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December 20th, 2009
See Two Unique Fresno Attractions Tuesday!
Attendees at the Open House this Tuesday will be treated to two sights that can be seen NO WHERE ELSE. It all happens this Tuesday, Dec. 22 asGreenEarthEquities opens up it’s finished homes and construction projects for a tour. Starting with lunch and mingling at Me n Ed’s Pizza on the corner of Ashlan and Fowler at 11:30 for lunch. Nationally renowned mural artist, Mark DeRaud gives us a whimsical view of Renaissance Art and Life on the walls of the restaurant A former Renaissance employee, we still call on Mark for some of our faux painting requirements.
After some good pizza and Q&A we will visit our second Unique attraction. The most recently completed GreenEarthEquities Energy-Wise Renovation features a totally new type of Air Conditioning and Heating System, a rarely seen Heat Recovery Ventilator system and the adaptation of a New Constructions technique rarely seen in Renovation.
The home is featured on the front cover of Home Energy Magazine. The cover photo shows the Mini Split Heat Pump but the article is mainly about the whole concept of Energy Wise Renovation.
F
inally, (for this stop on the tour) we’ll reveal the reason that all this Energy Efficiency sells so easily in what most people call a depressed market. I’ll also talk about the current sales efforts to sell this home with some new techniques that we are developing right now.
Then we’ll visit the house referred to in previous blogposts as the “Ugliest House In The County” It is about 50% complete and not really ugly anymore…. just in the middle of renovation.
Then we’ll finish with another project that we just started last week. You’ll see it in full demolition mode.
I hope you’ll be able to join us. Please RSVP in the Comments section. And bring all your questions about Energy-Wise Renovation. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be the next to jump into the business of Saving The Planet, One (foreclosed) House At A Time
December 6th, 2009
Influence The Appraisal With Your Open House Brochure?
Today we had an Open House at a newly renovated home. Several people commented about the brochure that we provided, so I decided to post it. 
If you click the images they will expand to full size. It’s our standard 4 page brochure which is more extensive than the standard one page photocopy provided by most realtors.
Each page has a purpose and there is a whole series of slides in PlanetSavers University explaining why we feel it’s worth the extra effort. The first page mentions my Realtor, but just barely. Pictures are obviously important but it also includes neighborhood information, Rent vs Own comparison costs and finally contact info.
Page 2 we call our “Preponderance of Evidence.” This is the “Logic” that allows the buyer to validate in his own mind the emotional decision that got 90% made when his wife walked into the kitchen! (Sorry, that’s the way us humans work)
It really is a long single spaced list. But unless someone points these things out, many of them will be missed, and the decision will default to “Price.” 
It’s our job to “Make The Invisible, Visible” and this page really earns its place when the prospective buyers are conferring later, comparing the homes their Realtor has shown them. This is their crib sheet to remind them that they made a good decision to buy this home! It competes well against the one page Quickie Brochures that they collected at the other homes.
One of the uses of our brochures is to leave a supply of them on the counter after the sale. Appraisers have a hard job on our houses because they sell for quite a bit higher than the rest of the neighborhood. So we use the brochure to give the appraiser the ammunition they need in order to justify the price that my buyer and I have agreed on.
Of course these last two pages help the buyer justify their decision. None of us want to make poor decisions and pay too much. With these pages we are showing them that others are making similar decisions in the same neighborhood.
Check it out. Let me know what you think. Send me a copy of great Open House brochures you’ve used or seen. I’m always looking for ways to improve.
November 21st, 2009
“McMansion” Era Coming To An End?
“McMansion” Era Coming To An End? So wondered a recent Wall Street Journal article. Read it Here.
Slimming Down. Compare the floor plans of a boom-era luxury home and a smaller, post-recession design.
You can recall the history of homebuilding by taking a driving tour in your city. What you’ll notice is that there has always been a small percentage (5-10) of the “Grand Old Homes” Mansions or Near Mansions, and then the rest of the housing stock. In my town of Fresno, CA the Grand Old Homes were on Huntington and Van Ness Boulevard in the early 1900s. Two Stories with 4ooo square feet or more was the order of the day. (Today these are nightmares to renovate from an energy efficiency perspective. Those desiring to do so should view Tom Hanks movie “The Money Pit” and have plenty of patience and cash and check with the Historical Society before proceeding.
During that time, the rest of the town built in the Craftsman and Bungalow style. Two bedroom, one bath from 700 to 1000 feet was the norm with some larger homes having 3 bedrooms and sometimes 2 baths. There were larger homes between the two extremes, but not that many.
(From the WSJ Article) At 2,450 square feet, this new Wieland home in North Carolina looks like a cottage compared with some of the 3,900-square-foot models down the road.
The Housing Boom that came with the Baby Boom after WWII brought a new invention to the market: The American Classic Tract Home, 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1100 to 1500 square feet moving up to about 2000 square feet as the century closed out.
But along with it came the “Executive Home” aka McMansion. These have the things necessary to impress, not just to live.
Grand Entries with Grand Architectural Staircases
All the Rooms are larger than they need to be, and there are more of them.
As many Baths as Bedrooms is common. Walk-in closets larger than your bedroom growing up.
All the Ceilings are taller than they need to be and they are mainly different from each other
Home Theaters and Gyms and 3 to 5 car garages.
European Chef’s style Kitchen with commercial appliances
And a huge energy bill to go with it….Because these opulent shrines to impressing the neighbors weren’t built any better than their smaller cousins. Actually the smaller home is harder to do poorly and easier to fix than the McMansion. And the McMansion with its architectural wizardry is very easy to get wrong from an energy and comfort perspective.
So here’s the good news:
1. There is going to be a huge opportunity for Home Performance Contractors to fix McMansions.
2. Another huge opportunity is doing a complete EnergyWise Renovation on the All American Tract Home. These homes are actually drawing many of the Baby Boomers who have had the McMansion and are tired of keeping them up
Well Done Complete Energy-Wise Renovations Are In High Demand & Sell Quickly
With Mature Landscaping, all automatic, a new 40 year roof that will outlast them, all new appliances, all new HVAC, Energy Saving Windows and fixtures and paint inside and out and all new tile and floor coverings, what’s to not like about that for easy living? In my experience these renovations are in high demand and sell quickly at full price.
In California there will soon be money available to fund both of these opportunities with the AB 811 funds for Energy Retrofits. There are sites about fixing McMansions. (Check out CBPCA.org for a list of trained Home Performance Contractors) This site will continue to focus on Energy Wise Renovation of moderate sized homes, especially on the Golden Opportunity presented by Foreclosed Homes.
Back to the WSJ article: I didn’t get the impression that the McMansion builders were going away. Or that the buyers demanding the Big House have learned their lesson and changed for good. It seemed they both are pulling back only as much as they have to and a recovered economy would launch them into new realms of opulence. Did I read that into the article? or did you get the same impression? Let me know in the Comments section.
November 14th, 2009
On The Radio Again
It was good to be back on the radio talking about Home Performance again. Last weekend I interviewed with Cyndy Dole on her Home Wizards show on KFWB, the CBS affiliate in Los Angeles.
Click the image to listen to the interview or download the MP3
It reminded me of the show that Gary Richardson and I did in Fresno for about a year on AM 690 talk radio……… until the station was sold and became another sports station….go figure, here we are saving the planet, one house at a time and it’s decided that we need another sports station more! Oh well, maybe it just wasn’t time.
But maybe now’s the time. I’ve discussed resurrecting the show with Joe Kounen, who is also a veteran of Home Performance Talk Radio. He’s ready as soon as we both find the time? and the venue. With the technology, it doesn’t matter that he’s in Arkansas. Actually having the different perspective from the different climate zone would be a benefit so we would take calls from everywhere that we could get on the air.
The format was “Call In” talk radio with an occasional guest speaker. Mainly talking about the challenges of the Home Performance Contractor from the “Live Ammunition” that we had run into that week. What do you think? Should we do it again? Would you tune in? Any topics you’d like to hear? Let me hear from you. Post your comment…. Thanks,
October 27th, 2009
You’re Invited! Ducted Mini Split “Open House”
The newest GreenEarthEquities Ducted Mini Split Heat Pump system should overcome the last bit of American Resistance to the use of the superior Mini Split technology with its ducted delivery to every room. (Mini Splits are the standard in the rest of the world and are even sold in convenience stores in Asia and Europe but are shunned in America)
Gary Richardson completing the charge on the roof mounted Mini Split.
Its for sure the only one its kind as it was designed on the hood of my truck by Gary Richardson and myself. It will be the centerpiece of our FALL 2009 HOME TOUR of GreenEarthEquities projects that will be held on November 4th. The half day tour will start with breakfast at Sandy’s Country Junction at 7:30 AM
Sandy's Country Junction
and will proceed to two houses that are in process including the one featuring the Ducted Mini Split and a couple of finished homes. Those in a hurry and desiring to just see the Ducted Mini Split please RSVP with your preference in the comment section for schedule details.
We will explore:
Why and how we buy where we buy.
What causes our houses to sell quickly.
What we stay away from.
What goes into the “Energy Package”
How the Done, Wow! & Energy Packages work together.
There will be lots of time for questions and poking around in the renovation projects. I look forward to seeing a lot of you there. Please RSVP in the comment section or by email.
GreenEarthEquities kitchen with custom tile back splash & imported granite.
Other Opportunities: The November full day training for PG&E in Tulare was cancelled due to low pre-registration. If you missed out on that one, you can still sign up for the December 4th class on Energy Wise House Flipping in Sacramento on the PG&E site. There is also a 3 day class for CBPCA November 12th -14th. See the CBPCA website.
October 24th, 2009
Excuse Me, That Thing You Just Did… You Cant Do That! (And Other Pessimistic Nonsense)
Its been fun this last year listening to people tell me it’s impossible to do complete remodels with deep energy retrofits and sell them at a profit. ”Difficult anytime and Impossible in this economy,” they say. But since that is exactly what we’ve developed over this last year, it leads to an interesting conversation.
It happened again today. An old friend and I were re-connecting and in the catching up, he expressed surprise that I was flipping houses with full energy retrofits. “I didn’t think you could do that in this market.”
Bad News Travels Fast And A Little Bit Goes A Long Way.
Where does all this negativity and pessimism come from? The main thing I can think of is an over-indulgence in mainstream media consumption. Followed by “Conventional Wisdom & Urban Legend,” stuff passed around at the water cooler and golf course….No basis in reality required.
Since pessimism is so prevalent, and its consumption is so detrimental to one’s success, my advice is that if a person wants to be successful as an Energy Wise House Flipper, they would do well to go on a Media and Gossip Fast.
This is good advice for any contrarian who determines to swim against the current of the main stream. But wait, there’s more! To maintain forward progress swimming against the main stream, you must not only close your ears to the mainstream media and friends who repeat its negative mantras… You’ll have to filter carefully the advice of experts of your own industry.
Being an Energy-Wise Renovating House Flipping Investor requires some knowledge of three industries, Real Estate, Remodeling, and Building Performance-Green Building. The main stream in each of those industries repeats the pessimism of the general mainstream media. So a successful Energy Wise House Flipper will find themselves swimming against the current, even in the industries that he or she is demonstrating success in.
A Diet Of This Stuff Will Make It Hard To Stay Positive And Be Creative.
My friend is a contractor, a very good one, probably the best one in his trade in our city. Why was he surprised that I’m being successful at Energy Wise House Flipping? I say the culprit is the pessimism that he hears at his supply house, and from the general contractors he works for and the coffee shop talk combined with the nightly news…… just too much negativity for a human brain to stay positive in.
Am I saying to be an ostrich and stick your head in the sand? Not exactly. But what if the sand is in sand bags and bullets are whizzing overhead? Negativity bullets come at you every time you turn on the news. Maybe you’d better duck behind those sand bags. It’s easy, just turn it off.
It’s been said that the brain is like a computer, and GIGO is the number one rule, Garbage In, Garbage Out. In the case of ingesting negative and pessimistic garbage, the garbage that comes out is the inability to believe and act decisively.
Over in the Real Estate Investing Stream, most seminar gurus will tell you, “Now is not a time for flipping, just buy and hold” and “just put in the minimum to make it clean and safe, you’ll never make a return on that energy stuff.”
The main stream in Building Performance is primarily occupied with building an industry around programs and the incentive monies which are flooding into our economy. Dont get me wrong, that’s not a bad idea. Its just not the input an Energy Wise House Flipper needs to be focused on.
Contrarians Are Different. They Think Differently And Feed Their Brains A Different Diet.
To Summarize: If you want to be successful as an Energy Wise House Flipping Investor (or any kind of a contrarian,) a Media Fast might be in order. Or at least some critical filtering. One filtering question might be: “What was this “expert” saying 3 years ago?” If he missed it so bad then, why should I listen to him now? Another might be to listen to people who are actually doing what you want to do, rather than academics,media people, and other spectators who prognosticate and repeat each others’ stuff.
Next week I’ll have lunch with my friend. I think we’ll meet in one of my energy wise renovation projects. Maybe the real thing will be enough to counter all the negative he’s heard. Maybe he’ll jump in and swim upstream with me. Maybe. Maybe you’d like to be a contrarian and swim upstream. Email me. I’m looking to build an Army of Contrarians…. and I’m willing to help anyone who will turn the TV off.
October 17th, 2009
What The Stock Market Taught Me About Energy Wise Real Estate Investing.
When I began to retire a couple years ago, (which I dont believe in, by the way) I thought I might do well in the Stock Market. The science and art of picking winners fascinated me so I began educating myself, a good idea in any new venture. My choice was options trading so I have lots of books and courses on options.
Keep track of real estate prices just like stock prices. Use "play money" until you're confident to invest the real thing.
The best advice in all of it was from Stephen Cooper who said, “Paper Trade (no real money) until you are winning 80% of your trades.” It was good advice and I’m glad I followed it. I never hit the 80% winners target, so I never invested my first real dollar in options trading.
I am passing on the same advice to those contemplating getting in to the business of Energy-Wise House Flipping aka Investing In Renovation of Foreclosed Homes. But its more than just ask a Realtor friend what they think. There are some real ways that you can Paper Trade before switching to live ammunition. Remember, the more mistakes you can make and get out of your system with “play money” the better you will do when you start using the real thing. Here’s a TOP 10 LIST of things you can do to prepare yourself.
1. Read the books recommended on this site. ”Flip” by Volani and “Are You Dumb Enough To Be Rich” by Barnett are two of the best. (These teach good Real Estate basics but know nothing of Building Performance. You’ll have to get that elsewhere.
2. Take the free classes that are offered by PG&E (Northern California) or your Utility Company. I’ve taken lot’s of them and they have all been good. California Building Performance Contractors Association also offers great classes, as does Build It Green. Education doesn’t cost. It pays.
3. Read everything on this site. The blog posts chronicle my journey into this business. Planet Savers University is about 500 slides that I’ve shared over the last 6 months on Tuesday Evenings at 6pm PST. (Sign up to have them delivered to your email in the subscribe box above, then call in and join the conversation.)
4. Select a neighborhood. Or two, or three, No more. Use localetrends.com , Trulia.com, & HotPads.com to help in this. See Energy-Wise Renovation Of Foreclosed Homes – Onsite Training 1 for the ratios and demographics that work well for me.
5. Here’s a difficult one. Find a good Realtor. A good Realtor for you, an energy wise, renovating, house flipping Investor. Plan on interviewing several. I lucked out, and the third one I tried has been a gem and the benchmark that I recommend. Serving you is different than serving the general population. Few Realtors are ready for the work you will bring them. Check out REALTORS: How Would You Like A Client Like Me? (or several) for some ideas.
6. Demand that your Realtor provide you with Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) on each neighborhood under consideration. They may have additional favorite tools. Use these to grow your knowledge of your neighborhoods. See Property Evaluation with the CMA andEvaluating A Property With A Comparative Market Analysis (CMA)
Keep track of buying and selling prices and calculate the "spread."
7. Choose several properties and make some offers through your Realtor. I know, we haven’t talked about where the money is coming from, Thats another post. See Where Do I Find The Money? & Basic Negotiations. For now we are just limbering up, calisthenics, or it’s like at the high school dance and no one’s on the dance floor. It’s breaking the ice. Of course you’ll want to be set up to digitally sign the offers. Your Realtor can help you with that or email me for my favorite.
8. Keep track of the offers you make and even ones that you didn’t even make but thought were a good deal. After they sell and close, the price will be public so your Realtor can get that information for you.
9. Visit Houses that are in your buying range. Also visit houses at the top of the market in your neighborhoods. This will give you an idea of what your finished product will sell for. Keep track of all your guesses and keep checking back. You’ll be getting smarter and smarter about real estate in your chosen neighborhoods.
10. Start collecting Contractor and Vendor Information. You’ll need it soon enough. Get the Black and Decker book on Home Improvements. It’s the best on the subject to give you a general knowledge of renovation if you dont have a remodeling background.
As you practice these 10 disciplines for a few months, you will become a “True Believer,” not only that you can really do this business, but even more importantly, that Energy Wise House Flipping is the Right Thing To Do, for the community, the planet, the neighborhood, the green jobs and for you. Then after you’ve seen several of your “paper trades” make money, you’ll be ready to start using live ammunition and making real money.
October 16th, 2009
Why Air Conditioning? Different Answers In Different Places
Luelle and I just got back from spending a week grandparenting in Cancun, Mexico. Taking the 3 year old Noah and 18 month old Abigail swimming through the underground river at Xcaret was the highlight along with much sand construction and time in the kiddie pool….
Abigail staying hydrated...
Wow, was it hot. Over 90 on both temperature and humidity. So I got to see first hand the “Other Reason For Air Conditioning” taking moisture out of the air. Water condensed on the Outside of bus windows when air conditioning was turned on in the bus. And the cold tile floors in our room condensed pools of water near the door way. (Sweep or door bottom not existent)
Condensation is a real concern for Energy Wise Renovators, especially for some of you who live in more humid areas than Fresno, where GreenEarthEquities renovates foreclosed homes. But it’s important even here with our tighter homes. I’ll share two examples and the solutions in upcoming posts.
In the mean time, Luelle will be recommending her travel clients schedule Cancun for a December – February vacation.
October 10th, 2009
Energy Programs: What’s Next? What’s Best? What Would You Recommend?
As you know, the methods used here at GreenEarthEquities, require no government funding, stimulus or otherwise, no utility programs, and no tax breaks to operate profitably.
Just because a program has more documentation, doesn't mean it really delivers more Energy Savings or Green Jobs.
So I haven’t paid much attention to those programs as they have been developing. But last week I heard two comments that caught my attention:
One came from a program manager who said, “You’ve heard of money with strings attached? This money doesn’t have strings, It has iron re-bar and concrete controls attached….” Wow! What can you say about that? Probably the result of consultancy and bureaucracy gone wild? Definitely didn’t make me want to participate.
Then, one of the participants on last week’s round table call had been to an investor’s meeting and met an accomplished “house flipper” (not Energy-Wise, just a good businessperson) who had participated in one of the foreclosure programs in a large Northern California City who reported, “Our average renovation costs $25,000 but when we participate in the program the cost goes up to $70,000. Double Wow! It may not have been so bad, but the program in question doesn’t even deliver respectable energy savings for the bloated price tag.
These two comments in the same week, caused me to put on my Taxpayer’s Hat and say, “There’s got to be a better way!” It seems clear, Bureaucracy, if left to it’s own devices, will run amuck. So if there’s a better way to spend all this stimulus money, what is it? What would you recommend?
I’ve decided to collect and publish “best practices” about the various programs that I become aware of around the State and Nation. I will be looking for the following as I rate the various programs:
1. How well does the program deliver measurable energy savings?
2. How well does the program create new Green Jobs?
3. What percentage of the funds go to overhead as opposed to really saving energy?
4. How “User Friendly” is the program? To Consumers, and Contractors?
Join The Paperwork Slashing Revolution!
Please weigh in. Do you have a favorite program that should be emulated and promoted? Maybe an un-favorite program that should be exposed as a bloated paperwork nightmare that doesn’t spend your tax dollars to meet these objectives…
None of us are as smart as all of us. And I have purposely stayed out of the loop, being happy enough to avoid the bureaucracy of the programs. But I can see that I can no longer stay in my happy place. I must speak up. But I need your input. Earlier today I taught my “Energy Wise Renovation Of Foreclosed Homes” class at the PG&E Stockton Training Center. At the end, I put out the same request and I really did hear 2 great brand new (to me) ideas that I will be incorporating into the programs that I will be recommending.
Please add your ideas to the Comment section or email me if you would like to be a guest blogger on this site.
September 10th, 2009
Energy Incentive Money… How Would YOU spend it?
As you know, there is a flood of Federal Money descending on cities everywhere and very few are equipped to WISELY go out and spend all that money. Unfortunately, a lot of what gets cobbled together will be the result of who had the best salesman or lobbyist, or simply who got there first. Like Von Bismark is reported to have said, “to retain respect for sausages and laws, one must not watch them in the making.” 
I just learned of one such program being offered in Sacramento, The Vacant Properties Program, which uses Neighborhood Stabilization Funding. The program:
Targets low income neighborhoods that might be hard to help otherwise,
Mentions Green Building with minimal PRESCRIPTIVE standards and no mention of PERFORMANCE.
Employs a unique mix of private investment guaranteed by the Federal Funding. After becoming an “Approved Builder” you can purchase an REO property that meets the Sacramento Housing & Redevelopment Agency (SHRA) guidelines. Then you put $15,000 to $60,000 of improvements in and list the property for the lower of the two:
Appraised After Repair Value (ARV) or
Costs including the Purchase Price, Building Costs & Developer Fee
After the process is completed, you get your “Developer Fee” which is $30,000. If the costs are more than the ARV, No problem, the shortfall will be forgiven and you will just get your $30,000 Development Fee anyway.
Here is a program with some major flaws (my opinion) as well as some creative use of public – private collaboration. One good aspect of the program is that the Developer is not paid until they deliver a final product. Which means that a new homeowner is in a renovated home with a sustainable mortgage. That’s better than what it was before, a boarded up foreclosed home with grafitti. So that’s a good thing….
But the program could be so much better with just a little tweaking. The program is committed to being “Prescriptive” instead of Performance Based, but even still it could be improved by
1. Requiring shell sealing with at least a test out. For those of us who test houses, we usually find this to be the biggest Energy Culprit
2. If you seal, you must ventilate “on purpose” rather than just let the leaks take care of things. Carbon Monoxide needs to be tested as well.
3. Adding Insulation Standards
4. Requiring Duct Replacement, not just sealing, engineered to Manual D then sealed and tested and covered.
If these simple things were done, the final product would be greatly improved, while retaining the simplicity that SHRA desires.
IF I WERE IN SACRAMENTO….. Yes, I would hustle on down to the Housing Authority and start getting myself qualified for the program. Just because it is not a perfect program, doesn’t mean I should stay away. I would go ahead and add the 4 items mentioned above and take the $30K. Remember the Lesser Golden Rule, “Whoever has the gold, Makes the rules.” SHRA has the gold and you might consider playing in their game.
All you guys and gals in Sacramento, let me know how it goes. For those in other towns, if you are called on to help draft programs in your city, here are at least 4 ways this program could be made better from an Energy Efficiency perspective.
Here’s the Vacant Properties Program Handbook. Take a look. It’s a lot of bureacracy, Davis Bacon, WMBE, etc but if you can handle that sort of thing, they do have some gold. You can always build better than the minimum… and still sleep at night.
My final comment. This program shares some similarity with the Solar Subsidies of the late 70’s. When the subsidies went away, so did the Solar business. This program will do some good things for some neighborhoods but when the money is gone, this is not the type of activity that will build a continuing industry. For ideas on how to do that, Click PLANET SAVERS UNIVERSITY, above.
Solar PV System for 3405 N. Miami
Interior 3405 N. Miami, Fresno CA
Exterior 3405 N. Miami, Fresno CA
3332 N Ezie $165,000 PENDING
5967 E Fedora $160,000 Pending
3328 N Purdue SOLD
145 Gettysburg SOLD
5741 E Bernadine SOLD
5664 E Bernadine SOLD
4440 N Eddy SOLD
3915 E Townsend 135K Pending
