Shasta Association of REALTORS®

As a REALTOR you are expected to be a community expert. Just as you must educate yourself about our school system, utilities, and taxes, you should also know about our local mass transit, and demand response system. Our featured guest at the Shasta MLS General Member ship meeting is Evelyn Peterson of the Redding Area Bus Authority. Do you know what it costs to catch the ride in your neighborhood? About how often do the buses run, and how far apart are their stops? How much to

transfer to a different city? All these questions and more were answered at the meeting. We’ve made arrangements for those who were unable to attend to listen to the meeting on a webcast. The talk runs about 14 minutes, and is time well spent. Your MLS Program Committee is making sure you are informed as a local transit expert. You can find the webcast down below the RABA map. You can also get more information at their website:
http://www.rabaride.com/
Thanks to all who helped with this great presentation. Skip Murphy

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

We have until March 26 to convince Google that Redding is the community they need to wire for high speed internet. Being selected would really put us on the map for clean tech development, and would be an unmatchable local economic boost. Please click on the link to nominate our community, and share with everyone you know.

http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/options

Our goal for 2010 is to align the members of MLS with “GREEN” practices and education, and to also represent our members in the public world as something other than “commission collectors”. Our first step is to present a “Green Mile” moment, much like the “Mortgage Minute” each week at MLS. Our first presentation was 3/10/2010 in front of MLS. We have asked to be a standard on the agenda each week for MLS. By year’s end, those who attend the General MLS Membership Meetings will at least know how to spell GREEN.
We hope to man a table at the June 21st Energy Fair forming an alliance with the public and MLS by being the informational “go-to” booth, and generally promoting good will.
We have developed 9 separate presentational ideas to be presented at 6 separate MLS meetings, as educational comments on the GREEN movement. Hopefully, our first presentation of this type will be presented April 27th, and continue through November, 2010.
We have already developed ideas/categories for the listing “input” form which are for GREEN homes categories. We are using sold or current listing that were green homes, not green-washed, as examples. The need for this will soon be upon us as builders install solar, tankless hot water heaters, no VOC paints, xeric landscaping, and build with sustainable house framing techniques, like using concrete for walls insulation and thermal mass.
We are trying to think ahead: the GREEN movement equates to i-pod, i-phone or texting, or even back to the computer in 1970—you old timers certainly remember Helen Ferrier, don’t you? She and Mike Braden over at Red Carpet on Bechelli Lane were instrumental in bringing the computer and MLS to their wedding night. The pessimists said it would never take over. And now, we assure you that teachers are not teaching wasteful practices; rather they are teaching about GHG, recycling, saving water, our carbon footprint, renewable resources, saving for future generations.
And, we voted in one new member 3/10/2010: Steve Crosetti. Welcome. Learn more about our group and our mission at the Green Committee page here. Contact any of our members with your ideas and information to help further our goal of spreading awareness of Green practices. That’s some of what we’ve done so far, but you’d better watch us as we could be out of control quickly! Nedra Soos

On Wednesday March 4, the General Membership Meeting of the Shasta Association of REALTORS featured Jonathan Bell of USLending (530) 366 8658.

He offered information about Energy Efficiency Home Loans (EEM). These loans allow a homebuyer to add funds on their home mortgage specifically to upgrade the home’s thermal efficiency and energy usage. Jonathan has worked hard to become a local expert on the subject, and has lined up a group of specialists to do the work before and after COE.

In a typical scenario, your buyer wants to buy a home built with older, lower energy standards. Using an EEM, the buyer can add up to about $13K in improvements to insulation, HAVAC, etc. to bring the home up to modern energy standards. The Home Energy Rating System (HERS) audit reveals that improvements can save substantial money on their monthly utility bill, which offsets any increase in the monthly mortgage payment created by the EEM. In addition, rebates and tax advantages can apply. Unlike a 203(k) loan, the improvement work is done after COE and the entire upgrade process is transparent to the seller, and painless to the buyer.

So, in addition to providing substantial long term financial benefit to the buyer, the EEM enables more local homes to be upgraded to a more environmentally friendly state and reduces their carbon footprint. Jonathan showed examples of how the program has worked on his own home, reducing his power consumption and monthly outlays. A WIN-WIN program, all around. You can help spread the word about EEM. We’ve arranged to have some of his presentation available here to you as 2 pdf files at the links below:

EEM-Financing
EEM

Another great REALTOR educational opportunity, and one that’s good for our clients and our environment. The meeting was moderated by Esther Auerbach, and refreshments were provided by Lisa Justason (800) 443 5599 of Buyers Protection Group Home Warranties. Thanks Lisa!