News and Insights

We all know that energy efficiency features frequently get overlooked during the listing or appraisal processes. Sometimes it’s due to a lack of data about green features. Sometimes it’s real estate practitioners’ lack of knowledge. And once those unique features are ignored or mischaracterized in the listing, appraisers either don’t value or undervalue them. 

Yes, homes in walkable areas command a price premium, according to Redfin’s “How Much is a Point of Walk Score Worth?” 

It, looked at how much walkability increases a home’s value and found that one Walk Score point can boost a home’s price by an average of $3,250.

When Mary Love wanted to sell her Long Beach, Calif., house 14 years ago, the real estate practitioner who looked at it wouldn’t take the listing. She said the house wasn’t “normal” and thought she couldn’t sell it. 

It wasn’t sleek and designer-y and its repurposed materials, EV charging station, and a roof prepped for solar panels put it outside the mainstream. 

In rehabbing the house, Love had looked at everything with an eye toward going easy on the environment. 

Maybe August feels a little early to be thinking about prepping your roof for the fall and winter. But it’s so much easier to inspect and fix your roof now when it’s sunny and warm than it is to do it when it’s cold and windy or raining or snowing. 

Joan Crowe, director of technical services with the National Roofing Contractors Association, Rosemont, Ill., says that homeowners frequently ignore the roof and start paying attention only when there’s a problem like ice dams or interior water damage. 

If creating a garden has been languishing on your to-do list but you’ve been too intimidated to get started, you no longer have an excuse to procrastinate. 

Garden Tribe, an online gardening education spot, provides the know-how necessary to help you become a successful gardener, regardless of how grand or simple your goals are.