Patreecia Spaulding’s Blog

Last night I attended the Green Biz Alliance meeting at Mountain BizWorks here in Asheville. This is a nonprofit that supports new businesses and offers ongoing help for small businesses.

There were all kinds of interesting green businesses represented: cleaning services, wind spirals (a kind of turbine), various products. There were also people there just interested in seeing what others were doing.

An interactive presentation was made on the various networking opportunities in this area for people in green businesses as well as the services of Mountain BizWorks.

There are a number of great opportunities like this in the Asheville area. Another event coming up is Warren Wilson College’s third annual Mountain Green later this month, June 24th. There will be a full day of workshops, speakers and tents of venders. If you have an opportunity to attend this, you won’t be disappointed. Maybe I’ll see you there!

Above is the most current comparison of the green market to the over all market. The table directly below is greater detail of the current green market. The green homes used in these tables are listed as certified HealthyBuilt Homes in the local Multiple Listing Service (MLS).

The tables below are useful in seeing the general trends of green building now compared to itself about six months ago and a year ago, as well as compared to the total real estate market. The pending-to-active ratio is typically used to indicate whether it’s a buyers’ or sellers’ market. A higher pending ratio means a sellers’ market, but the current pending ratio shows it’s a buyer’s market. Hopefully, you’re a buyer! Now is the time. Just a few months ago the green homes were in a seller’s market, but now as a buyer, you may be in a better position to get the sustainable home you want.

This doesn’t mean you will get a steal of a deal. Look at the sold to list price ratios above in the various price ranges and categories. In some cases homes have sold for as little as 88% of the listing price. Some of these homes have been sitting on the market for a while and the sellers need to sell. You may be able to negotiate a win-win deal of some kind.

In the last year 499 new homes sold in Buncombe County and 52 of them were HealthyBuilt Homes. That’s 10.4% of the new home market, a steadily growing trend. If a person is going to buy a new home, they need to know what to look for – not just a nice design, but durability, energy efficiency and good indoor air quality. They need to work with real estate professionals and builders who understand these things and can explain them. A HealthyBuilt Home may cost more to start with, but in the long run it will have greater value, be more economical and better for the earth.

You can compare the short reports below to the most recent one above to get a feel for how things have moved in the last year and a half

If you need help finding your HealthyBuilt Home in the Asheville area, please don’t hesitate to call me. I have a background in environmentalism with a degree in Environmental Design as well as the local ECO certification as an environmental real estate consultant and the new National Association of Realtor’s GREEN designation.

As of today there are 117 certified HealthyBuilt (HB) green homes on the market in Buncombe County. These are single family residences as well as condos and townhomes. They start at $149,900 (The Village on Haywood) and go way up from there. A wide assortment!

 In the last six month 19 certified HB homes sold. A year ago in the same period, 14 HB homes sold. This shows the growing market for healthy, energy efficient homes! We are moving in the right direction!

Sorry, I don’t have time for more statistics right now, but hope to get back to it soon!

How could I forget to tell you that in March I took the new National Association of Realtors (NAR) GREEN designation course. I’ve been awarded the GREEN designation by the Green Resource Council. In 2006, I received the local ECO Certification for real estate professionals. That training was wonderful - a real opportunity to learn from local eco-professionals about local conditions and local case studies and resources. The national course, taught by Mary Love, was an opportunity to build on that foundation, like a refresher.

When you want to serve the public as a knowledgable professional, it’s helpful to take courses like these. My passion is for all things green, since I was a child, so it’s a pleasure to learn more. I want to be able to spread awareness of sustainable living to all my clients, most of whom are already as passionate about it as I am - but not all.

What I would love to be able to do is spread awareness beyond those who I come in contact with through real estate. I guess I’m a bit of an ECOvangelist. There’s so much we can do to make the world a better place. It doesn’t have to happen just in buying a new home. But, if you are going to buy a new home, buying one that’s already green or one you can make green is the way to go. I’m eager to help people do that and Asheville is the ideal place for it to happen.

I almost exclusively work with people who already have a green interest, but most are coming to the Asheville, NC area from other parts of the country. I can help them understand the resources we have here. Depending on where they are coming from and what exposure they’ve already had to sustainable living, I can pass on what I’ve learned and make referrals to local professionals who can do anything from installing a rainwater catchment system to sealing a crawlspace.

I appreciate what I’ve been able to learn and look forward to being able to keep up with all the green things going on in the Asheville area!

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about green living. It can be at so many different levels. It can be deeply spiritual or it can be just putting a low flow toilet in your house. It can be living in community with other people and families or it can be adding more insulation to your house. It can be participating in a shared organic garden or adding a rain barrel to your house.

There are so many things that are green - and it’s better to have a little bit of something than a lot of nothing.

In today’s economy some of us are thinking about how simplicity can give us abundant living. That kind of thinking is like realizing the value of a small, well-designed home as opposed to a huge one that is built with green materials.

I have a couple of old books that are wonderful, full of simple living wisdom, which I feel is very green: Living More with Less by Doris Janzen Longacre, the author of the More with Less Cookbook; and Your Money or Your Life by Joe Domingues and Vickie Robin. Both are very inspiring.

At this time of year I’m also very inspired just to walk out my door and see the green things growing, the flowers blooming. Nature is so awesome. I feel sick when I see bulldozers indiscriminately tearing down trees and everything in front of them to sculpt the earth. Why not just work with it?

OK, all for now. Hope you’re doing well and enjoying the Earth we live on!

The Western North Caroline Regional Multiple Listing Service now has a form that can be filled out by the seller to indicate various green attributes of property for sale. I was on the committee that worked on this with a group of local green professionals - engineers, architects, etc. The form isn’t what we’d hoped for, but it’s a beginning.

When looking for a home in the Asheville area, you should request one with environmental information if you want a green home. The form has information about the site plan, location, linkages, water use, indoor air quality, materials, design, building envelope, energy consumption, and certifications.

What we hope for soon is that each of the green elements will be searchable and linked to a definition. This way you can actually say you want to know all the homes for sale that have a green feature like a central air filtration system and they will pop up.

Asheville is on the cutting edge of green building and green realtors are helping to lead the way!

Hey, here’s your big chance! On April 26th (my birthday!>) there will be a self-guided green home and community tour offered. Check out the website www.green-hometour.com and download the brochure and map, too.

From 1 to 5 pm you can go from one place to the next at your own pace. Read the descriptions and just pick the ones that really interest you. There’s every kind of home you can want to see. Some aren’t built yet and they will have information at the new Asheville Board of Realtor’s building on Montford Ave, right across the street from the Asheville Chamber of Commerce.

Whether you want a place to retire or a place to bring up your children, there are homes in the country and urban infill. There are homes in community and multifamily situations and homes with lots of privacy.

Even if you aren’t in the market for a new home - yes, these are all for sale - you may still want to visit these places to get some ideas for your dream home that you want to build or remodel. Learn mor about green stuff.

And that’s not all - There will be a seminar on Conservation Based Land Developement also held during the tour, 1 to 5, at the Asheville Board of Realtors. Learn more about that at the website, too.

Let me know how you like it and what you learn. tree@kw.com

We have a lot of trees in our yard and that’s great. I love trees. Hey, that’s my nickname - Tree. Especially in the winter I find these tall, slender plants that sway to be so inspiring. During those months we can see the mountains for 180 degrees from our back porch through the branches of the trees.

Now, summer is coming and the leaves are beginning to emerge. Soon we’ll be under and surrounded by a green canopy and no one will believe us if we tell them there are mountains out there.

The trees will keep the hot sun from bearing down on our house. When I return from downtown I’ll feel like it’s at least 10 degrees cooler when I get out of the car at my house. We don’t use air conditioning. There are real advantages to having all these trees.

But, I love having a vegetable garden. This year I’ve started a whole bunch of tomato and basil plants. I have a little strip of land next to the drive way that gets a little sun. I’ll try the plants there. For the last few years I’ve had plants in pots and I’ve moved them around during the day to keep them in sun, but I’m going to try the semi-shade spot this year. It may not work. Shade does have disadvantages.

Also, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked at our roof. I wish we could put solar panels up there - at least for hot water. But there’s too much shade. Hmmm… Maybe in the winter there would be enough sun.

Well, I guess you can’t have everything. For now, I’ll be happy with my trees.

Coming soon! Don’t miss this great opportunity. A tour of green homes and communities in Western N.C. is planned for April 26th - Hey! That’s my birthday!

I’m creating a website for it and will share the name of it as soon as I can - perhaps by this weekend. I’m waiting for the info and also trying to figure out why it doesn’t seem to be there even though the upload has been successful. Ugh.

If you need a place to stay that weekend you may try Lover’s Loop Retreat.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Right now there are 108 Buncombe County homes listed in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) as certified HealthyBuilt Homes. Of those, 37 are under $300,000! Yes! Finally some of the builders are beginning to get it. We need affordable green homes. Of those 37 there are three that are $150,000 and less!

Most of these are condos - 20 to be exact, but some of the “condos” are freestanding homes - condo-cottages. The green condos range in price from $214,000 to $299,000.

Eleven of the homes are townhomes, connected side to side. They range in price from $135,000 to $289,900.

The green-built single family residences are the smallest group. There are just six right now. They range in price from $237,000 to $299,000. The smallest is 1226 square feet and the largest is 1996 square feet. They have from two bedrooms and two baths up to four bedrooms, two and a half baths. The smallest lot is .08 acre and the largest is .32 acre.

Let me know if you want more info!