One of my favorite sites to find random things cheap is BensOutlet.com – They have right now a solar backup electronics charger for $7.99 + $4.99 shipping.  Who DOESN’T need one of these?

click here to get the deal

I have purchased from both Bens Outlet and 1saleaday.com – The shipping is not as fast as say Amazon.com but who cares when you can get stuff dirt cheap, right?

For now, I thought I would leave a few thoughts regarding the Green Real Estate/Construction and sustainability in general.

• Builders – They need desperate help with their marketing.  Green has become an extremely vague term and becomes more so everyday.  Using the term green will not make you sell.  An email I received recently from a builder had “Extra Bling for the Holidays” as the subject.  Really?  Bling?  *sigh*  No further Comments
• Industry in General – The term green is just, well, it needs to go away.  Green Construction is going to see some legal issues most likely.  If you don’t believe me, just check out the Houston Chronicle article from Christmas Day 2010 with the Attorney doing a Q&A with borderline very wrong information.  It was pretty sad actually.  Most builders that do LEED Homes have very well outlined contracts to help with this.  The side that needs the most help would be the Real Estate side of it.  Perhaps adendums from the Texas Real Estate Commission to help the Realtor community out with this?  I’ve suggested this before as well.
• Consumers -  Well, let’s just say maybe a buyer beware.  Ask a ton of questions.  Information on this blog will forever stay here.  Use it to help you if you want.  Find out what truly makes the home ‘green’.  Ask about offgassing of products,  Energy Efficiency, Insulation and of course certification.  Without the performance testing you truly do not know what you are getting.  For resale purposes the reports help as well.

From a marketing, not real estate standpoint, if you or your company need advice – I’m happy to help.  However, I’m not inclined to work for free so be prepared for a consultation fee.

Cheers to a New Year and New Beginnings.  Posts you may see in the future may be very random regarding things that interest me.  Including something I bought and am waiting to get delivered.  It’s a window weatherization product put out by the Duck company that comes with shrink wrap.  I figured for 8 bucks who could pass it up, right?  But regardless, posts will be no holds barred and fully opinionated.

Honestly, the tidbit on ‘going green’ is not difficult.  The problem with not getting the other 75% to go ‘green’ is because that percentage really does believe that it is difficult.  In reality, it is easy.  The difficult part is having to somewhat change our thinking from instant gratification to considering long term benefits.  The truth of the matter is that we have become a disposable society.  To an extent we have become used to being able to purchase a cheap, for example, washer and dryer.  It may only last a few years, but it gives me money to go out to eat, or buy my child clothing.

We have been told through marketing how we should buy.  Marketing companies have mastered being able to strategically place a commercial on Nickelodeon about how they have added Fiber to their cereal with bright colors and cool animated characters, yet the news of how many chemicals are in the box and how they are not even regulated by FDA goes unnoticed.

I suppose what I am getting at is that we, as a society, do not necessarily *not* want to ‘buy’ in to the Environmental movement, many just do not understand it.  This exact topic I have written about on my site more than once.   Most often everything is equal to tons of CO2.  This is not the only benefit and consumers WILL NOT buy what they DO NOT understand.  The article on GreenBiz mentions Seventh Generation and how they have done well.  That is because they explained their benefit.  Energy Efficiency has done quite well in the arena of Greening up America but that is because people understand ‘Change lightbulb, Save money’.

From here, I am going to point out what I disagree with and why.

1. Socio-Economic rise of women:  This is nothing new.  Women make appx. 80% of the buying decisions in the household and it is suggested in the article that with delayed marriage, etc. this is unsustainable due to the desire for convenience goods.  I assure you this does not have to do with delayed marriage and women working.  This is our society.  Last year I went to a picnic at my son’s school and out of 12 parents, only 2 of us actually packed a picnic.  The rest brought either Lunchables, Chick Fil A or other fast food choices.   To an extent I agree that interruption marketing is the root cause of this.  Instead of blaming it on that though, I again relate it to a changing society.  Even the landscape of family picnic has changed.  The problem that marketing departments face on sustainability is not Women being the buying power, it is explaining benefits.  Cause and Effect, and how we need to get back to our roots.
2. Conservation is Anti-Ethical to a Consumer based society:  WHAT?!  Coming from a ‘green’ site I was absolutely amazed at this statement.  What does recycling have to do with consumerism?  It creates jobs.  What does organic have to do with it?  It creates jobs.  Even reusing items such as swapping clothes on Thredup for kids helps out the economy by using USPS AND reduces the amount of textiles in the landfill.
3. Don’t Divide, Multiply:  This was supposed to be a positive in the article.  It is saying that marketers should not target a narrow market.  I agree, but only if you want to take the fast track to bankruptcy.   Everyone has something that they are passionate about.  Someone looking for energy efficiency and saving money is not exactly the person that you want to market your organic, specialty clothing line to.  Those with sensitivities? Probably.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  Ditch the term green and use real words such as healthy, energy efficient, etc.

Items that I did agree with:

1. Habits are hard to break:  This was a negative but the single most important thing that we should keep in mind while trying to reach either the green consumer or the others in between.  Maybe I am naive but I believe that most understand their buying decisions, whether it be the microwavable lasagna they buy for dinner or a cheap light bulb, is wrong.  We need to maximize on that.  Instead of telling people how hard it is to go green, SHOW them it isn’t.  It does not take anymore time to put a plastic bottle in to a recycling bin than it does a trash can.  If you are going to microwave a lasagna for 45 minutes, try cooking real food in 20.
2. Individuals are a catalyst for change:  Absolutely.  This is why buying local is a huge part of the environmental movement.  Every time you purchase something you are making a decision.  Try out the GoLocalHouston program.  Buy from a local farmer or small business.  Support your local economy and not so much those that ship in products from overseas.   The environmental benefits are endless if you do this.

So my message to green business owners, don’t buy in to the hype.  Do you want to know how to attract customers?  Don’t look at other green companies.  Watch a Zoloft commercial or read the Sunday Coupons.  Heck, even watch your kids’ favorite television channel with them and watch them go nuts over wanting to go to Chuck E Cheese for their birthday party.  That is how you attract potential customers.  SHOW them the benefit, either physically or emotionally, tangible or not.  Don’t tell them.

So, this has me on the look out for new products to use. I’ll be heading down to New Living to pick up some cleaning supplies but I’m also on the look out for Makeup, shampoo, soaps, etc.

Do you have a product that I should try? I’m thinking about doing a series on Turning Houston Green about it if the products can be purchased locally.

What do you recommend? I would like for a full list of ingredients prior to using it though.

Try me at Steph@TurningHoustonGreen.com or just leave a comment. Interested in hearing what kind of alternatives are out there for beauty products in Houston!!

However, the past year or two I have been curious to know exactly to what extent people really care if their Real Estate Professional even has a Designation.

As of March, I will have had the Certified EcoBroker designation/certification for 4 years.  To be perfectly honest, I don’t really care if I have it anymore.  In the beginning I wanted to take the courses to learn more about Green Building.  Since then I have also taken other courses and even a builder designation (CGP) to learn more than the average Real Estate Course will allow you to learn. 

My question and ‘poll’ that I would like to pose – To what point do home buyers and sellers really care about designations and would you choose your Real Estate Professional solely on designation?

But while you can build the healthiest home on the Planet, we also need to consider not only what products we put in our home from Furniture to Cleaning Supplies – But also the food and nutrition that we feed our Body.

Starting this month the New Construction and Remodeling aspect of the Turning Houston Green newsletter will be going over a 4 part Series on how to create a healthier environment inside the home – And while that is great we realize that there are also people wanting to find out how to have a healthier body to go along with that.

In the end, it all seems to come together.  This is why I am putting together some educational sessions for next year on various topics, including being healthy along with green building/buying and selling so that we can all try to find the answers to these together.

The first confirmed Presentation for 2010 is on February 18th at 6:30 pm with Dr. Chris Zaino.   I have had the opportunity to listen to Dr. Zaino speak on a couple of different topics – One of those being how to maximize your Central Nervous System along with integrating diet to stay healthy.  Here is a short bio for him:

Dr. Chris Zaino has a healthy respect for his body, as testified by his past accomplishments as Mr. America, a National level body building title.  His Chiropractic practice is located in The Woodlands, Texas and has devoted much of his energy and life to the education of Health and Exercise Science, which has lead him to his dedication to educate others in the Maximized Living program.  His practice has a wide variety of methods that go beyond the traditional chiropractic care.  Maximized living Christopher Zaino in The Woodlands offers services for people experiencing Fibromyalgia, Herniated Discs, Arch and Foot pain, and Sports Injuries just to name a few.  He is highly skilled in Dietary Counseling, Pain Relief, Musculoskeletal Manipulation and Rehabilitation treatments.  His ultimate goal is to help all people to reach their “God-given health potential through natural chiropractic care”. 

Here is a link to sign up for the Presentation or you can sign up via Facebook.

For now, a presentation is below by Dr. Zaino on how to stay healthy during the Holidays and maybe even lose weight!  Also, the 2010 Turning Houston Green Survey will be going out on December 8th.  We will be giving away a few items in return for feedback including an Energy Audit and Dr. Zaino’s Alive By Design DVD – A 3 hour discussion on how to be healthier by body, diet and fitness.  If you would like to listen to some of his past presentations, I recommend checking out his Vimeo page.

I put together a short video below to tell you what I have going on here but I was wondering if you had about 5 seconds to vote?  These are a couple of questions I have for anyone in the Real Estate Industry.  Can you help?

What are your thoughts regarding Green building?

While this may seem a little harsh, it is the same thing. You only have one shot to win the game that year – Rebuilding or remodeling a house because it was not done right the first time can not only Expensive but not practical if you specifically chose the land for one reason or another, and not Sustainable considering the amount of building material sent to a Dumpsite.

Why spend good money hiring a professional architect and then go with a low bid builder (and yes, folks do that every day). Why buy blueprints off the internet to “save money” and then spend those savings and a lot more money, time and grief making corrections to them once work in underway. Assuming you do not want to build a home to yesterday’s obsolete standards but prefer a home with the highest quality performing materials, products and design consideration available on the market (think Green, not expensive) then be sure to get a licensed EcoBroker Realtor on your team as well. That’s right, a licensed Realtor with the additional designation of an EcoBroker understands that preceding good design and good build comes selecting the right lot and location that will make it all possible.

You see, the concept behind Green Building goes way beyond helping the Environment. The standards and the way it is built is primarily for the Homeowner, You. Make sure that the players on your team are well qualified in the style of construction that you desire starting with who you use to choose the parcel of land, the architect or designer you use can help to maximize energy efficiency all the way down to the builder. Carefully selecting your team can ensure that you are happy with the outcome of the game and potentially save you thousands in the long run.

If you would like to know what GreenHaus Builders can bring to the playing field – I can be contacted at Michael@GreenHausBuilders.com

Michael Strong CGP, GMB, CAPS, CGR
President, GreenHaus Builders
Builder of Houston”s 1st LEED Certified Home