Tim Cahill MBA, EcoBroker

I send out a quarterly newsletter to my favorite clients and I thought over the weekend, "Why not post it on here as well"? Each person who reads my posts and subscribes to my blog is also a valued client, so why shouldn't you also get the same benefit, right? So for your reading pleasure, and summer comfort, here's an article* I sent out in my Summer Quarterly newsletter this year. Enjoy! You can easily clean up bad indoor air quality at home with just a few lifestyle changes and adjustments in your air-quality management. According to the American Lung Association, here's how:

• The best way to freshen air is to clean up the source of odors and ventilate, such as running bathroom exhaust fans. Run fans that exhaust to the outside, such as those in the kitchen or bath, or open windows and place window fans to blow air out. Add ventilation when you use household cleaning products indoors.
• From cleansers to pet shampoos, some household cleaners leave behind harmful chemicals or give off gases that can irritate or harm your lungs. Read the small print on labels before purchasing any household chemical, including health and beauty products and air "fresheners." If the product has an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) number, the product is classified as a pesticide. But that doesn't mean it's safe. Labels like "organic" and "natural" do not mean a product is safe for everyone either.
• Don't be so quick to turn off exhaust fans in the bathroom or kitchen. They help remove both moisture and air pollutants. Install a quiet, low-energy model. The air inside your home, where you spend up to 95% of your time, can be two to five times more polluted than air outdoors.
• Change the way you clean. Dust mites are everywhere and they trigger allergic reactions ranging from sneezing to asthma attacks. A central vacuum cleaner vented to the outdoors is best, but a vacuum cleaner with a micro filter bag or High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter will also help remove allergens. If the "yuck" factor motivates you, consider this - dust mites feed on skin flakes. Yuck is right!
• Hard-surfaced floors like wood, tile, or linoleum are easier to clean that carpeted floors. Real hardwood flooring is a better deal - when it comes to breathing easy - than engineered wood products used in flooring, which can contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
• Damp mopping or using a damp cloth to clean hard surfaces at least once a week is a better approach than "dry dusting," which just stirs up the mites and other particles.
• Relative humidity higher than 50% helps not only mold and dust mites thrive, but creepy cockroaches too! Another big Yuck!
• If someone in your family has allergies or asthma, it's important to encase their mattress and pillows in dust-proof or allergen-impermeable covers and replace wool or feather-stuffed bedding materials with synthetic materials. Wool or feather-stuffed bedding attracts more dust mites than synthetics.
• All combustion appliances that burn gas, oil or wood emit carbon monoxide and other dangerous gases. Properly installed appliances vent the fumes outside, but you should also have a carbon monoxide detector in your home and smoke alarms, installed as close to sleeping areas as possible. Remember, carbon monoxide alarms are now required in all Massachusetts' households and apartments.

Follow just a few of these simple steps and you, too, could be breathing easier this summer!

If you'd like to know more on this topic or other eco-friendly ideas related to real estate, housing, or the Massachusetts housing market, please visit my web site at CyberGreenRealty for more information.

Peace!

-TMC

*Bullet points courtesy of RE/MAX Life; written by Broderick Perkins copyright 2009

I already knew this from my EcoBroker course and the research I've been doing, but now my (new) favorite channel, Planet Green, has show after show confirming it - you don't have to spend a lot more money in order to buy eco-friendly housing. If you're building anew or remodeling, follow the three R's - reuse, renovate, and recycle - and you'll spend maybe even less than your original budget to be eco- and energy-friendly. In both cases, you'll more than make up for it on the back-end with reduced utility bills, greater home comfort, and improved personal health.

Wanna do it? Wanna buy an eco-friendly home and reduce your ecological footprint? Here's how to go about it:

1. Shameless self-promotion first - hire a qualified real estate agent with a green designation, such as the Certified EcoBroker or NAR's GREEN designations. We're trained to help you deal with issues and find expert resources in areas such as indoor air quality, moisture/mold/mildew, asbestos removal, and we can even help you find lenders who are familiar with the extra mortgage features for energy-efficient homes that are available in the market today.
2. Next, if you're buying, go out and find a home you like. Your Realtor will be able to help you find all the homes in your area with the eco-friendly features that are important to you.
3. So now you've found the home you want to buy, or you want to rehab/remodel your current place, the first step in the formal process is to have an energy audit conducted. The audit will list, in priority order, what projects should be undertaken to make the home more energy-efficient. You can find a list of qualified home energy raters at the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) web site.
4. Follow the recommendations as outlined in the energy audit - be sure to have professionally trained contractors perform the work where necessary (such as asbestos removal). Even something as simple as using low VOC (volatile organic compounds) paints can help make your home greener by eliminating many of the chemicals emitted from standard paint.
   
5. If the work has required the use of contractors, they will be paid by the mortgage company out of the escrow funds your lender setup when you got an Energy Efficient mortgage. What? Don't know about EEMs? See my previous blog post for more info.
6. If your plans from the audit didn't include solar, geothermal, or wind power, you can still take advantage of green power by switching your electricty source with your local provider. Just call your provider and tell them you want to buy a portion or all of your electricity from green sources. They can give you all the details when you call.
7. If you did install any of the alternative power methods noted in #6, also be sure to check with your state for appropriate rebates and incentives. You can find a database of the state rebates and incentives at the DSIRE web site.
8. After all those inside improvements, it's time to look outside to see what you can do - try some landscaping to help with natural heating and cooling patterns of the seasons. Deciduous trees (those that lose their leaves in the fall) are best planted along the southern side of the home - this way they provide shade from the heat in the summer and they allow the sun in during the winter to add some heat to the home. Plant firs and pines to the north-northeast to act as windbreaks, especially during those winter nor'easters we're all familiar with (most of us anyway).
9. Don't forget some composting or even water reclamation. In my hometown of Arlington, MA, the town annually sells blue rainwater barrels for homeowners to use to collect the rain, which is then used for watering gardens, washing cars, etc.

Ha! I'll bet you thought I might end with a "Top 10" list here, but I like to be unconventional and will stop at #9.

But where's the money savings? First, your utility bills will be reduced, keeping more money in your pocket every month. Next, many energy improvements are eligible for federal and state tax incentives or rebates. For example - in Massachusetts, the portion of land on which a solar array or wind turbine is located is not subject to state property tax for 20 YEARS after installation! Imagine covering your backyard with solar panels and not paying any tax on your yard! Well, don't imagine that maybe - your neighbors wouldn't like you and you'd never be able to have a cookout. But you get the idea.

See? Not so hard after all, is it? For more ideas and links to Eco-Friendly partners in the Boston/Cambridge/Arlington Massachusetts area, visit my web site at CyberGreenRealty.com.

Until next time, Peace!

-TMC

Hi,

I'm trying to gauge the interest level of first-time homebuyers who would be interested in attending an event, possibly in Davis Square Somerville sometime in the beginning of September, for first-time and other homebuyers who are in currently searching the real estate market and thinking about upgrading their future purchase to an energy-efficient, more comfortable home.

I plan on having a solar installation vendor, a home energy rating inspector, a radon/air quality inspector, and a lending representative with knowledge of green financing options present, each giving a 15-20 minute overview of their services.

If you would be interested in attending such an event, please let me know by sending me an email to tim.cahill@remax.net or sending me a comment on here.

In the interest of disclosure, I am a Certified EcoBroker real estate agent and you may wish to check out my web site at: www.CyberGreenRealty.com

Thanks for reading!

--Tim Cahill

I'm proud to announce a new look to my web site, courtesy of Agent Image web site designs. My new site can be found at: CyberGreenRealty.com

If you have any green suggestions for features or information you think I should include, please don't hesitate to let me know! I'm open to all feedback and suggestions!

Thanks for taking the time to check it out.

I recently toured a home wherein the listing agent referred to the basement as having "slight discoloration" from water damage. Of course, this is a bank-owned property so I took it with a grain of salt, expecting more than just some discoloration. Particularly after learning the house had been empty all winter and the pipes had burst in the first-floor kitchen, I knew there had to be more than just "discoloration." I informed my buyer, who's looking for a "good-deal fixer-upper," and off we went to view the property.

Let's start by saying this listing agent should have her license revoked - there wasn't just "discoloration," there was mold EVERYWHERE in the basement! It was like entering a house of horrors and all the walls were fuzzy with living organisms. This wasn't just white or green mold either - this was thick, black mold on the doors, walls, windows, furnace, water heater, everywhere. It kinda looked toxic and I thought, "Man, they should be handing out gas masks to people before coming down here." And I don't think it was just a coincidence that my eyes were itchy and watery the rest of the evening.

I tell this story not to gross people out (though that's always fun to do, too!), but to bring up the topic of mold and how every house actually has mold in it - but it's a matter of keeping moisture under control and not allowing the mold spores a chance to land in a moist spot and grow. There are many types of mold, but none will grow without moisture present.

Some mold basics:

• Every house has mold; it's a matter of controlling the moisture level in your home.
• Molds have the potential to cause health problems - allergic reactions are common.
  
• Molds produce allergens, irritants, and in some cases toxic substances (mycotoxins).
• You can never totally eliminate mold spores from your home, but you can keep them from growing by controlling the source of their growth - moisture.

How to get rid of mold:

• First and foremost, you must address the moisture problem; if you don't, the mold will return.
  
• If the area with mold is less than a 10x10 foot space, you can usually clean the mold up yourself.
• If the area with mold is larger than a 10x10 foot area (such as in the house referenced above), you should hire a professional contractor with experience in mold remediation to perform the job.
• If you also suspect mold may be contaminating the ventilation system, you should also have an HVAC professional investigate. In the meantime, do NOT turn on the ventilation system as that will cause more mold spores to be spread throughout the home.
  
• If carpet, ceiling tiles or other porous types of material have mold growing on them, they may need to be thrown away, as mold fills in crevices and empty spaces and you'll never be able to get rid of all of it.
• Avoid exposing yourself and others to mold
• Do not just paint over moldy surfaces - the paint will eventually crack and peel

If you decide to do the cleanup yourself, be sure to wear a mask, gloves, and eye protection, preferably without ventilation holes. Scrape the mold off any hard surfaces, then clean and dry the area thoroughly. As mentioned above, porous materials may need to be tossed (unfortunately, no reuse or recycle here!). If you have furniture, sentimental or valuable items that have been affected by mold, consult a local furniture or other type of restoration professional who is familiar in restoring items damaged by mold or water.

For more information, refer to the Environmental Protection Agency's pamphlet on mold, which can be found at the EPA's web site. You may also call the toll-free EPA hotline at (800) 438-4318 for a free copy of the pamphlet. If you live in the Massachusetts area, feel free to check my CyberGreenRealty.com web site for some local eco-friendly partners who may also be able to help you.

Until next time, Peace!

-TMC