The great news is that one of the most important keys to successfully greening America’s current stock of housing can be found in using the 203k loan, and along with it, the Energy Efficient Mortgage. The 203k really is the “Green Mortgage” since it offers a practical, cost-effective solution to providing funds for these improvements.
via RISMedia.
Dennis Kefalinos purchased the 2.2 million square foot Russell Industrial Complex for $1.5 million in 2003, gambling manufacturing or industrial tenants would appear. They haven’t.But seven years later, he has filled 25% of the factory with artists and small businesses who pay $550 a month, heat included, for 1000-square-foot studios / shops. And he didn’t pursue this angle. The tenants came to him, one at a time, at a rate now of one new tenant a week.
via Agent Genius
Jim Stauffer, a painting contractor in Lincoln, estimates the new regulations and lead-containment requirements could boost the price of painting an older home by as much as $1,000.
via Journal Star.
Even so, the rule illustrates how EPA is currently driven more by progressive ideology and bureaucratic inefficiency than common sense. The rule requires that any renovation of any building built before 1978 affecting six or more square feet of paint must be overseen by a government-certified renovator and conducted by a government-certified renovation firm. Certification requires completion of an EPA-approved training course and payment of a fee to the agency.
The rule applies to anybody — including painters, electricians, plumbers, and carpenters, plus general contractors and property owners — who “disturbs painting” in covered structures.
via Washington Examiner.
The home improvement and remodeling industry will be the darling of the housing sector in 2010. The plunge by the housing sector took the home improvement industry with it as it fell more than 30 percent from its peak in 2007. It looks like the home improvement industry will bottom in the first quarter of 2010 and then rise from there.
via Seeking Alpha.
[But what about the affects of the EPA Renovator Rules?]
And like many investors he knows the simple wholesale/rehab formula which is to buy a house at 65% of the after repair value and then subtract the repairs, etc.
However, if that’s where you stop, you’re in big trouble and you might not stay in this business very long.
via Bigger Pockets
Improbable as it sounds, house flipping—that hallmark of American real estate mania—is making a comeback. All around the country, but especially in some of the regions hit hardest by the housing slump, investors are swooping in on distressed properties and banging them into shape for sale to first-time home buyers, vacation-home seekers, and people looking for rental income.
via BusinessWeek.
“The letter reports that EPA currently has only 135 accredited trainers and 13,669 certified renovators nationwide, although its own estimates indicate that it needs at least 200,000 or more certified renovators. “Obviously, these numbers are far too insufficient for the millions of renovations carried out annually, even without a substantial retrofit incentive program like Home Star,”
via Window & Door.
