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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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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Christmas Came Early

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Well, not fully, but let us at least give you something to get excited about heading into the New Year. We will be re-branding our Real E.Net document, transaction and business management software for real estate, and releasing the anticipated version 2.0 under its new name: Deal Manager.

The new Deal Manager is designed to boost your productivity to a whole new level with unparalleled features in real estate technology like instant updates throughout the transaction process, which will be available in the New Year thanks to our new Deal Tracker; one of the many 2.0 software feature upgrades. Stay tuned everybody, this will be coming your way very soon.

To tease you a bit more about why to get excited about the Deal Manager, allow us to present some of our latest features:

Single Deal Payout

  • Streamlines the payout of commission on a single deal. We’ve merged the batch processing power to a single deal, allowing for quick payouts, calculating agents’ commission and deductions, as well as cheque printing.

Agent Commission Cheque

  • We’ve revamped the cheque creation and presentation of the agent’s stub to include detailed information on the current commission payment. An Agent Revenue Summary is now included on the stub to provide your agents with a compressed and easy to read update of their current year’s progress.

Not enough? Wait until your agents sink their teeth into the Deal Manager to Go, our web app to trump all real estate web apps. Here are some (we can’t give it all away just yet) features of this revolutionary technology.

Commission Deal Calculator

  • Deals entered by agents now have a new powerful commission calculator that takes advantage of Brokerage defaults while allowing custom changes.

New Calendar

  • When entering dates, users now have the option of selecting from a popup calendar for improved efficiency and convenience.

Want more EnviroMint? Check out on Twitter for our latest and greatest in real estate and environmental news @enviromint

 

image courtesy of paparutzi

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Market Slump Contributes to Recovery

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You’d think that the market being down in the dumps would be something to worry about, but according to new theories put forth by several economists this could be somewhat of a God-send for real estate recovery.

Like we were saying in our post ‘Collaborative Recovery’, in order for the real estate market to recover, we need to see participation from all areas of society rather than the elite. Well, prices being as low as they currently are could in fact be what we’re looking for to jump-start the climb out of the market’s shriveled state. Couples, young families, or whomever else, have now been granted the opportunity of a low-cost housing index (for the most part) which is exactly the type of stimulus the market needs to recover. The low prices could very well be the icing on the cake for a lot of potential young buyers, who may otherwise not have been able to afford a home. Now that mortgage rates are so low and housing prices having practically never been lower (at least for quite some time), we may finally start to see the collaborative initiative required for a wholesome market recovery.

Through this, theories are also being put forth suggesting that the Canadian market won’t take a second dive like our neighbours to the South as statistics put forth suggesting a second crash were in fact misconstrued and did not account all factors, especially when compared to the US market. For example, the debt-to-income ratio, when compared to the US, didn’t take into account the amount of extra benefits Canadians receive through their debt such as healthcare and other subsidized services that the US doesn’t provide, therefore weighting economic predictions in a direction that may not be entirely comparable after all.

The only way to tell if any of these theories come true, is of course time. However, the prospects being put forth don’t seem shy of being on the right track…we hope.

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

 

image courtesy of USACE-Sacramento District

 

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Sustainable Construction – A Future Necessity

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Before it’s too late, many areas in the United States are making serious revisions to their infrastructure’s ability to withstand the augmenting rate of natural disasters, which are presumably directly related to issues of climate change.

Not only are new developments being re-assessed in this light, but current developments as well, such as bridges and highways. This is presumably leading into a new realm of developmental concepts across the board – buildings, bridges, highways, dams, and much more. Given the current nature of climate disasters, we aren’t in the clear, and need to make preparations for when the worst shows up; and at this point, the latter seems inevitable.

The way of the future lies in developing structures designed not only to withstand time, but the elements as well, to prevent the need for re-construction in the event of a natural disaster. This style of construction is a perfect example of sustainable design in both these aspects. Development must achieve levels of sustainability in order to avoid reconstruction after X amount of years, while being developed stronger than ever before. The challenge bar has been set…so now we wait.

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

 

image courtesy of TANAKA Juuyoh

 

 

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Collaborative Recovery

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A short while ago we talked about how the real estate’s market recovery will more likely than not depend on full societal collaboration and participation within the market, in a post called ‘To Stabilize We Must Equalize’. If only those who are in good shape participate, then top-end properties circulate freely while mid-level properties stay put and depreciate.

Looking into the future, this concept is seemingly being applied to various markets already, which is a huge step in the right direction. Participation is going to be the key to market re-stabilization.  In the US, it’s showing that dual-income households are helping largely in this aspect. Therein lies the example that multiple participants working towards a common goal within their own households are improving the market in its entirety. An annual study by NAR showed that about 65% of all buyers are married couples, as opposed to 58% the year before. This increase in efforts is exactly what we need to see.

According to a recent Scotiabank poll, an impressive 77% of Canadians view home purchasing as an investment as opposed to an expense. With this mentality, Canada will hopefully follow-suit with our neighbours to the South in investigating the proper investment methods that will not only benefit the buyers and sellers, but the market itself. Recovery is close, now it’s just a matter of harnessing interests and investment strategies to collaboratively force a market recovery.

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

 

image courtesy of Ken Jarvis Photography

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Prepare for the Worst

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If Hurricane Sandy has taught us anything, it’s that disaster can strike at any moment in the most unforeseeable and traumatic ways imaginable. Perspective is always provided in moments of crisis; it makes us realize how temperamental our habitation of Earth can be, and that we are always at the mercy of the elements. We seem to lose touch with this concept after being securely located in specific areas for a long time without experiencing any disasters. The ‘It won’t happen to me’ factor is most certainly a prominent one. But if there’s anything we can take away from this experience, it’s that disaster can strike anywhere, at any time, no matter how many times you tell yourself it won’t happen to you specifically. So where do we go from here? Back to the drawing board to assess our ‘worst-case-scenario’ options and plans – the likes of which are probably limited for many of us.

A recent Zillow article highlights the importance of having a ‘backup plan’ or ’emergency fund’ but providing readers with two unique stories from Hurricane Sandy survivors who discuss their experiences during the disaster, and their new-found appreciation for planning for the worst.

The biggest theme derived from this article was the importance of having a savings account or ’emergency fund’ at the ready. No. Matter. What. Whether you’re living inland or coastal, bad things happen to good people. That’s the reality of the climate-disaster we call a planet. We’ve been pushing our limits with nature for quite some time now, and it’s starting to push back.

Be prepared. Nobody likes getting caught up creek without a paddle, or in a storm without a backup plan. As we mentioned in our post ‘Hate To Say We Told You So…‘ climate disasters are increasing at an alarming rate with no signs of relenting the onslaught. To avoid disaster, implement prevention tactics. You just might need them one day.

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

 

image courtesy of 401(K) 2012

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To Stabilize We Must Equalize

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Speculations around market recovery are many. The desolate state in which the property market resides is remaining stagnant, with fragments of measurable recovery being made. Therein lies the question of how to inject some life into the current market; enough to drive a full recovery.

A recent Vancouver Sun article highlighted a very interesting and probable theory put forth by Vancouver’s Mayor Gregor Robertson. The concept he proposes is that more low to middle-income housing must be implemented in order to develop an efficient housing market recovery. Reason being is similar to a concept we covered in a previous blog post – Here We Go Again – that covered the principle of a market recovery being impossible wherein the lower-income citizens couldn’t participate in the market themselves. If only the wealthy are purchasing and rotating properties, then the market only fluctuates above a particular income bracket, as opposed to that of a fluid recovery that encompasses the efforts of all classes within a particular society.

The concept of introducing affordable housing for the lower and middle-class is quite ideal. In order to stabilize the property market, we must first even the playing field. If implemented successfully, this methodology could quickly yield beneficial results, as a rounded market recovery rather than a weighted one would increase and stabilize real estate across the board instead of augmenting the values of high-value properties for relatively elite citizens to exchange amongst themselves like poker chips.

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

 

image courtesy of Antanith

 

 

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One Page At A Time

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Real estate, according to a recent article, is responsible for the fall of one tree per 17 transactions completed. This may seem like a lot, and it may appear as an overzealous assumption, but rest assured that this is most certainly no exaggeration. Real estate, while putting roofs over peoples’ heads, rapidly destroys potential wildlife habitats and is responsible for a vast amount of paper waste.

Technology’s progressions over the past decade are now sophisticated enough to allow for the replacement of paper resources entirely – so that’s exactly what we did. Digitization of documents has never been easier, so why not take a page out of our book and go paperless? Not only is this an efficient way to refine your business’ efficiency, but to make a conscious social decision to take a stand against the waste created by paper in our industry. With the elimination of paper documents, no longer are the days where sheets and forms go missing, become inaccessible, or need to be mailed. By switching to a digital business model you can refine your business process, access documents from virtually anywhere, distribute and share information instantaneously, while having a rested conscience from taking a personal stand against environmental destruction and paper waste.

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

 

image courtesy of Horia Varlan

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