Friday, March 21, 2008

An Incentive for Going Green . . .

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This is a welcome sign . . . .


Countrywide Home Loans, a division of Countrywide Bank, FSB, has announced the retail launch of its Green Incentive Program, which will initially be available to qualified homebuyers in thirteen states, including: Alaska, Colorado, Iowa, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

The program provides an interest rate reduction of .125 percent on a Countrywide loan used to purchase a new home that is built meeting recognized green and energy efficient standards.

The Countrywide Green Incentive Program's interest rate reduction applies to newly constructed homes that meet third-party, certified standards of recognized green building programs, including Energy Star, Earth Advantage, LEED for Homes and Built Green programs of local home builder associations, as well as the National Association of Home Builder's Green Building program.

This 1/8 th of a point in interest will save the homeowner with a $200,000, 30 year loan $1,911.60 over the ten years the average homeowner is now staying in his/her home. These savings when added to the energy and maintenance savings of building green, make going green even more financially attractive. And, of course, saving some money is not the only (or even the prime) motivator impelling more and more people to build green.

2 comments:

Rob Wiebusch said...

So is it safe to assume that Leytham will be built to these 'Green' standards?

Anonymous said...

New Slums!

Hey Herb, Howard from San Diego here. I too have read Leinberger's book and came up with this:

Junkhoods

These large swaths of overpriced, vacant, foreclosed sprawling suburbs can be great junkyards for building materials. How green will it be to reuse the housing materials. We won't have to fire another mexican roof tile, frame a new door, or produce drywall until these junkhoods are reduced, reused and recycled. How green can we get?

Use them like off-site mitigation or TDR/TDmaterials program!

Yawhoo!

Love you Herb.