Green building involves using certain materials and practices that are healthier for you and better for the environment as well. If you’re considering remodeling, you might want to consider going green for your new additions. You can easily complete an environmentally friendly project by following just a few simple guidelines.

1. Recycle as much as you can. You can help cut down on a lot of waste by choosing materials made from recycled products whenever possible. A lot of building materials can be reused and reinforced. This can help you cut down on costs as well as help the environment.

2. Use local materials for your construction project. By using materials from your local area, they don’t have to travel as far to get to you. This helps you cut down on transport costs and it consumes less fuel to move them. Also, since the materials are already adapted to your climate, they will be more durable in the long run, as they remain in their native environment. As an aside, you’re also helping local business grow by keeping your business in the neighborhood.

3. Think sustainable. Did you know that bamboo can grow as much as a meter a day? Bamboo has also been used in construction for centuries, so it’s already a time-tested building material, proven to be sturdy, flexible, and sustainable. Products made from materials like bamboo and cork are better for the environment because they break down easier and they’re natural materials so there are fewer, if any, chemicals involved. As an added bonus, because they’re so plentiful and easy to replace, they’re cheaper for you too, cutting down on your supply costs.

4. Find ways to cut back on water and power use. High efficiency washing machines, dual-flush or low-flow toilets, and other such appliances use less water than their traditional counterparts. This helps you save on water costs. If you have the budget, you might also want to consider installing a system for harvesting rainwater. Low-wattage light bulbs, energy saving power strips, and other devices can help conserve electricity, lowering your power bill as well as being more environmentally friendly. If your budget allows it, consider having solar panels installed, especially if you live in an area that gets plenty of sun. If you have enough of them, solar panels can not only ease your power burdens, but actually generate electricity that you can sometimes sell back to your local power company for profit!

5. Think before you throw away. You might be surprised what other people need. Before you throw anything away, be it building materials or appliances of any kind, make sure nobody else might be able use it. Put an ad up on Freecycle or Craigslist. By giving someone else the opportunity to use these things, you not only have avoided creating unnecessary waste, but you’ve helped somebody else out with their own remodeling project and probably made a little cash or a valuable trade as well. Everybody wins and it’s an environmentally friendly solution.

Only available in Maricopa County, the Home in Five Down Payment Assistance Program

Home in 5 helps individuals and families who qualify obtain 5% assistance towards the purchase of a home. 5% that can go towards a down payment and/or closing costs. Qualified applicants would be able to obtain either a FHA, VA, or USDA-RD 30 year fixed rate loan is long as it is less than $271,000. With 5% assistance, that’s a savings of over $13,000 towards the purchase of a home! Of course, there are certain requirements and income limitations to taking advantage of this program, but if you qualify, you could be on your way to owning a home today! The assistance is non repayable, meaning you don need to pay it back!  

Requirements to taking advantage of Home in 5

• Minimum FICO score of 640
• Maximum Debt to income ratio (monthly gross income versus monthly debts) of less than 45%
• You do not need to be a first time home buyer, but you have to occupy the residence primarily.
• Maximum annual income of $88,000.
• Other eligibility requirements may apply

 

Those who serve in the military, may be able

to take advantage of 6% assistance!

Including active duty military, active duty reserve, active duty National Guard, and qualified veterans

For more info, don’t hesitate to call, text, or email us, or our preferred lender Tyler Arnaiz.

This pass weekend, we held and Open House at 12321 W Canterbury Drive in El Mirage. A gorgeous 4 bedroom 2.5 Bath home in the Gorgeous “toy friendly” community of Grande Mirage.

When listing a home, we like to consider the 4 Ps of Marketing; Product, Price, Place and Promotion. We take our marketing very seriously, and make sure the homes we list look it’s best, it priced aggressively and promote the home as if it were a Bettles concert. 🙂 It all starts with staging and professional Photography. These are complimentary services we provide for all sellers.

We then Flyer and walk the neighborhood, and surrounding neighborhoods to promote out first official event the Open House. There will be a future blog post about how we prepare for a week in advance for all open houses.

Once the Flyers and pictures are complete, we start our online advertising of the property, Trulia, Zillow, Realtor.com, and social sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

We then proceed to over due signage, so the entire public and neighborhood can see and the Open House Event. We use a minimum of 50 signs at all major intersections and high traffic areas.

Once all the advertising is done, we let the party begin! We hold our Open Houses with Food, Music and Drinks, along with our preferred lender. Our preferred Lender Tyler Arnaiz of Prospect Mortgage sets up shop with us ready to answer any lending questions for buyers or take any loan applications.  You come for the Open House, and stay for the accommodations 😉 All in all, the moral of this story is we had over 50 people and more than 7 Realtors® with clients come through. After our 8 hour Open House On Saturday the 21st, be had one Full Price offer on the table. We received 5 more offers at or above list price the following Sunday. If you are a home owner and you decide to sell your home, consider C&C Real Estate Group to get the job done right! 🙂

 

-Cecilia & Camile

Recession and Expansion

There are times when the economy is brisk and everyone feels confident about his or her prospects for the future. As a result, they spend money. People eat out more, buy new cars, and…

…they buy new homes.

Then, for one reason or another, the economy slows down. Companies lay off employees and consumers are more careful about where they spend money, perhaps saving more than usual. As a result, the economy decelerates even further. If it slows enough, we have a recession.
During such a time, fewer people are buying homes. Even so, some homeowners find themselves in a situation where they must sell. Families grow beyond the capacity of the home, employees get relocated, and some may even find themselves unable to make their mortgage payment – perhaps because of a layoff in the family.

Supply and Demand

When the supply of available houses is greater than the supply of buyers, appreciation may slow and prices may even fall, as happened in the early eighties and the early to mid-nineties.
If you are lucky enough to purchase a home during a slow period, you can be reasonably certain the economy will begin to show strength again. At times, real estate values may even surge drastically. In many regions of the country, this is precisely what occurred in the late eighties and nineties.

Should You Try to “Time the Market”?

One problem with attempting to time your purchase to the business cycle is that no one can accurately predict the future. Another challenge is that interest rates are generally higher during a depressed market and income may not be keeping up. For that reason, fewer people can qualify for a home purchase than in more prosperous times.

Why You Should Not Wait

Plus, this strategy generally works best for first-time buyers. People who already have a home usually need to sell it in order to buy their next one. If a “move-up” buyer wants to buy a home during a depressed market, that means they usually have to sell one during the slow market, too. If a seller wants to sell his home to take advantage of a “hot” market when prices are fairly high, they generally have to buy their next home during that same hot market.
It tends to equal out.

Finally, the business cycle can change over time. Since 1983, we have had two fairly long expansions with only a slight recession in between each. You would not want to wait nine years to buy a home, would you? You could miss out on a substantial amount of appreciation by waiting, and end up paying much higher prices.

When conversing with real estate agents, you will often find that when they talk to you about buying real estate, they will refer to your purchase as a “home.” Yet if you are selling property, they will often refer to it as a “house.” There is a reason for this. Buying real estate is often an emotional decision, but when selling real estate you need to remove emotion from the equation.

You need to think of your house as a marketable commodity. Property. Real estate. Your goal is to get others to see it as their potential home, not yours. If you do not consciously make this decision, you can inadvertently create a situation where it takes longer to sell your property.

The first step in getting your home ready to sell is to “de-personalize” it.

De-personalize the House

The reason you want to “de-personalize” your home is because you want buyers to view it as their potential home. When a potential homebuyer sees your family photos hanging on the wall, it puts your own brand on the home and momentarily shatters their illusions about owning the house. Therefore, put away family photos, sports trophies, collectible items, knick-knacks, and souvenirs. Put them in a box. Rent a storage area for a few months and put the box in the storage unit.

Do not just put the box in the attic, basement, garage or a closet. Part of preparing a house for sale is to remove “clutter,” and that is the next step in preparing your house for sale.

Removing Clutter

(Even though it may not be clutter to you)

This is the hardest thing for most people to do because they are emotionally attached to everything in the house. After years of living in the same home, clutter collects in such a way that may not be evident to the homeowner. However, it does affect the way buyers see the home, even if you do not realize it. Clutter collects on shelves, counter tops, drawers, closets, garages, attics, and basements.

Take a step back and pretend you are a buyer. Let a friend help point out areas of clutter, as long as you can accept their views without getting defensive. Let your agent help you, too.

Kitchen Clutter

The kitchen is a good place to start. First, get everything off the counters. Everything. Even the toaster. Put the toaster in a cabinet and take it out when you use it. Find a place where you can store everything in cabinets and drawers. Of course, you may notice that you do not have cabinet space to put everything. Clean them out. The dishes, pots and pans that rarely get used? Put them in a box and put that box in storage, too.

You see, homebuyers will open all your cabinets and drawers, especially in the kitchen. They want to be sure there is enough room for their “stuff.” If your kitchen cabinets, pantries, and drawers look jammed full, it sends a negative message to the buyer and does not promote an image of plentiful storage space. The best way to do that is to have as much “empty space” as possible.

For that reason, if you have a “junk drawer,” get rid of the junk. If you have a rarely used crock pot, put it in storage. Do this with every cabinet and drawer. Create open space. If you have a large amount of foodstuffs crammed into the shelves or pantry, begin using them – especially canned goods. Canned goods are heavy and you don’t want to be lugging them to a new house, anyway – or paying a mover to do so. Let what you have on the shelves determine your menus and use up as much as you can.

Beneath the sink is very critical, too. Make sure the area beneath the sink is as empty as possible, removing all extra cleaning supplies. You should scrub the area down as well, and determine if there are any tell-tale signs of water leaks that may cause a homebuyer to hesitate in buying your home.

Closet Clutter

Closets are great for accumulating clutter, though you may not think of it as clutter. We are talking about extra clothes and shoes – things you rarely wear but cannot bear to be without. Do without these items for a couple of months by putting them in a box, because these items can make your closets look “crammed full.” Sometimes there are shoeboxes full of “stuff” or other accumulated personal items, too.

Furniture Clutter

Many people have too much furniture in certain rooms – not too much for your own personal living needs – but too much to give the illusion of space that a homebuyer would like to see. You may want to tour some builders’ models to see how they place furniture in the model homes. Observe how they place furniture in the models so you get some ideas on what to remove and what to leave in your house.

Storage Area Clutter

Basements, garages, attics, and sheds accumulate not only clutter, but junk. These areas should be as empty as possible so that buyers can imagine what they would do with the space. Remove anything that is not essential and take it to the storage area.

Or hold a garage sale.