Green homes tour~ the greenest yet!!!

Green Homes tour

September 25th, 2010, 11am – 5pm, followed by a FREE Info Fair at Ecohaus, 819 SE Taylor, Portland, OR 97214 from 3pm – 7pm. This year the tour and fair are on the fourth Saturday in September.

It's the greenest green building tour yet! The bar is rising! Come see what a passiv haus is! Come see homes built on the tiniest of lots (50x50 feet). See a retrofitted victoian completed with the character intact!

current info for real estate

Good job Fred Meyer!!!

Fred Meyer's is running a pilot program that I fully support. They are testing out doing without the plastic bag!!! I only found out about it recently because it is not a my Fred Meyer. I think everyone should support this. Stores can supply paper bags which can be composted. They can also supply bags made of recycled content. Those bags should satisfy people that are concerned about bag breakage as well as keeping things dry. There are plenty of locally made cloth bags that people can use. It is also easy enough to carry a small amount of things with no bag... I do that all the time.

Please support the bag test

email~ bagfeedback@fredmeyer.com

Clackamas county has it right!!!

Clackamas county has been awarded money to rehab houses~ green and to assist low income people. Their strategy is well thought out and provides clear information to the consumer that does not over simplify a complex issue of how to green your home.

This is 2005 not 2010! This was actually posted on Realtor.org

10 Steps to Win Over Sellers
Helping eager buyers get the home of their dreams isn’t so easy in this unsettled market. Here are 10 tips for making sure sellers won’t turn up their nose at an offer:

1. Make sure the buyers are pre-approved for a mortgage (not to be confused with being pre-qualified) so they can close in about 10 days.
2. Study the buyer. Have they made an offer on another home or are they working against any other kind of deadline?
3. Make a clean offer – no requests for help with closing costs or other contingencies.
4. Include an automatic escalation clause – say $500 over the highest competing bid. (Insist that seller show the offers in writing.)
5. Sweeten the offer with a bonus if the deal gets done quickly.
6. Offer 10 percent of the purchase price in earnest money.
7. Waive the appraisal. The buyer will have to be willing to pay any difference between the selling price and what the bank is willing to lend. ((NEVER NEVER HAS THIS BEEN POSSIBLE EXCEPT CASH OFFERS))
8. Consider waiving the inspection.
9. Offer the full list price, preferably in cash.
10. Write a love letter to sellers, telling them all the things your client loves about their home.

Source: MSN Real Estate, Marilyn Lewis (08/03/2010)