Down to Earth Real Estate

A new study released in February 2012 by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) in the USA, showed the market for green homes is expected to rapidly increase.   The report states the following… ‘Green homes comprised 17% of the overall residential construction market in 2011 and are expected to grow to between 29% and [...]

What experience is strong enough for a young teenager to be totally driven to want to change the world?  Why is changing the way we create our buildings so important? An informative seminar on Sustainable Architecture was recently held in Auckland where the founder of the International Living Building Challenge, Jason McLennan delivered his strong [...]

Clean energy is the second fastest growing industry in the world.  It’s second only to the pharmaceutical industry.  In New Zealand we are well positioned to lead the world as our scientists and engineers are at the forefront of developing renewable energy technologies. So what does this have to do with houses?  Heaps!  We are [...]

The environmental performance of your home is measured under the following categories in the Homestar rating tool.   Energy Rewards attributes that contribute to reduced energy use, i.e. energy efficient lighting or energy star rated white ware.   Health and Comfort Rewards home attributes that contribute to occupant thermal comfort, for example insulation, or bathroom [...]

Sustainable Paremoremo Community Meeting  Have you completed your online Homestar™  assessment? How well does your home perform? Would you like to know more about improving the value, efficiency and environmental performance of your home? Homestar™ helps you improve the performance of your home – making it better.  Better to live in, better for the planet and [...]

The first certified homes assessed under the Homestar™ residential rating tool were unveiled this month at an event supported by online property market portal Realestate.co.nz.   As the first qualified real estate salesperson to do the Homecoach™ training I was also invited to speak at the unveiling. What is exciting about the launch of these homes [...]

I recently completed the Homestar™ training to become qualified as a Homecoach™. The course gave me the opportunity to build on my current knowledge and to have access to a tool that I believe will be fundamental in developing a shift in thinking when it comes to making changes in our homes. Homes that perform [...]

When we built our home in 2009, one of the most important aspects I was keen to incorporate was effective use of thermal mass.  Thermal mass refers to the concept of a hard mass material such as concrete or rocks being placed in an area that will receive a good amount of sunshine.  The material [...]

Any home can leak.  It just so happens that many of the homes that have leaked over the past few years have been clad with monolithic plaster systems.  This does not mean to say if your home is clad with a plaster system that it leaks – DEFINITELTY NOT.  There’s a wide range of factors [...]

Woodhill, Rodney, 21 Goudie Rd (off Rimmer Rd) SOLD:  $980,000 Business dictates this property must be sold.  This is an amazing chance to buy a very unique property at this price.  You can say goodbye to electricity bills; it’s totally off the GRID.  Designed and built as an ‘eco-friendly’ home; where money was spent up [...]