Realtor ®-The Woodlands Real Estate

Auburn Lakes is yet another development that is really moving along in its growth.  The Courts are almost completely sold out, the Estates has more and more homes up every time I drive through..

The Recreation Center is going Full swing and waiting for the weather to warm up just a bit more for the Auburn Lakes Residents to go for a Dive-The Golf Course is Gorgeous as ever!

Taking a drive through the Entrance right now is Breathtaking with all of the Flowers and other Landscaping in Bloom.

Since the Home Selling Season has started rolling I thought I would update the Market Reports for January and February so far.  Here is what we are looking at.

For a list of homes available, whether New or Resale, in your price range feel..or a list of Comparable Sold Properties specific to your Home. free to shoot me an email!

Legends Ranch is a Canyon Gate Community off of Rayford Rd. in South Montgomery County.  One of the sections is Gated with a Guard Gate and you will find builders like Beazer, Gracepoint, Meritage just to name a few. 

There are a variety of homes available in a variety of price ranges.  The market is Picking up for Legends Ranch as well as other communities around the area. 

Here is what we are looking at for January and February so far.  Information compiled by Houston MLS on 3/24/08.

For a list of homes available whether New Construction or Resale in your Price Range...or a list of Comparable Solds specific to your home, feel free to shoot me an email!

As you can see from the picture above, The Falls at Imperial Oaks is really lookin' good!  The Rec Center has started and you can see the Lake going in.  Lennar Homes is up in their Model and already has homes on the ground!

It is March now, the home selling season seems to have started.  This is an opportune time to update everyone on the Real Estate Market in Imperial Oaks.  As normal, the pending properties is continually climbing for March. 

For a list of homes available, whether New or Resale, in your price range feel..or a list of Comparable Sold Properties specific to your Home. free to shoot me an email!

It's been a while since I have posted an update on The Village of Creekside Park and I thought it was about time to.  The last post I did Creekside had just opened, they were still working on infrastructure and only a couple of builders were out there.  My, my how Creekside in The Woodlands has come along..as you can see in the picture above.

The Village of Creekside Park is the newest and last village to be built.  There is a planned Age-Qualified section, single and multi family homes along with Carlton Woods Creekside for a total of approximately 7,100 homes.

The 20 acre Rob Fleming Park is nearly complete, that is what the picture above is...and the George Mitchell Nature Preserve is partially open.  Hiking, Biking, Kayaking...all to connect about 25 miles along Spring Creek.  When I was out there just the other day the signs were up for the upcoming Elementary School, YMCA and a Church.

There are actively homes being built starting around $200 all the way up to the Multi-Millions in Carlton Woods.  For a list of homes and floorplans available, feel free to shoot me an email! 

If you just want to check out the Bluebonnet Fields and pack a picnic...take a drive down Gosling Rd.  :)

One of the first things that many clients ask when they are Relocating to the Houston area is "What about The Woodlands?  What is it that makes it so Attractive to Home Owners?"

I think if you asked every Home Owner in The Woodlands why they love it there, you may get that many different answers.  There are so many things to appreciate here.  It starts with the Trees as you drive in, the endless amount of Shopping Centers and Medical Facilities but that is only the beginning.

Add on 8,000 acres of Greenspace, 135 Holes of Golf, multiple YMCA Facilities, First Class Schools for the Kids, 155 miles of Hike and Bike Trails...

How about 7 miles of Park Frontage to Spring Creek in The Village of Creekside Park, Picnic Areas, Disc Golf course, Dog Parks...it doesn't end.

There is the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion that hosts Concerts and Events year round from International Stars, The Marriott Waterway that hosts HUGE Conferences, probably enough restaurants for almost every day of the year...

It doesn't matter what your wants and needs are for a Community, I would bet that The Woodlands has it. 

For a list of homes available in your price range, feel free to shoot me an email.  For a closer look at The Woodlands, check out the video below.

Everyday it seems that Green is becoming more and more mainstream for Home owners so I thought I would take this time to update everyone on my Home Energy Usage Reduction over the past 9 months.

Some of you remember my Insulation Experiment where I had a company come out and and Blow in Dry Cellulose to R-38 in my attic last June?

Well, that was the beginning of Greening up my home.  I tracked some of my Usage Reductions on AR, but I wanted to compile everything...

On top of Insulation, I also changed out the Light Bulbs that I use most in my home to CFL's.  Believe it or not, I really did see a small reduction on my bill.

Also, just a few minutes ago I posted about Houston's Amazing Green Secret!  The company that comes out and Seals up your home to have less air leaking out of your home...here in Houston that would be the cool air.  :)

Well, the company came out and put new Weather Stripping on my Front and Back Doors, did some Caulking, Sealed up my A/C vents where I was getting hot air from the Attic...and the thing that I still can't get over...

When these guys did the Blower Door Test they realized that the way my HVAC system was designed it was actually circulating air from my ATTIC, not my HOUSE!  My A/C was pulling air from my attic and dumping it in to my home, wreaking havoc with my allergies...and killing my electric usage.  AND YES, they fixed that.

Not only did it help tremendously on my bill, it was..if you read the post...FREE!!!

Now, how has all of this over the past 9 months translated in to dollars?

Let's See.  I just received my April Electric Bill and I switched companies to get a Lower Rate recently so I have to go off of kwh usage to be accurate here...but one neat thing this new company does is put a really neat chart to track my usage for 12 months back.  I don't have to go searching through files.

It shows that my April Bill in 2007 I was billed for about 2300 kwh.  (Holy cow!) 

This month....  Ready?   1177 kwh!  From April last year to April this year that is appx. 1123 kwh Reduction...for the average Electric Rate in Houston that alone is $168 difference!!!!  FOR ONE MONTH!

Now I have to say that I am SO curious as to exactly how low I can get my Electric Bill.  I'm wondering if I can get it close to back in the day when I had an apartment...and rates were 1/2 what they are now.

What's next on the agenda for Reducing my Energy Usage?  I'm looking in to a Solar Attic Fan to lower the Temperature in my Attic Space to help my HVAC cool better.  Stay Tuned.  :)

If you search long enough, sometimes you can find out the most amazing Green Secrets around.  This one I did not really search for, but I was SHOCKED when someone told me about this.  :)

In Houston we have to worry about our Cooling Bills.  As a matter of fact I heard one time that our Air Conditioners account for up to 80% of our Electricity usage monthly.  Even in December we turn on our A/C sometimes.

With Utility Rates on the rise Houston is longing to become a little more Green.  Many people are doing this by trying to get their home more Energy Efficient.

We can change out light bulbs, add insulation in our attic, change out windows...

But when it comes down to it, all of the Leaky Holes in your home REALLY need to be addressed before you can see a significant reduction in bills.  There are companies out there that can perform Energy Audits to tell you where you are using the most electricity.  They also do a Blower Door Test (put a negative air pressure in your home to see where air leaks) and this helps tremendously to know how to make your home a little tighter.

THEN, you can call out a local HandyMan to seal up your home.  Weather Strip your doors, Caulk your Windows, Seal your A/C Vents and Duct Work...etc.

By the time you spend $350 for the Energy Audit and then pay a local HandyMan (my bid for JUST Caulking windows was $150) This can really add up.  It will help, but it adds up.

What my GREEN Secret is?

You can get ALL OF THIS FOR FREE!!! 

Someone told me one day about this Program and I just HAD to check it out.  It is a Company called Free Lighting Corp. that comes out to do a Blower Door Test and weatherstrips doors and all of the other items I mentioned.  The program is mandated by State Law and the Public Utility Commission that the company that maintains the lines PAY for this.  That is how it is FREE!!!

The Company is 3rd Party and gets paid on the Variance of the Blower Door Test Before and After they do their work...so basically, they want to do a good job. 

There is no income restriction for this program...Everyone qualifies.  Even Rental Property.  IF there is a household income restriction, they will even blow Insulation in your Attic up to R-30 and give you a Hot Water Heater Blanket. 

As soon as I heard about this, I just had to call them out.  It's for real.  How it has helped?  That is my next blog post.  :)

Green Building is growing around the Nation like Wildfire!

Green seems to be the thing to talk about around here, and the term used by someone last week was Cocktail Conversation.  No doubt that folks are hopping on the bandwagon and advertising GREEN Products.

I heard a statistic the other day that researchers expect consumers to be just as apt to purchase a product advertised as 'GREEN' as they would one advertised 'FREE' over the next few years.

With that said, we can see how powerful GREEN is right now.

BUT, that brings up another discussion to be concerned with.  How do we know what is REALLY green?  What is GREEN anyway?  I personally expect, over the next decade, for that term to change meanings and other words come to play when describing anything.  How about Sustainable, Recycled, High Performing...

The are so many other options.  We are already seeing builders use the term GREEN for homes in the area that are ONLY Energy Efficient.  As a system is it green? Probably, but when you throw in Oil Based paints, a 4500 sq. ft. home, Mass Manufactured Products shipped from a Country across the globe, that home has an ENORMOUS Carbon Footprint.  This, in my eyes, is extremely misleading being termed GREEN. 

So, with Green being the Rave right now, what can we look for?  What is REALLY important to be Green?  That is an emotional question since Green means something different to everyone, but here are some things to consider when looking at a 'GREEN Product' or home.

Indoor Air Quality-

• What kind of paints and adhesives are used?  Carpets, Cabinets, etc.  Do they have excessive amounts of VOC's?
• How is the HVAC system?
• If the builder is using a Spray Foam with a VERY tight envelope, is the home vented properly?  Same if they are using an otherwise normal insulation.
• Any other products used with Formaldehyde or Petroleum base?  A New Home does not necessarily equal Healthy.

Products Used-

• Do they come from a Sustainable resource?
• If it is wood, how and where is it Harvested?  How about milling the trees cut down on lots to be used in the home somehow?
• Are the products recycled, engineered, pre-cut to size....If so, from where?
• Indoor Air Quality is closely tied to this as well.

Energy Efficiency-

• What kind of appliances, light fixtures are there?
• To clear up some confusion, JUST having Solar Panels on a house DO NOT make it GREEN.

Other Green Products-

• How far are they shipped?  I found an excellent 'Wood' flooring the other day made from recycled Coke Bottles with an outstanding Warranty on wear and tear.  Looked fantastic!  I was all excited until I found out that it was from New Zealand. 
• Paints and Adhesives- Low VOC?  Petroleum Based? (it's everywhere!  In furniture, baby diapers, etc.) These products can off gas for a long period of time.
• If it is Harvested, what kind of products were used to grow it?  (Fertilizers, etc. can contaminate water supplies)

I think that is enough for now.  For every item termed GREEN there may be unintended consequences on something else.  Take for example the Fertilizer example I used above, or how about shipping the flooring from New Zealand?  How about the Fertilizer used to make Corn for Ethanol contaminating water supplies in the South?  Anything termed GREEN has an amazing Lifecycle from Manufacturing to Installing and Using. 

So, with Green being RED HOT right now, let's not forget in the mean time what GREEN is all about.  Let's not lose sight of the TRUE Meaning and what it is all about.  Getting away from the Basics of Green could end up giving it a Bad Rap in the eyes of the consumers...Now that the Green has merged in to the mainstream of things, let's not ruin it. 

What have you seen lately that has been termed GREEN in your area that probably should not be?