Historic Low Mortgage Rates and You

This writer’s customary commentary on green building and sustainable site design and construction is being pre-empted by the “green”, as in $$$, that may be available to you as the result of recent record low mortgage rates. These record-setting rates now are as low as 4.25% for 30-year, fixed rate financing, below 4% for 15-year fixed rate mortgages and as low as 3.6% for an adjustable rate mortgage. And while financial analysts and commentators have reported this news, none that I have seen have “connected the dots” to explain the significance of this temporary gift from the financial markets for anyone considering refinancing an existing home or purchasing another home.

Chesapeake Bay Water Quality Polluted by Feckless Politics

Understanding Maryland’s approach to improving Chesapeake Bay water quality is made easier if you put yourself in an alternate fictional scenario related to vehicle fuel efficiency:

Imagine that you live in a state that has decided to become the national model for vehicle mileage efficiency. A substantial majority of fellow citizens in your state drive Hummers, whereas you are among a small minority of state residents concerned with fuel efficiency and you drive a Prius.

"Peak Oil" and Us

Separate threads from articles appearing over the past two weeks in the “The Economist”, “Bloomberg Businessweek” and the Wall Street Journal tie together the conclusion that recent trends in energy costs again are lulling us into a misplaced sense that there is plenty of time to get our collective energy act together.

If one makes energy decisions simply based upon current headlines and the price of gas at the pump it is easy to act as if there is no urgency to upgrade home energy efficiency substantially or make changes in lifestyle based upon the cost of energy. Gas prices are touching on the $2.50 per gallon range and may fall lower and electricity rates may even decline slightly in 2011. So, am I, and others who believe there is an imperative to live a more green and sustainable lifestyle, simply doing a good impression of “Chicken Little”?

Chesapeake Bay Water Quality Degraded by Politics

There is perhaps no better example of political failure to address a real issue in a meaningful way than Maryland officialdom’s politically driven regulatory approach to Chesapeake Bay water quality. It professes its deep commitment to long-term improvement in Chesapeake Bay water quality, while ignoring the principal current source of Bay water quality problems. Remarkably, the Maryland legislature, the Maryland Department of the Environment and the State’s governor have embraced and adopted new storm water regulations, the sole measurable effect of which will be the radically increased cost of any form of land development within Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay watershed, with an imperceptible effect at best, on Bay water quality.

What “Climategate” Means for Us

Does the revelation of falsification of carbon dioxide data by renowned climatologists diminish the necessity for radically more “green”, sustainable living? In a word, “No”!

Does the false data on carbon dioxide that created an academic scandal for certain climatologists undermine the case for global warming? Not necessarily, though it certainly causes some conclusions of the most ardent believers in global warming to be regarded as premature, if not called into question. But, did the case and the imperative for more “green”, sustainable living ever depend on the premise of global warming? No! Not if you appreciate the significance of world population trends.

The Green MLS Tool Kit

An article in the April 21, 2010 edition of the Frederick News Post reports on “The Green MLS Tool Kit” initiative of the National Association of Realtors, which was a national collaboration on which I had the pleasure of participating.

Your Utility Company May Be Making You An Offer You Can’t Refuse, But If You Haven’t Been Reading Your Utility Bill Inserts…

You likely are in good company. But being in good company in this case only means that a lot of Allegheny Power customers are unaware that the electric utility serving most of Frederick County, Maryland wants to give you money.

The money to be found with Allegheny Power comes from two sources:

• Rebates for purchase of qualifying Energy Efficient Appliances and heating/cooling equipment and
• No-cost to Low-cost Energy Performance Programs

Leaving the Myths of 2005 Behind

What home ownership could not sustain in 2005 - 2007 is the myth that housing is just another financial investment in a commodity that offers a quick, risk-free return, which readily can be converted into cash; and that this commodity investment is best made through the maximum use of other people’s money and none of one’s own.

Real Reasons for Home Ownership Re-Discovered

Join me in considering as the silver lining that can be found in the burst real estate bubble. That silver lining is that the benefits of owning a home are as true today as they ever were--only now the goals of ownership are free of the “make a killing” investment helium that pushed the real estate bubble to unsustainable heights.

As one of humankind’s three basic material necessities, “shelter”, in the form of the American home, was comparatively free of investment hype for the greater part of the 20th century. To be sure, home owners often experienced a degree of home price appreciation, but the appreciation was modest and the notion of real estate being a corner pin for wealth accumulation was secondary to more fundamental, non-monetary considerations. Rates of home price increase generally tracked rates of increase in the replacement cost of new construction, with those increases generally reflecting inflation in the range of 1½ -3% per year.

Land Use and Land Planning

Land use and land planning architectural decisions based on the combined principles of “Less is More” and “Design With Nature”, result in:

• Less disturbance of a site’s pre-building vegetative features by conscious choice, which in turn yields “more” in terms of visual aesthetics, “more” capacity for mature vegetation to process carbon dioxide and release oxygen into the atmosphere, “more” corridors, food sources, protection and shelter for wildlife, “more” biodiversity, more shade and protection from the elements for the homes of community residents and the potential for more property appreciation, which typically is characteristic of properties having more intense and mature landscaping, whether natural or planted.

Design With Nature

That Seawright Homes takes the “Design With Nature” principle to heart can be seen in the environmental conservation and land planning awards and recognition given to our new home communities:

1982: Woods Landing on The Little Magothy, Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, MD
Grand Award, Environmental Landscaping - Metropolitan Washington Landscape Contractors Association

1988: Woodspring at New Market, New Market, Frederick County, MD
Maryland State Office of Planning

1990: Woods Landing on the Little Magothy
White Oak Award - Maryland Department of the Environment recognition for best statewide example of voluntary forest conservation.

Seawright's Philosophy of Home Building and Community Creation

Welcome to Seawright Homes' blog! For our first post I wanted to describe our take on home building and the environment. After reading our philosophy, which guides our approach to our work, I hope that you'll share your thoughts and ideas about sustainable home building as well.

Since 1972 Seawright Homes consistently has walked a green path. That path, now marked by "green" catchwords, is one that we have followed for more than 37 years out of a sense of "stewardship" for the land and our natural environment. As a "North Star" by which to align values and actions, the concept of stewardship has been the guiding principle for our achieving green and sustainable results in home building and community building well before a "green vocabulary" took on its present meaning and significance in a social lexicon.