?   Sure it does, but is it not worth it? You bet it is!

Yes, I am a Realtor, and I will be happy to sell you any house your heart wants to buy.   Fact is, though, I wish you would buy a NEW, energy efficient house.   Just about any home built recently is tremendously more efficient than homes from even a few years ago.   The savings on energy bills are substantial and the benefits are immediate.   Amazingly, some new homes are so œtight they need air exchangers to pump in fresh air because odors and CO2 can™t escape without assistance.   Another reason to buy NEW¦.it is a distressed market right now and prices are as low as you are likely to ever see again.

Carol Chiofalo is lead agent with The Carol Team, Keller Williams Realty Metro Atlanta in Decatur, Georgia.   Carol is a Realtor, builder, designer and does home staging.   Your comments are welcome and you can reach her at 404-966-7878, carol@TheCarolTeam.com or www.TheCarolTeam.com.

The Carol Team¦..Why Some People Are Moving Faster Than Others

The Sands Of Time Ice & Water  

I™m sitting on my deck in Atlanta.   It is a balmy, pleasant 84 ° at this moment.   It is Atlanta.   It is July.   It ought to be muggy, sweaty and 94 ° plus.   Yesterday, it was even cooler at this same time of the day.   What happened to Global Warming?   Scientists tell us that the earth is overheating and we are all going to burn up if we don™t drown first from all the polar ice caps melting.   Sounds a little like a bit of an exaggeration.

It wasn™t that many years ago that those same esteemed scientists were telling us we were all going to freeze to death.   That sounded like an exaggeration, too.

Today, fossil fuels are the target of worldwide angst and are universally scorned as the bane of all mankind.   Might be dead-on accurate or might be hysterical nonsense.   I don™t really know.   Which do you think it is?

Just a few random thoughts:   We are now extracting huge quantities of crude oil that is currently buried under Alaskan ice and Saharan sand.   Oh, and don™t forget all that oil from miles below the ocean surface.   Since fossil fuels originate from lush, tropical forests of plant matter, how did all those lush, tropical forests get so far below all that ice/sand/water?   What caused the enormous magnitude of climate change that was required to accomplish such a feat?   Surely, we can™t blame that one on mankind.   Must have been those gasoline-guzzling dinosaurs.   Flatulence must have been horrendous!     Do you think?

I have walked along the shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland and hunted pre-historic shark teeth from cliff walls 25 feet above me.   Those cliff walls were once the ocean floor.   Hmmmmmm.   I thought the melting ice caps were causing ocean levels to rise, not to recede???

Recycling paper is a great idea, but did you know it takes MORE chemicals to recycle paper than it does to make virgin paper?   Is that really a good trade-out for an easily biodegradable substance like paper?   Too bad science can™t find a way to make paper out of Kudzu or plastic grocery bags.   That would be worth using a few chemicals to accomplish!

Science tells us that North America was once substantially covered by glacial ice.   What caused the glaciers to start?   What caused them to ebb?   Was it the œcorrect global temperature before the glaciers, during the glaciers or after the glaciers?

I™m not on Mother Nature™s private e-mail list so I don™t really know her exact line of thinking.   What do you think is earth™s œcorrect temperature?   Should it be 10 ° cooler?   Should it be 10 ° warmer?   Should it stay right where it is?   84 ° sure felt good, today.   Please tell me what you think.

As for me, I refuse to listen to the radical rhetoric at either extreme of the discussion.   It just makes sense to me that squandering our natural resources through wasteful consumption and spreading pollution without regard for our environment is just as bad as refusing to use a beneficial natural resource just because it is a œnatural” resource.

I am a Realtor and builder from Decatur, Georgia; a town that I am proud to say considers itself to be a œgreen community.   My next post will be a common sense commentary about the œgreen movement in home construction.

Meanwhile, I am definitely going to take the advice of old-time cowboys on cattle drives and be sure that I only drink upstream from the herd.   Not as easy to do as it might sound, since China, India and Mexico are upstream from me.   What do you think?

Carol Chiofalo  

The Carol Team   —   Why Some people Are Moving Faster Than Others

www.TheCarolTeam.com  

The Carol Team are Agents, investors and builders

You might have heard on TV that mortgage interest rates have soared within the last two weeks.   Well, yes, they did   —   one whole percentage point.   All the way up to a whopping 5.5%!

Experts think rates will go all the way up to 6%.

The truth is, though, Big Deal!

 As a Realtor, I am using this news to beat my prospects over the head and urge them to make more offers and faster offers, I mean, to create a sense of urgency.   Got to get it NOW, before rates go up again!!!!  

This IS a valid tactic as a 1% interest rate increase reduces your buying power by a

 full 15%!   That really is significant!

While it is definitely true that this increase in rates has significantly decreased your buying power, it is also definitely true that 6% is way lower than just a year ago and is HALF of what was considered a good rate not that many years ago.

NOW is a great time to buy real estate because there IS still time to lock into a low interest rate and because house prices ARE still on the low side!

That™s right!   Home prices really are still extremely low.   Yes, they are increasing, but homes continue to routinely sell at 2005 prices.   Talk about SALE pricing!   WOW!!

Low interest rates and low prices are a killer combination that hasn™t been available like this for 50 years!   I can pretty much guarantee that it will not last forever.   In fact, some know-it-all experts predict that by the fall of 2010 the housing market will have fully recovered.   Now, that IS Front Page news!  

That means that we have only about a year left to buy real estate at attractive prices.  

My business has clearly started to pick up.   More demand equals higher prices.   Which side of that equation do you want to be on?   What are we waiting for?

Action is especially urgent if we actually get hit with the high inflation that a different bunch of experts predict is inevitable.   Nothing fights inflation like owning things that appreciate:   and real estate almost always appreciates.   HINT!

Loans are available, down payment assistance is available, $8000 First Time Homebuyer™s Tax Credits are available, great homes are available and

The Carol Team is available to help you put it all together.

Don™t listen to the naysayers on the news.   YOU can buy a house NOW and I can show you how.   I have refused to participate in this so-called œdown market and that is why I have been recognized as a Top Producer in my office.     Just give Carol and The Carol Team a call at 404-966-7878.   You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

This is still a buyer™s market.   It has NEVER been a waiter™s market!

Carol Chiofalo

Keller William Realty Metro Atlanta

404-966-7878

TheCarolTeam.com

carol.chiofalo@kw.com

The Carol Team are Agents, investors and builders, and as Lead Agent, Carol Chiofalo has seen more than one up & down cycle.   œI don™t pretend to have all the answers, but this sure isn™t my first rodeo!

The Carol Team are Agents, investors and builders, and as Lead Agent, Carol Chiofalo has seen more than one up & down cycle.   “I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but this sure isn’t my first rodeo!”

I know a lot of things that are really important to know in today’s real estate market:

I know that mortgage interest rates are about as low as they have been in the last 50 years.   The interest rate on my first mortgage was over 16% and I was HAPPY to get it because 18-21% was the norm.   Wow, 5% doesn’t look so bad in comparison.   Just like today, a big cash down-payment was commonplace.   Not only did you actually have to be creditworthy, you had to be able to prove it!   Sound familiar?   Maybe, things aren’t really so bad right now, after all.

I know that real estate appreciated rapidly over the last 10 years, or so.   Some areas, such as Florida and California, saw prices skyrocket way beyond reason.   Is it any surprise that the rocket ran out of fuel and came crashing back to reality?   I am glad that metro Atlanta’s rise (and decline) was much more moderate.   Fact is, our home values here in Decatur are right about where they would have been had there not been the big run-up of the last few years.

I also know that I won’t know when we hit bottom until AFTER we have hit it and can look back and say “Look, there it was”!   No one can time the stock market and no one can time real estate, either.

I do believe, however, that right now we are very near the bottom – don’t know if it is just ahead or just behind, but I have no doubt that it is close.   Low interest rates, low prices — what a great time to buy real estate!

First time buyers are in a great position now, too, as lower prices mean more house for the money and it seems like every day there is another new program to make that first home purchase easier.

Prices have moderated, lenders are lending and there are a lot of outright bargains available.   This could well be the best time to buy a home that you will see in your lifetime!

Smart Money is buying everything they can get their hands on.

Visit http://www.CarolAtlantaRealtor.com for more information or to conduct a custom search from the privacy of your own living room.

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