Articles or news that emphasize the economic value of green building.

Numbers, Know-how and navigating LEED in affordable housing

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Join USGBC for a free 3-part webinar series exploring the green affordable housing movement.

– Examine market examples to discover factors driving green affordable housing, as well strategies for success and the benefits to going green when tackling affordable housing projects.
– Explore the synergies between keeping design and construction costs down and building in a responsible, sustainable fashion.
– Identify tools and strategies to finance retrofits of existing multifamily developments while taking an in-depth look at affordable housing and LEED.

All sessions will be held from 1:00 to 2:30 PM EDT.

Oct. 20, 2011

 Driving Smart Decisions in Green Affordable Housing

Nov. 3, 2011

 Financing Green Multifamily Retrofits

Dec. 8, 2011

 LEED Certified Affordable Housing: It gets better every time

Register today »

Each session in this series will be registered for 1.5 hours of continuing education with AIA/CES SD/HSW, and GBCI CMP hours for LEED professionals.

New Appraisal Form details Green and Solar Features

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The Appraisal Institute, the nation’s largest professional association of real estate appraisers, has made it easier to identify attributes of green homes. Last week, they released a form intended to help analyze values of energy-efficient home features. It is the first of its kind intended for appraisers’ use.

The new form is intended to be used as an optional addendum to Fannie Mae Form 1004, the appraisal industry’s most widely used form for mortgage lending purposes. Used by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration, Form 1004 is completed by appraisers to uphold safe and sound lending. Currently, the contributory value of a home’s green features is rarely part of the equation.


“This addendum is another example of how the Appraisal Institute is at the forefront of real estate valuation,” said Appraisal Institute President Joseph C. Magdziarz, MAI, SRA. “It will help the industry standardize the way residential energy-efficient features are analyzed and reported.”

The Appraisal Institute’s addendum allows appraisers to identify and describe a home’s green features, from solar panels to energy-saving appliances. Form 1004 devotes limited attention to energy efficient features, so green data usually doesn’t appear in the appraisal report, or it is included in a lengthy narrative that often is ignored.

Magdziarz pointed out that the Appraisal Institute’s form also will make it easier for appraisers to determine whether recent home sales should be used as comparable sales. Sales that are truly comparable are key components in determining a property’s value.

While the addendum won’t guarantee that an appraiser will raise a property’s value by tens of thousands of dollars for energy-efficient upgrades, it should guarantee at a minimum that energy improvements will be taken into account based on value adjustments consistent with local market conditions. More importantly, appraisers using the new addendum should be better equipped to identify accurate, area-specific comparable sales.

One of the interesting aspects of the form is the emphasis given to describing renewable energy systems such as solar photovoltaic. The form has an area where data collected by the appraiser could easily be used to calculate the net present value (NPV) of the energy savings from a solar energy system.  Other aspects include identification for third-party certifications such as LEED for homes.

Green Homes Cost of Ownership Research

Research – LEED Homes Cost of Ownership

It’s worth noting that this is an optional addendum to a traditional 1004 appraisal form. Hopefully the lending community will embrace this and builders, architects, lenders, appraisers, and other real estate professionals all find value in encouraging the use of this form for green homes.

Download the Appraisal Institute’s two-page green addendum,  which is also listed as part of the Green Real Estate Toolkit.

Learn more about the Green Addendum and how it will be used at a free event on Oct 24, 2012 in Oak Brook, IL.

And don’t forget to review the Green Home Institute research report showing the total cost of ownership savings found from building healthy, efficient green homes.

2011 Energy Star Tax credits

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Anyone building a Green Home or looking to build to the LEED for Homes standard could certainly benefit from the renewed 2011 energy star tax credits for energy efficiency and renewable energy upgrades.

Take a look!

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=tax_credits.tx_index#s1

 

Also, see other LEED incentives in your area.

Finding Green Values

How to find a Green Appraiser

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Finding Green ValuesOne of the key players in the real estate transaction process is the appraiser. Much like a certified green home has a third-party verification, an appraiser provides an independent third-party financial analysis of a home.

However, it’s often difficult for buyers and builders of high-performance green homes to find appraisers that are knowledgeable about the characteristics of the home, can find appropriate sales comps on the Green MLS, and more importantly, who are able to attribute market value based on the home’s performance.

Fortunately this is starting to change. On Earth Day, the Appraisal Institute, a membership and professional development organization for appraisers, announced a call for collaboration to the real estate community. The goal is to facilitate data sharing for others in the financial transaction process (brokers, lenders, mortgage brokers, underwriters, etc). The thinking is that if appraisers can more easily have access to information about a LEED-certified home, that could serve as useful information as a comparable property for another high-performance home that is the subject of a valuation assignment.

An April 28 FoxBusiness.com story discussed how the need for green lending products and proper appraisals is driving a new market niche. The story reached a potential audience of nearly 1.75 million unique online visitors.

To find the best financing for green projects, the article recommended working with brokers, lenders and appraisers who are familiar with energy-efficient products, advising readers to turn to organizations like the Appraisal Institute to find qualified appraisers.

What you can do

So, what can you do to help the process along? First, make sure the appraiser assigned to your case is trained in green building. And second, help the valuation expert find homes that are comparable to yours. If you know of other homes that have been built in your area to any kind of green building standard or energy rated with third-party verification, let the appraiser know about this. It may not be a great comparable property, but then again, maybe it is.

Encourage your lender to share green education events or open houses so their loan officers and appraisers can learn more about local market activity.

Green builders can also help the real estate community by populating their local databases when available. Even a custom home built-to-suit can be listed on an MLS with a listing time of 1 day if the homeowner is comfortable sharing their price data. This can provide one more data point that will help support local market values.

All this and more will help lead to more data on high-performance green homes, such as LEED-certified, which will allow appraisers to identify appropriate adjustments to market value for green homes.

Certified Green Homes Have Price Premium

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In 2007, the Portland Regional Multiple Listing Service (“RMLS”) began tracking sales of homes with a green certification such as Energy Star, LEED for Homes, or Earth Advantage New Homes. The Earth Advantage Institute, an Oregon-based non-profit doing work in the green building sector, annually reviews this information in order to glean home valuation trends.

Specifically, Earth Advantage found that existing homes with a green certification sold for 30% more than homes without such a certification. Earth Advantage also found that new homes with a green certification sold for 8% more than new homes without a certification. The research is based on sales between May 1, 2010 and April 30, 2011.

In addition, Earth Advantage found that of 2,237 new homes sold in the last year in the Portland RMLS area, 408 of those homes were certified to some green standard.  Thus, the Portland area is seeing about 18-20% market share of certified new homes and these homes all have a sizable price premium.

Read the report summary by Earth Advantage Institute.

How does that impact Green homes located in the Midwest? Well first it provides support for general market trends. Furthermore, when you have appraisers calling for collaboration on green home values, and an increasing number of real estate boards adding Green MLS features, local research on cost of ownership, and lenders starting to offer green financing, it paints a pretty rosy picture for continued growth in the green homes market.

Can LEED Save Ohio?

Sustainable Renaissance in OH

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The Great Recession has hammered Ohio. The unemployment rate topped 9 percent in its three largest regions of Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus. And the 2010 Census revealed that the cities of Cincinnati and Cleveland lost 10.4% and 17.1% of their population over the course of the decade. But in three recently released reports funded by Living Cities, CNT found that Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus possess the transportation infrastructure and urban form to spark new and sustainable investment and LEED buildings as the economy recovers. Read more

Habitat for Humanity commits to LEED and Reduces Homeowner Utilities

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Habitat for Humanity Kent County Chapter has been a leader and pioneer in the field when it comes to affordable and sustainable housing.  In 2006,  they built the nation’s first affordable LEED certified home under the LEED for Homes pilot project. Due the success of the first home, Habitat for Humanity Kent Co made an innovative commitment in 2007 – that future families would live in homes built to minimum LEED Silver Certification. Currently, they have surpassed the Silver level and have progressed to LEED Gold Certified Homes as their new standard house.


View/Download Complete project profile with LEED score and checklist here.

The Lee House was deconstructed and rebuilt after a fire had burned down the original home (see below).  Habitat partnered with GRCC Tassell M-TEC students and instructor Duane McIntyre to build this 5-bedroom two story “Gervais” plan. It is “ZeroStep Certified” to be accessible, and also achieved LEED for Homes Gold Certification. Its 52 Home Energy Rating System score makes this one of Habitat Kent County’s most energy efficient home to date.

To date Habitat for Humanity Kent County has achieved great strides with LEED certification. They have built over 300 homes since they started in Kent County and certified 68 of those homes under the LEED rating system. They have registered 83 as of March 31st 2011 (with more to come!).

LEED Gut Rehabs of existing homes:  19
Average HERS score:  62.1
New Construction LEED Homes:  49
Average HERS score:  61.7
Average Square foot of Conditioned floor area:  1,750

This Habitat affiliate has built to the LEED standard in cities such as Sparta, Grand Rapids, Wyoming, Allendale, Cutlerville, Wayland all in Kent County, Michigan.

The latest home was a total gut-rehab project, made possible by the City of Grand Rapids and HUD via the Neighborhood Stabilization Project (NSP). It has achieved the coveted LEED for Homes Gold certification and will offer the hard-working Lee family a very energy efficient home.

A unique post and beam Generations timber frame porch made from reclaimed power poles will grace the front of this home– easily the most challenging rehab project HFHKC has undertaken.

View/Download Complete project profile with LEED score and checklist here.

Due to Habitat for Humanity of Kent Counties commitment to LEED certification, they have been able to attract many more sponsors, donors and volunteers. They have also been able to achieve some great accomplishments.

Deconstruction of homes literally saves tons of usable materials and items from heading to the landfill. These materials are re-sold at the Habitat ReStore for a profit to build other homes.

Thirty young construction students were educated in current green building practices and upon graduation, will bring those skills onto the local construction scene.

Habitat discovered that it costs approximately $8000 more to incorporate green building and zero-step entry into a Habitat home building per house, and that the long-term benefits to the family and the environment easily justify the expense.

It is estimated (based on their earliest LEED Homes) that annual savings costs for electric, water, and heating will be at least $1,000 per home per year.  The extra money available every month eases the hard decision “food or heat?” for families who live close to the poverty line.

Over the life of each homebuyer’s 25 year mortgage, the savings equates to $25,000 at minimum – money a family is able to invest into strengthening their future.

The future looks bright for Habitat for Humanity and Green Building. They now have LEED Platinum and Zero Energy / Net Zero homes under-construction. They are partnering with over a dozen organizations to continue revitalization efforts in the Wealthy Heights Neighborhood of Grand Rapids. They may be looking towards LEED ND certification for their neighborhood redevelopment plans.

Report Shows Increased Value of LEED Homes

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In a newly-released report, the Green Home Institute () analyzed data from LEED-certified homes in the Midwest found that the homes averaged 40% less energy use and utility costs annually when compared to conventional homes.

LEED for Homes - Utility Savings and Value Report

LEED for Homes Case Study Report

From January through June 2010, the Green Home Institute () collected Read more

City of East Lansing now covers LEED for Homes Certification Costs

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City of East Lansing
Green Building Incentive Policy
November, 2010

The City of East Lansing recently adopted an innovative Green Building Policy which requires new municipal construction to attain the U.S Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification. The policy also requires new private development receiving municipal incentives to achieve certain levels of LEED certification. This policy’s goal is to incorporate green building principles into the design, construction and operation of new buildings within the City.

In order to further this mission, the City recognizes the need to provide incentives for projects which do not receive municipal incentives through the existing Green Building Policy. This Green Building
Incentive Policy shall:

1) Apply to new single family and commercial construction projects which do not receive financing incentives through the existing Green Building Policy.

2) Create an annual incentive fund not to exceed $10,000 whose monies will be derived from  a combination of water, sewer and general funds.

3) Ends on December 31, 2012, at which time it will be reviewed to determine the ability to further fund the program and to analyze its effectiveness.

New construction projects which are eligible under this program may apply for a incentive funds which will be awarded after the successful completion of the project and certification of LEED status by the US Green Building Council. The amount of funds provided will be awarded as follows:

• Projects receiving LEED “Certified” or “Silver” status: $1,300
• Projects receiving LEED “Gold” or “Platinum” status: $2,600

A maximum of $10,000 per year shall be available and reimbursement is subject to availability of funds.

This policy shall be administered by the Department of Public Works who shall be responsible for marketing the program, developing application procedures, and providing an incentive award to participants who have satisfied the requirements of the program when funding is available.

East Lansing also provides incentives for tax increment financing funds, Brownfield redevelopment funds (Worth LEED points), community development (Worth LEED points)block grant funds.

For more information Contact:

Dave Smith
Environmental Specialist
City of East Lansing
517 337-9459
dsmith@cityofeastlansing.com

Financial Incentives for Green Remodeling

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It’s no surprise that there are a lot of incentives out there for folks that are doing any remodeling that help encourage green strategies – everything from tax credits, tax deductions, rebates, grants,  municipal incentives, and more!  The USGBC Illinois chapter has been working on pulling much of this information together into an educational seminar that will be held Tuesday, Oct 19 in Chicago’s north suburbs. If you are a builder, designer or remodeler looking to capitalize on green building and better serve your clients, this is the event for you.

Read more