Green Mortgage Program
I am very excited to be able to do my part in reducing global warming by helping my clients finance their homes. With every loan, I offset the carbon footprint of my client's home through several different steps in the program which I have outlined in the section below. Together we all can participate in improving our environment, one loan, one home at a time!
Green Mortgage Program:
(only available in California and Oregon)This loan offsets your "carbon footprint" (link to Making Sense of Carbon Offsets page) when you finance a new home or refinance your existing loan. In other words, when you finance your home loan with me, I will more than offset the carbon emissions given off by the average mid-size home in one year (27,500 lbs) by:
- Complimentary Home Rating which rates your home for energy efficiency, showing you what can be done to make your home more efficient and save you money on your utility bills. ($100 value)
- Complimentary Carbon Offsets in your name, offset $27,500 lbs of carbon emission, (given off by the average mid-sized home in one year).
- Plant Ten Trees in your name - plant fruit trees in developing countries, a low-cost, self-renewing source of food that protects the environment at the same time.
- Contributions to Environmental Reform - Donate 1% of the profit from the loan to the environmental organization of your choice.
- $400 off on yours or a friend's next real estate finance transaction
ENERGY EFFICIENT MORTGAGES (EEM)
The Energy Efficient Mortgage allows borrowers to finance specific energy efficient home improvements and to more easily qualify for home loans because lenders permit the estimated savings on utility bills to be added to the borrower's qualifying income.
For example, energy-efficient improvements could save a homeowner $50 a month. The $600 extra a year could allow a person to borrow about $10,000 more on a 30-year mortgage, depending on the interest rate, says Mark Wolfe, executive director of the Energy Programs Consortium, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that helps coordinate state and federal energy policy.
The energy-efficient mortgage is a traditional adjustable or fixed-rate mortgage, the borrower is allowed to include into the loan the costs of certain energy-efficient improvements, such as insulation, windows and cooling systems. In this way, the borrower can finance the costs (15% - 50% of the loan amount) of these improvements over the life of the loan. A Home Energy Audit or Rating is done to evaluate the home and create a list of energy-efficient improvements that can be done that will save the homeowner money on utility bills. The funds to improve the property are set aside in an escrow account and the improvements are made after the sale of the home.
Also, homes that are already energy-efficient can have a home rating done and the estimated savings on utility bills can be included as extra income for the borrower to use to qualify for the loan.
Some states are also subsidizing loans for energy-efficient improvements. Pennsylvania and Kansas have programs that offer low-interest, unsecured financing for energy-related home improvements such as windows, doors, insulation and air-conditioning systems. In New York State they have a program allows families to qualify for reduced interest-rate loans for up to $20,000.
An Energy Efficient Mortgage can help you become more energy-efficient, lower your utility bills, help the environment, and increase the potential re-sale value of your home.
- The maximum loan amounts are limited to the conforming limits in your state.
- For some high-cost areas in the U.S. the conforming limit has been increased until end of 2008 to $729,750.