Housing « Noel's Green (make that SUSTAINABLE) Blog

Thanks Frankly

FranklyMLS.com is a superb web site that I use for searching and analyzing residential properties in this, the DC/Maryland/Virginia region. It’s my favorite tool because it is fast, easy and returns latest MLS data in a format I can analyze in Microsoft Excel, text and numericals. No gobble-dee-gook. Other web sites [...]

LEED Certified residence

Here is an exciting example of green design filled with good ideas.

This LEED certified home in Arlington is also an beautiful example of how a lower carbon footprint looks and how utility bills can be lowered to almost nothing.

Is it ironic that the house is listed for $1.175 million but the utilities [...]

Small is beautiful: Ductless mini splits

Homes and small commercial buildings may benefit from the application of ductless mini splits. What the heck is that? I was watching one of those TV programs on renovating homes the other day when a discussion came up about air conditioning an attic room with low ceilings and small windows. Someone suggested a [...]

Dysfunctional Multiple Listing Service

Lately, we ( my partner and my team) have been looking daily and diligently for rehab properties, and making offers (or trying to ) on the ones we like.

However, a peculiar thing is happening with bank-owned (REO ) home in northern VA. There have been rumors of dishonesty and unscrupulous operators. And we are seeing some evidence of this as well.

The banks have been telling us as shareholders and borrowers, that all homes will be marketed as widely as possible, using the MLS. I do not see how that is happening.

Continue reading Dysfunctional Multiple Listing Service

Crawl Spaces and Moisture – lets get them separated

I have been seeing more and more use of a dramatically different but simple solution to the age old
problem of how to best construct a crawl space. Years ago, I decided that they were evil,
but I seem to end up with them in so many buildings that I work on. There are better solutions, especially as we learn how new high performance homes are being constructed.

This week I am faced with proposing a solution to a flooded crawlspace in a 40 year old 2000 sq. foot home a friend wants to rehab.

One problem is the high water table immediately around the house. The backfill soil surrounding the house apparently had a high water retention. And also the rainfall recently has been incredible.

Here is a foot of water in the crawlspace we have to deal with.

Flooded Crawl space

We have to pump it, that’s a fact we cannot change. We need to eject the water a far away as we can get it.

I’d like to always promote best practices, so I prefer the crawlspace be retrofitted with a sump pit and pump, (after its cleaned and remediated, of course).
moderncrawlspace
I’d like a durable, flexible waterproof liner attached to the floor and walls, permanently sealed foundation wall vents, and, if at all possible, insulated walls with 1.5″ thick polyisocyanurate board (just short of R-10 as recommended by the US DOE ). But I am not sure we can do that on foundation walls that have sitting in this much water. The recommendations seem to apply better to new homes more than to retrofit like this. (Folding the vapor barrier into existing joints is not possible, but we can look for alternatives and be creative about that detail.)

Continue reading Crawl Spaces and Moisture – lets get them separated

Aha! A national MLS database does NOT exist

An interesting web site Denver Home Values made this 2007 commentary. Its a bit dated, but it discloses the lack of widespread standardization of the data.

“The difficulty of dealing with the many legal and technical issues has not prevented a few national real estate conglomerates from attempting to build a national database [...]

Depressing reality of the recession

Am I imagining this?
Is this ridiculous or what? New homes?!

During the week of April 26th, Texas-based Guaranty Bank demolished about a dozen new houses in California. I don’t understand how or why they could not find [...]