Non-Disposable Housing

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It’s typical of our culture to replace rather than reuse; this applies in all areas, such as clothing, vehicles, food, housing, and more. We live in an essentially ‘disposable society’ where the norm is to replace or be rid of items that are arguably dated or ‘useless’ rather than exploring their potential for renewed usage. Another example is buyers who purchase properties simply to demolish and rebuild on the same land rather than building on the existing residence’s foundation or making renovations and improvements to it instead of executing an entire rebuild.

Developments such as water towers, which were a social necessity once-upon-a-time, tend to fall through the cracks of time, awaiting their impending demolition days to make way for new developments, homes, businesses, etc. However, it would appear that the concept of re-vamping older buildings rather than destroying them seems to be catching in some circles; and though these may not be the most practical lodgings, they regardless set a positive precedent for prospective investors and developers alike in terms of sustainable consciousness and development.

Instead of destroying these old structures, investors and developers have transformed each of the following water towers into appealing lodgings, while avoiding the costly and ineffective process of deconstruction and reconstruction. To learn more about each of these modernized water towers, just click the links below the photo to go to their original articles.

all images and articles courtesy of TreeHugger.com


http://www.treehugger.com/green-architecture/water-tower-converted-superluxe-london-home.html


http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-product-design/water-tower-house-by-jo-crepain.html


http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-product-design/water-tower-repurposed-into-house-with-lots-of-stairs.html


http://www.treehugger.com/green-architecture/tom-dixons-water-tank-house.html

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Stop Forcing It

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One of the main issues with the market right now (besides it’s obviously ‘flattened’ state) is that people can’t seem to come to terms with the fact that their property isn’t worth as much as they think it should be. Startling, but true. This mentality unfortunately appears to be budding because, for some reason or another, sellers seem to think that by selling for less than what their property was worth when the market peaked (or less than their own made-up magical number), that they’re going to be out on the street once they sell, unable to afford a suitable home…Newsflash: The whole market’s doing bad, not just your property.

When the market takes a dive the only way to build it back up is for the inventory to keep moving…otherwise we just end up with a bunch of broke angry people who’ll die of old age in the properties they never sold. It’s a very rugged reality, and we’re compassionate for you, but by sitting there and trying to force a high market price for your property, you: a) aren’t going to sell your place, because (surprise!) the comparable market value of similar properties will obviously be set lower, leaving no buyer in their right mind with a reason to spend another $30k-$50k on your property, and b) contributing to what’s turning into a serious housing traffic jam.

Whether you like it or not, as a seller, you can make a choice. You can choose to sell your place, deal with the loss, get a new one, wait for the market to recover and cash in then; OR, you can stick it out, stay grumpy, and hope that you’re still around when your property value finally ‘comes back’.

So, this goes out to all sellers who are giving buyers headaches with this issue: Please keep in mind that it’s not just your listing price that’s low. It’s everybody’s. Just by taking a bit of a dive from your ‘magical number’ doesn’t mean you’re going to be homeless. It means you’re going through the market recovery motions. You’ll still be able to find a new place at a reasonable price, so don’t sweat it and bite the bullet already! After all, they call it a competitive market for a reason.

 

image courtesy of skidkid

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Eco-Housing Done Right

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Gizmodo recently compiled a photographic series of sustainable and eco-friendly houses from around the globe and we enjoyed them so much there was no way we weren’t going to share them with you. Follow the link below to check out the rest of these beautiful and interesting houses. Here’s some of our favourites:

Greenwich Millenium Eco Village, London

 

Richard Carbonnier’s tubular eco-house in Pond Inlet, Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada

 

Eco house, Parc Jean Drapeau, Montreal

 

Check out the rest of these interesting eco-houses right here: http://gizmodo.com/5978598/21-amazing-off+the+grid-houses

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On The Edge of Our Seats

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This coming month, President Barack Obama is expected to make a decision on whether or not to approve the Keystone XL pipeline; a pipeline project that would span from the Alberta tar sands all the way to Texas. Though it may not appear to be the case, this approval or disproval is a big deal for environmentalists worldwide.

We’re siting by and waiting on the most powerful nation in the world’s decision, not only on the Keystone Xl Pipeline, but on whether or not they will continue to perpetuate the usage of fossil fuels, and empower the industry surrounding them which has systematically exploited the resource to the point of creating a global climate change, or whether they’ll turn a new leaf and look to more sustainable energy and industry as their new direction going forward.

In light of the impending decision regarding the pipeline, environmentalists have released two recent reports outlining the potential detriment the project will bring, and it looks at lot worse than expected, and are strongly urging the President to take these into account during his decision-making process.

“Filling the Keystone XL pipeline with oils and crude will create significant greenhouse gases regardless of whether other transport options move forward,” said Nathan Lemphers, a researcher at Pembina. “Because Canada does not have a credible plan for responsibly developing the oil sands, including reducing emissions so Canada can meet its climate commitments, the pipeline should not go ahead.”

Clearly there’s a huge back-and-forth regarding this issue. We’re just hoping that President Obama can grasp the scope of his decision. Should he refute the pipeline, he would be setting a standard and example for countries worldwide, save not one, but two countries from negative environmental impacts,  and furthermore prevent the burning of these massive potential amounts of fossil fuels which affect the globe.

Should he accept the proposal…well, let’s just wait and see.

image courtesy of dipfan

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Groundbreaking Sustainable Living Space

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Gizmodo featured an article this morning that caught our immediate attention – a walk-through of a 350 square foot apartment that’s been customized to fold and expand into up to eight different rooms. To boot, the apartment’s owner is the founder of treehugger.com.

The reason this landed to well with us is the obviousness of how innovative apartment designs such as this one is the shift in direction we should be going to secure a sustainable future. Not only does the space serve multiple uses in such a confined space, but the ability to do so may be exactly the innovative construction method required to prevent future housing shortage crises.

Maximizing this amount of space is not only effective for the inhabitant, but for the rest of the building, as if each apartment were optimized in such a manner it would be startling how much smaller the building would in fact need to be. In other words, we should consider this method in order to improve the number of apartments that are able to be developed within new buildings as large expansive spaces become a thing of the past…maybe.

Obviously there will always be a market for more outlandish properties. However, if the option were readily available to optimize a living space in the same way as the apartment in the video below, it wouldn’t be surprising if there were a positive shift towards this design alternative in order to save money on square footage, and to take full advantage of every inch.

GIZMODO – The Tiny Transforming Apartment That Packs Eight Rooms into 350 Square Feet from Gizmodo on Vimeo.

For more real estate and environmental news, follow us on Twitter @enviromint.

image courtesy of Gizmodo.

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Agents Need To Step It Up

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Technology has revolutionized many industries throughout the course of time. It’s permitted for the development of new realms of employment and opportunity, while simultaneously doing the exact opposite. We’ve replaced bank tellers with ATM’s, cashiers with automatic registers, industrial workers with computerized assembly lines and manufacturing technologies, accountants with accounting software, and now potentially real estate agents with online buying and selling platforms.

Services such as BuyerCurious.com are clearly out to replace the age of the agent. This web-based platform allows for buyers and sellers to execute efficient real estate transactions and services while taking agents out of the picture in every aspect. Why? To remove the commission rates and keep more money in everybody’s pockets. Well…everyone except the agents. Though this service hasn’t reached Canada yet, one can only predict that the appeal this style of product offering has will entice the development of a Canadian version thereof in the near future.

The livelihood of real estate agents is sadly coming to a crossroads where the incessant usability improvements and revolutionary concepts applied to publicly available online services are threatening their existence. So now we need to ask ourselves: Will real estate agents make like the dinosaurs and run from the asteroid, or rise up and literally fight the machine?

This question has no easy answer, but it’s becoming very clear that if real estate agents want to stick around and justify the commission rates they reap they need to pick up their socks and present unprecedented value and services to their clients; things that websites and computers will never be able to provide. Obviously commission rates are a touchy topic, hence the public’s weening away from them, so to earn these rates agents need to renew their personas into that of marketing experts on their clients’ behalf rather than playing the typical role an overpaid tour guide.

To stand the test of time agents need to step up their game or pack up their things…there doesn’t seem to be much middle-ground at this point. Have some ideas on how agents can overcome this technology wave? Shoot us a reply in the comments below or on Twitter @enviromint.

image courtesy of DucDigital

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A New Year For Sustainability

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Headed into 2013, there’s a seemingly increased incentive on behalf of some large companies to improve their sustainable policies and pushing harder on recycling materials.

For instance, Starbucks has announced that this coming Thursday, $1 re-usable plastic cups will be available to consumers at their cafe’s. Being largely responsible for unfathomable amounts of paper cup waste, this is most certainly a step in the right direction to encourage sustainable behaviour amongst the organization, and more importantly their consumer base. Looks like Starbucks is taking a page out of our book and making an effort to #gopaperless headed into 2013 in order to earn their keep in the battle against the current climate disaster, which seems to get shakier every day.

NASA has also displayed a heightened interest for similar policies, as they have started a space recycling program wherein old parts are being recycled in space to develop new materials. Another step in the right direction headed into a fresh year.

Construction has taken a step in the right direction already this year with a slight shove from some bright minds. For instance, the following office building was built using predominantly shipping containers…brilliant. Instead of creating a need for new materials, encouraged re-usability of existing resources is where developments need to be aimed in order to prevent a mass exhaustion of resources, while conveniently displacing most likely unused materials and giving them new purpose; a recipe for a brighter future.


© Playz Architects/ Bartosz Kolonko via TreeHugger

Any other inspiring environmental efforts being put forth? Let us know in the comments. We’d love to hear from you, so don’t be shy.

For more environmental and real estate news, follow us on Twitter @enviromint.

 

image courtesy of epSos.de

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Easing Your Way Into 2013

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The end of the world never came, so here we are back to the grind at the start of what we’d like to hope will be another great year.

One of the biggest issues with the new year is getting back into work mode. Everybody suffers from this (you’re lying if you deny it) including ourselves, so we’ve decided to pass along a few tools that will help ease the blow and keep your productivity optimized. We’ve gathered a compilation of some of our favourite extensions for our favourite browser: Google Chrome.

Not a Chrome user? You should be. Here’s a few Chrome extensions and apps to take some of the pain out of your first days back at work.

Short Link Getter: Does it drive you insane when a colleague passes a link along that’s about as long as the first chapter of Lord of the Rings? Fear no more. The Short Link Getter is the perfect tool to add to your browser to have a short URL for whatever page you’re on with the click of a button. No more are the days of copying, pasting into a shortener, re-copying your tiny URL, and sending it off. Just click, copy, and paste.

Google Mail Checker and YouSendIt For Webmail: Like us, many use GMail to keep our e-mail in order; personal or professional. With these two plugins, GMail just got even better. Receive instant inbox updates right to your toolbar with the Google Mail Checker, preventing having to incessantly check your inbox to see if you’ve got mail. Now, you just know. Have trouble sending large files through GMail? Just download the YouSendIt for Webmail extension and watch your fears melt away. Easily attach large files right to your GMail to share them with colleagues and friends alike with the click of a button. No more need 3rd party sites/programs or “WHY WON’T THIS SEND? BE SMALLER!” moments, just a simplified process.

Highlight to Search: One of the smaller aggravations encountered around many offices is the highlight, copy, paste, and search process, which can be tedious when doing ample research. This extension allows for a quick and easy process. Just highlight the keyword, click, and Google it. It’s that easy.

TooManyTabs and Page Snooze: A predominant issue when conducting research is the eventual maelstrom of ‘tabs’ that consumes the top of your browser. Ever wished for a way to save some of these for later, or to organize them is an efficient way? These two extensions allow you to do just that. Organize and categorize your tabs with TooManyTabs, or simply put them to sleep for up to two weeks with Page Snooze. Happy tabbing!

Speed Dial: If you’re a frequent flyer to a set of specific sites, this is your dream. Speed Dial allows users to customize their ‘new tab’ to have a set grid of sites ready to go at the click of a mouse rather than a) remembering them all, and b) typing them in one after the other. Getting to your sources is now a total breeze.

Adblock for Youtube™: Last but not least, we present you the most handy gadget of the bunch. Not because it improves productivity, but because it’s the internet’s Advil when it comes to the ever-annoying ads that YouTube displays before, during, and after their videos. Now you can get back to how it used to be and skip all that garbage with the Adblock for Youtube™ extension.

Now, get out there, download Google Chrome, and start your year off the right way: as easy as possible.

Have some personal favourites that we missed? Be sure to share them in the comments below.

 

image courtesy of Lisa Brewster

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The End Is Near

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The past year has been one of many great steps forward. One might even say we’re using this year to triple-jump into 2013 by launching a new version of our software jam-packed with great features for all to enjoy. It’s not exactly a Christmas present…but it’s close.

Full Article Explaining Our New Software: http://www.realestateaccountingsoftware.ca/general/christmas-early/

 

We were also fortunate enough to expand the frontiers of our organization by aligning ourselves with the reputable EstateVue in order to bring an all-in-one option for all real estate agent and brokerage services spanning from accounting to marketing.

View the full press release here: http://www.realestateaccountingsoftware.ca/industry-news/announcing-partnership-estatevue/

To make known our newly minted relationship with EstateVue, we hit the road and were fortunate enough to attend the Royal LePage National Sales Conference together to establish some new relationships and educate the masses about all we have to offer. More to come next year!

RLPNSC Overview article found here: http://www.realestateaccountingsoftware.ca/industry-news/rlpnsc-2/

Thanks to everyone who helped make this year so great; we can’t wait to speak to you on the other side. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

image courtesy of bvalium

 

 

 

 

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Batteries Take A Step In The Right Direction

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Literally. Doubtful? Don’t be.

Apple has in fact recently patented movement-powered charging technology. (Now in English) Apple has patented technology that will potentially provide future iPhone owners with the ability to charge their phone simply by walking with their device in their pocket. Pretty cool stuff isn’t it?

Not only this, but new research developments have actually led to the discovery of a longer-lasting and ultra low-cost battery made with water and blue dye…which seems even more far-fetched from the previous statement. But with these in mind, imagine the future possibilities of these technologies…or even if they were fused together into an ultimate hybrid battery that could potentially be used in all mobile devices. Now there’s some food for thought.

The breakthroughs we’re seeing scream one thing: sustainability. Not only do these advances contribute to sustainable technology in the sense of waste-prevention, but in preservation of resources and new explorations into alternatives to develop a sustainable future through battery and alternative technology.

These steps are taking cleantech in the right direction and showing us that batteries are a future energy force that’s not to be reckoned with. Even vehicles are slowly making the switch from fuel to battery-powered engines, proving the imminent role battery power is to play heading into the development of a world with cleaner technology and cleaner air.

Heading into 2013 it’s no mystery that we’re bound to see some leaps forward in sustainable methods, so stay tuned to our Twitter account to be on top of the latest and greatest in cleantech, environmental news, real estate, and much more.

image courtesy of scalespeeder

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