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Green Building Has Taken Off Nationwide! Buyers Want Green Homes!

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Redkey Realty Leaders

Buying a green home is the popular thing to do these days.  Everybody wants to do their bit for the environment.

On the plus side, while being friendlier to the environment often means changing some habits, it can help you save some "green" of your own, the kind that goes in your wallet!

The push in real estate over the last few years has been towards more green housing - iin particular properties which have been constructed to green standards and have green features built in.

In fact, even this year (just a few weeks ago) there was the Living Green Expo 2009 presented by the Porter County Builders Association to promote green building and living in Northwest Indiana Real Estate!

In fact, according to a new study from the U.S. Green Building Council and Booz Allen Hamilton, construction in the green-building industry will support 7.9 million jobs over the next four years while pumping into the American economy $554 billion. Currently, 2 million American jobs are supported by the same industry and more than $100 billion in gross domestic product and wages is generated. From 2000 to 2008, $178 billion in gross domestic product was contributed to the economy and 2.4 million direct/indirect and induced jobs were created or saved which generated $123 billion in wages. Thats a lot of jobs nationwide and a good slice of the economy.

With buildings in the United States being responsible for 39% of CO2 emissions, 40% of energy consumption, 13% water consumption and 15% of Gross Domestic Product per year, making green building a source of significant economic and environmental opportunity to start to reduce those figures now and save some money in the process. With the goal of ALL building to be green.

What does all of this mean to the homeowner? Well, if your home has been modified to include some of the more efficient "green" technologies, it could mean a little more green in your wallet, not just over time in savings from running costs, but also at the close of a sale.

In short, buyers are looking for more energy efficient and greener homes.

Perhaps Northwest Indiana's Real Estate will lead the pack!

You can use our moving truck for FREE!

Comments (4)

James K Barath, CMPS
Canopy Mortgage, LLC - Crown Point, IN
FICO Pro, Certified Military Housing Specialist

Green is definitely on the rise in Northwest Indiana. This years Porter County Parade of Homes showcased The Village of Burns Harbor Planned Urban Development, which is the 1st Nationally Certified Green Development in the country. Let's GO GREEN Northwest Indiana.

Dec 01, 2009 08:41 AM
John Pusa
Glendale, CA

Hi Jana,

Thank you for sharing an informative and helpful post. Happy New Year.

John Pusa

Jan 02, 2010 03:22 AM
Mike Young
203kOnLine.com, covering the USA - Stallings, NC
FHA 203k Consultant 916-758-1809

Jana, 

I agree with you and it is wonderful. I love the shift and we are seeing some pretty interesting things. I have see several cisterns being installed to capture rain water, many more grey water systems, I think we are finally getting it. It is actully fun seeing all this happen as we become better stewards of our communities. M

Sep 20, 2012 01:57 AM
David Brandschain
Long & Foster - Blue Bell, PA

Jana,

Thanks for interesting facts.  I have been waiting for the time to say that the green wave has really caught on.

Mar 20, 2013 09:04 PM