About Pittsburgh's Regent Square

The 2011 copy of EcoCents: Pittsburgh's Green Guide is out with small suggestions and big ideas to green your everyday life. In the pages of EcoCents, you’ll find everything from the bus you’ll catch to get to your yoga class to the bike lanes you’ll take to pick up some arugula at the farmers market. Your fellow Pittsburghers offer tips on how to cloth diaper your baby, use local produce to create delicious meals, make an eco-fabulous cocktail — and more! Plus EcoCents features neighborhood maps, business listings and hundreds of dollars in coupons to local, eco-friendly businesses.

For your home there are coupon discounts for green renovation consultation, green roof consultation, 15% off rain barrel purchase and I'm offering two free e-books for new buyers.

Order your copy online or pick up a copy at Borders (Eastside location), The Yoga Hive, East End Food Co-op, The Heinz History Center, and the Pittsburgh Public Market.

Looking to buy or sell a green home in Pittsburgh? Call Christa Ross from RE/MAX Select Realty, at 724-933-6300 x214 (office) or 724-779-1437 (direct) or visit my website at www.greenhomespgh.com.

This is a question I got recently from a first-time home buyer that was in the process of getting his pre-approval. He really wanted the house so he was interested in knowing how to "hold" a house. The answer is that you really can't, but once you put the offer in you still have flexibility, which I don't think many first-timers understand completely.

The first step to buying your house should always be to get your pre-approval, that way when you find the perfect house you won't have to wait for one to be done to submit your offer.

Once you have that pre-approval then you can get your offer ready, but there are several aspects of the contract that allow you to review at a few more things before you are completely locked in. These are the contingencies and the two most popular are the Mortgage Contingency and the Inspection Contingency.

The Mortgage Contingency - Since the letter you got from your lender is just a pre-approval you haven't submitted all the documents and answered all the questions to determine if your are definitely going to get a loan. Plus the lender also needs to review the actual house "they" are buying to determine if they want to lend money on it. All these things get done after your offer has been accepted by the seller, but by electing a mortgage contingency you will still be able to cancel the contract and get the deposit you put down with the offer should you not be able to secure financing.

The Inspection Contingency - You walked through the house and looked at it, but no one expects you to be a building professional. Electing Inspection Contingencies lets you have inspections performed on the house to assure (to the the best of the inspector's ability) that you understand the condition and concerns of the property you are buying. Inspections can include the usual home inspection as well as mold, radon, water, lead structural, energy-efficiency and others. They can also include reviews of the zoning situation, insurability of a home or property boundaries. Bring up concerns you have about the home and talk with your agent about inspections. Once you have the inspections done you can then review the reports and decide to proceed with the sale with greater piece of mind, negotiate on the results or terminate the sale and get your hand money returned.

These two contingencies give buyers the opportunity to "hold" a home while they continue to review their pending purchase. Just be aware that the more contingencies you put in an offer the more opportunities you have to cancel it. This may not be as good for the seller, since an offer with fewer contingencies could be viewed as stronger all other terms being equal. Talk with your agent to determine the best way to handle your particular situation.

Buying or Selling a home in the Pittsburgh area? Call Christa Ross from RE/MAX Select Realty, at 724-933-6300 x214 (office) or 724-779-1437 (direct) or visit my website at www.bestpittsburghhomes.com.

If you are looking to purchase a new home in Pittsburgh give RE/MAX Select Realty's Mobile Search a try.

Next time your drive by a home that is for sale, no matter who it's listed by, just text the word "Select" and the house number to 32323 on your mobile phone. Within a few minutes you will get a text back with information on that home, price and photos. (Just please don't do it while you are driving.) It's a great way to satisfy your curiosity when you find yourself saying "I wonder how much that house costs".

Even better, our mobile system ties into our website. So when you get home you can go to www.selecthomefinder.com on your computer, login with your mobile phone number, and see all the houses you looked at on your phone right there on your computer screen. So now if you drive past the perfect house you can show it to your family and friends when you get home.

Then when you are ready to see the house in person just give me a call.

Buying or Selling a home in the Pittsburgh area? Call Christa Ross from RE/MAX Select Realty, at 724-933-6300 x214 (office) or 724-779-1437 (direct) or visit my website at www.bestpittsburghhomes.com.

Coming soon to your mailbox, Higher Electric Bills!

Many years in the making, Western Pennsylvania's energy market will be deregulated effective January 1, 2011.

What this means to consumers remains to be seen but for the parts of the state that were deregulated earlier in the process it has meant increases between 10-40%, depending on who you ask.

Previously, energy was generated by just a handful of companies that had a monopoly on our energy. In an effort to create a competitive marketplace the state decided back in 1996 to deregulate the PA energy market. In an effort to soften the blow to the existing energy companies who had invested in infrastructure the state enacted rate caps that have been in place for all these years. The hope was that in the meantime, other energy generation companies would enter the market and provide competition that would ultimately result in lower prices. (FYI - your energy will still be delivered by the same company as now, but who generates it will be your choice) Of course, nothing works out exactly the way it is planned...

So now we are just over three months away from the deadline for rate caps to end here in Western PA. Energy costs which have maintained the status quo for so long are going away and in all likely hood consumers are going to be seeing increases to their electric bill soon, and I suspect many consumers won't even know why.

After reading this you may think deregulation is a bad thing, but there are some benefits to the plan:

First, the reason for deregulation is to spur competition, it's the American Way. And that competition has already resulted in innovation in the way power is generated. (Click here to see the story in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette about Energy Innovation). While the savings may not be immediate, in the long term this is the best way for our energy market to operate.

Second, consumers are now able to choose who they want to generate their power. So they can choose companies that create power from more environmentally friendly sources and from companies that are working on cleaner and more efficient ways to generate energy.

Third, while you may see your bills go up, this is one increase that you can also do something about. By choosing to make our homes more efficient we have the opportunity to offset the increase and even save money. Here are a few ways to do that:

• Have a energy audit on your home. It will give you a prioritized plan for making your home more efficient including plans for air sealing and insulation to maximize your savings.
• Replace your light bulbs with CFL or LED bulbs. Both use much less energy and last longer.
• Install a programmable thermostat.
• Replace your old appliances with new ENERGY STAR appliances, and be sure to check if you utility offers rebates for that purchase. (Allegheny Power does, click here for more info)
• Unplug you electronics when not in use or put them on a power strip and turn it off. Electronics on standby still use power.

Finally, the new focus on energy consumption has resulted in an increase in number of homes being built that are more efficient and improvments to older homes, which results in homes that are more comfortable, better built and less expensive to operate.

Just three months left, now is the time to prepare your home and save!

I specialize in helping my customers buy and sell homes in the Pittsburgh area that are good for their wallet, health, family and planet. Christa Ross, Ecosociate and RE/MAX Green Specialist. Call me at 724-933-6300 x214 (office) or 724-779-1437 (direct) or visit my website at www.greenhomespgh.com.

Yesterday was a perfect fall day here in Pittsburgh. 78 degrees, perfect blue skys and the leaves starting to turn. So instead of getting my lunch and tapping away at my computer I went out to the local community park and took a hike. It gave me the opportunity to come up with some new ideas and was probably more productive than sitting in front of the computer.

It also reminded me why I think it is so important to own and build homes that are healthy for our families and our planet. Because some places are not meant to be bought and sold. They are places that add value to our lives, our spirit, our communities and ultimately to our homes. Smart growth development, environmentally friendly homes and energy-efficiency are not just fads, they are the ideas that will determine if we can continue to have days like yesterday and places to retreat to and enjoy.

I specialize in helping my customers buy and sell homes in Pittsburgh that are good for their wallet, health, family and planet. Christa Ross, Ecosociate and RE/MAX Green Specialist. Call me at 724-933-6300 x214 (office) or 724-779-1437 (direct) or visit my website at www.greenhomespgh.com.