Green Building’s Time Has Come
Saving the Planet One Foreclosed Home at a time…
They say there’s opportunity even in crises. This is certainly true for the Green Building market, particularly when it comes residential energy wise remodeling and renovations. Never before has there been such a perfect storm of need and commitment to turn run down energy wasting houses into beautifully economic homes. Green Building stimulates the economy and housing market while turning distressed areas into the kinds of neighborhoods we can be proud of. Reducing energy consumption put money into the pockets of families to provide for their families while raising home values and the tax base for social services.
All these benefits begin with energy conscious renovators with green hearts. Whether you’re a seasoned Green Builder or just getting started, GreenEarthEquities is here to help. Together, we’ll be Saving the Planet One Foreclosed Home at a time….
5 Olympic Rings of Energy Wise Residential Renovation
GreenEarthEquities has a proven track record of going against conventional wisdom and doing Energy-Wise house flipping in today’s market. At a profit. And selling quickly. Don’t get me wrong, It’s not always easy. To win the Gold in this contest, we must do a lot of things right. I liken it to the 5 Rings of Olympic competition. Here are 5 areas that an Energy-Wise House Flipper must master. Failure at any one of them can take you out of the gold category.
1. Buy It Right. This may be where more money is won or lost than any other. It is an uphill fight doing the whole rest of the project perfectly if we’ve paid too much, or bought in the wrong area. In other economies we had to have many strategies to find enough good deals. Today there are plenty of good deals listed in the MLS. Of course we dont pay the asking price. And rarely do we pay the accepted offer price. That’s what the due diligence period is for. I’ll elaborate in a future post.
2. Design It Right. Here is where we choose the things we are going to do and not do in the project. At GreenEarthEquities, we do almost everything there is to do Energy Wise. We call that the “Energy Package” and it costs about $20,000. Then we add the “Wow Package” which allows us to grab the buyers attention because they aren’t seeing these things in the competitor’s offerings. Like Granite, Hardwood, Crown Molding, Chair Rail, etc. We finish with what we call the “Done Package.” Once again it is to stand above the competition with things like front and back landscape with automatic irrigation, new garage door with openers, new faux wood blinds. The weekend after they move in, our buyers can go to the lake, not start in on their project list.
3. Build It Right. Here we assemble our team of contractors and suppliers. They must understand that we need two things, Wholesale Pricing and Velocity. In return they know that we will be providing a lot of jobs this year. For the gold level in this ring, we need to beat Home Depot pricing. Significantly. More on how we do this in a future post.
4. Market It Right. Our marketing is multifaceted with a goal of selling a large percentage of the projects before they even hit the MLS. We work in conjunction with our realtor, doing some of the things she cant. Like planting a construction sign on the property during renovation. Canvassing the neighborhood introducing ourselves and our project. And advertising on Craig’s List and other venues. When we are about two weeks from done, we open it up to our “Preferred” group of realtors. Although not officially listed, they know they will get full commission if they bring the buyer. At this early point, only one home of the first five has gone all the way to full listing. The others have sold before that. The realtors who have seen the three packages mentioned above, want to be alerted of the next foreclosures we buy so they can get their offers in immediately.
5. Sell It Right. This means that we have our exit strategy(s) planned before we even start but have a good level of flexibility to dance with the circumstances that life brings. We have 8 exit strategies in descending order of preference. Of course selling at full price FHA is our first choice. We’ve been blessed and the first three sold that way and the next two are under contract with loan approvals to sell that way also. We are ready to do Rent to Own, Lease Option and Owner Carry financing if necessary. We dont want houses around more than 30 days after they are done. And we prefer not to rent. Part of who we are is “neighborhood builders” and we believe that putting an owner into a home does more to build the neighborhood than putting a renter in that home.
So if we pass successfully thru all 5 Olympic Rings we reach the Gold! Not only do we make some money, we really are doing our part to “Save the planet, one house at a time!”
Additional Information for Renovators
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120515 Assembling Your “A-Team”
Assembling Your "A-Team" Residential Flipping and Leasing Tonight we will talk about team building. Building the team to find, buy, renovate and rent or sell the finished products. As you know, I now live 3,000 miles away from most of the work that GreenEarthEquities has done and is continuing to do. So the only way I could possibly do this is with a great team. Even with my new operation in Virginia, all of the work has been done by the great team I have been blessed to find. We've had a lot of questions like, "How do you find a good contractor that...Continue Reading!
120508 What Would You Do?
What Would You Do? 13 Cedar Round Hill VA The plans have changed on our Virginia Test House. Due to budgeting issues the house has been moved over to be a research project of NREL. The 1700 square foot, two story house is finished with a very tight envelope... but has been waiting for a decision about HVAC to move ahead. NREL will be doing the monitoring of this home, similarly to the Fresno Test House. Their research will primarily focus on humidity, which will be measured in many locations under all types of simulated loads and times of the year. It...Continue Reading!
120501 ACI National & Sacramento Conferences
Affordable Comfort Institute National & Sacramento Conferences Tonight will be all about ACI... Affordable Comfort Institute. We'll focus on 3 areas: Summary of the National Conference in Baltimore Preview of the California Conference in Sacramento (Including hints on receiving one of the Scholarships being offered). The published agenda & list of exhibitors. Preview of next year's National Conference in the Mile High City... Denver. Amy Fazio, Executive Director of ACI will bring a "behind the scenes" perspective on this organization that has grown to be the center of our (Home Performance) industry. Nate Natale, Program Development Manager for ACI will also join us with his perspective on...Continue Reading!
120417 Foreclosure Investing Planning & Preparation
Foreclosure Investing Planning and Preparation Greetings PlanetSavers, Tonight we have a Foreclosure Renovating Expert who has "Been There & Done That." Ron Roberts and I have worked together for many years in various capacities and then 3 years ago I got inspired about the opportunity presented by the Foreclosure Mess. Ron was one of the first people I shared my excitement with and he took off running full speed with the goal of building a retirement income from his foreclosure renovation investments. In three short years, he's met his objectives. He's completed about the same number of projects that I have (15) and has...Continue Reading!
120410 Energy Modeling Isn’t Very Accurate
Energy Modeling Isn't Very Accurate By Martin Holladay Tonight we will consider Martin Holladay's recent post in Green Building Advisor, ENERGY MODELING ISN'T VERY ACCURATE. Martin's blogging is one of the few "must read" sources of Home Performance information available, so I was glad to see him take on this topic. His column is called the "Musings of an Energy Nerd" so you know he's proud of his numbers and "Calls 'em as he see's 'em." The inaccuracy of modeling programs along with the steep learning curve for most of them have caused me to question their place in our industry ever since...Continue Reading!
120327 Investment Property Alerts
Investment Property Alerts 5008 E Home Ave. Fresno, CA As many of you know Dave's attending the 2012 Balitimore National Affordable Comfort Institute Convention. Because of the time difference he'll be unable to do his usual on location interviews with attendees. Tonight, Dave and I will be review our new "Investment Property Alert" package. We'll sample a collection of information on a property we recently visited compiled in such a way as to make it simple for Energy Wise investors to take quick advantage of good deals in the Fresno area. The 7 Page Email Alert features: Cover Sheet: Pictures and Overview Price & Sales Comparables:...Continue Reading!
120320 1000 Home Challenge Interview
1000 Home Challenge Linda Wigington Interview Tonight we will explore the Thousand Home Challenge led by the founder herself. I asked Linda Wigington for a photo and I was expecting a headshot. It's good to know that the leader of the Thousand Home Challenge and ACI is ready to get down and dirty and really knows about crawl space treatment!. The webinar will center around a very useful spreadsheet. Linda will work "live" with data so bring your home's statistics and you'll be able to see how it measures up. We'll discuss various strategies for meeting the Challenge along with costs, paybacks, phasing...Continue Reading!
120313 Wayne Mackey and Linda Wigington Interview
Wayne Mackey Inteview Linda Wingington 1000 Home Challenge This week we have two guests that you won't want to miss. Wayne Mackey: A regular attender who has sent me several good ideas. It turns out that he and his wife have renovated their home and it is the 5th home in the United States to meet the prestigious Thousand Home Challenge. Interestingly the Mackeys started their project and were nearly complete before they even heard of the Challenge. Check in Tuesday to hear what they did and how efficient their home is now. Wayne will explain what they did and what else they...Continue Reading!
120306 ACI 2012 Home Performance Workshops
Affordable Comfort Institute 2012 Home Performance Workshops I'm excited about this year's ACI conference in my own backyard. Well, about two hours away in Baltimore. On tonight's webinar we'll look at the scheduled topics and speakers. I know you'll want to attend. The ACI conferences are as they say, "the center of the industry" and you'll want to be there for a variety of reasons. Free Scholarship Ticket to the Conference: I'm paying it forward. Someone paid for me to attend my first conference several years ago and I've been hooked since then. So the fee's on me for someone who has never been...Continue Reading!
120228 Green Home Reference Guide Part 2
Green Home Reference Guide Part 2 Complexity Vs Simplicity Tonight we will continue our discussion with Debra Little about Appraisals and Appraising Green, Energy Efficient Homes. We will complete the Guide that she uses in the training classes that she conducts for Appraisers around the country. It will lead into a discussion on Simplicity versus Complexity. How complex and complete does an Appraiser's understanding of Home Performance need to be? Can we keep it simple? Or must we (and they) be sucked into the Vortex of Complexity that so easily rises up in an industry with so many variables? Some would say, "Let...Continue Reading!
By Dave Robinson
By Jack Frost
By Andrew Martinez