Buying and/or selling a home can be stressful. Now, imagine buying and selling at the same time! What? This process can be even more daunting if you need the money from the sale of your good-bye home to put towards your hello home.

What is Green and what does it mean for a home? Green has become a catch-all term for all kinds of things related to better lives for people through better actions. It embodies many different aspects, especially for homes and buildings. Environmentally conscious, sustainable, energy-efficient, water-efficient, resource-efficient, natural, toxin-free, and off-the-grid covers most aspects. No matter which of these, or all of these, means green to you, the outcome is a home that works better for the people who live thereby providing a safer, healthier, and more comfortable living experience.

Do you know what a Green Certified Home is and why it matters? Green Certified Homes have been through a rigorous process to ensure the home and its design, build, systems and finishes comply with an independent 3rd party certification program. This has many benefits, most importantly a home that is safer, healthier, and more comfortable for its people living there. Other benefits include maintainability, durability for the home to last longer, as well as the financial benefits of lower operation and maintenance costs and potential better re-sale. Whichever of these benefits is most important, each offers real advantages for the people living in the home and can help people find a home that works best for them.

What I'm talking about here today is the tendency, habit, proclivity, the propensity of Realtors, when we are working with a buyer who's looking to build new, this tendency to show them what is easy for us to find, what's convenient, what's top of mind awareness or what works in our favor.

The deal with "show me the money" is this. In every given market, although we all know a lot of mortgage loan officers, there are only really a few who specialize in and have the right products for new construction.

The R and R that I'm talking about are Realtors registering a buyer with a builder, putting them on the schedule and then retreating or running away and making yourself so scarce that maybe you don't show up until the closing day or a couple of days before. Hey, good to see you, Mr. & Mrs. Jones. Good to see you John the builder. Let's get this thing done. And that's not really the right way to do it.

Homebuyers cannot find Realtors who actually specialize in new construction. Go figure, right? I mean, wow, how hard can it be to find a Realtor? There are so many Realtors in the market, but when it comes to new construction, there's not that many. If you stay till the end of the blog, I'm going to tell you what our estimate is on how many we think there actually are and how you can begin to step into that role. Homebuyers can't find the Realtors.

A small builder that only builds five or 10 houses a year deserves to be seen as well. The buyers want to know all their options in their local market on something as big as this. They absolutely want to know their options on neighborhoods, and builders, and more that I'm going to share with you in the next blog.

Did you know that for every one person that builds or buys a new construction home, there are five more who say they want to? One who builds, five that say they want to. That's pretty shocking and when we get down into the reasons why they all surround the fact that the buyer feels like it's a very risky experience for them. They can't find the right information, they don't understand the process, and they don't feel like it's user-friendly.

Buyers are typically looking for ways to save a dollar at every turn because when buying a home every dollar adds up. The expenses continue to mount up over the course of the process and buyers are trying to keep it as low as possible. I have been asked many times how important is a home inspection on a brand new house?.  There are varying opinions out there, but below are 4 considerations of how to handle your new home inspection.

Depending on where you live in the United States, the design trends for homes will vary. For homes in Arizona, there are simple design trends being completed in residential neighborhoods that provide both function and style. When considering a redesign or renovation for an Arizona home, a few of these design trends can be added to provide value as well as style to the home. 

Because the roof is an integral part of the home, you want to make sure that your roof will last a lifetime. With the right installation and upkeep, you can have a properly functioning roof that is not only durable but also almost maintenance-free. Below are a few tips to keep in mind when installing a new roof or maintaining your current roof. 

Everyone wishes to one day have a dream home of their own. You may have different ideas in your mind already of what exactly you would want in your ideal home. What is perfect for some, might be loathsome to others. For this reason, a lot of home buyers are opting to have their dream home custom built as opposed to buying an existing house. With this option, you get more of a say in how you want your home to be.

Are you dreaming of your next vacation getaway at a fancy hotel suite where you can lounge in the lap of luxury, surrounded by fancy furniture and delightful décor? Are you drooling over the latest interior design magazines and wishing that you too could indulge in a home renovation to give your modest looking bedroom a total makeover and have it dripping with all the a la mode trends?