A few weeks ago I met with a young couple looking for a few acres they could invest in now, to improve slowly over the years, with the plan to have an eco friendly and  sustainable property to retire on in the future. I have enjoyed  working with this young couple and their kids.  It has been an education for all of us, me sharing what I know about the process of investing in real estate and what is available for them to consider and learning about what their  future plans, hopes and dreams.  A true  partnership built on communication and trust  between Buyers Agent and Client is the  perfect recipe for finding the perfect property!

A real estate investment like this couple is going to make can potentially be the biggest and  best investments  of their lives.  That is a big responsibility.  It is my job to educate  the Buyers that I work with about the real estate process and about all of the property choices that they may have  - not just to “car salesmen” them into making a purchase after seeing only a few properties.

Thank you Sarah and Tony for the nice testimonial!  Now lets go look at some more land!

If you are looking for a green, Eco friendly, home with features like water catchment, solar water heat, solar power, low e components, energy star rating, etc.,  and want to work with a Realtor and Eco Broker graduate that has experience living  this type of lifestyle, contact me.  I would love to work with you as your Buyer Representative.   I will be happy to show you the model at Las Casa Verdes.

If you are not necessarily looking for a new build I will  search the current market for homes for sale that have these types of features or specific features that you may want for you to review.

Where is Las Casa Verdes?

Located on Sacbe Cove just off of Longview this is a small subdivision with  20 homesites.  See map.

About Las Casas Verdes -  and me

Architect/Builder David E. Martin has designed and is building some of the most cutting edge energy efficient, green homes  ( Las Casas Verdes ) in the Austin area, in my opinion. My husband and I built a solar powered home with water catchment system off the grid in Colorado which we lived in for many years,  and this project and these homes come the closest to what our home had to offer yet!  I am very excited to be assisting in the marketing of the homes and look forward to working with Buyers as an Eco Broker and Buyers Agent of these homes.

Features of Las Casas Verdes

Las Casas Verdes  features  include solar power, water catchment system,  and  energy efficient appliances among many other eco friendly and green features.

The solar power system is not free standing.  It is connected directly to the “grid”  and each day as the sun shines the power collected is sent into the grid creating a power credit towards what  power the home itself  will use.

The water catchment system collects rainwater off of the home roof and it is stored for non potable water use such as washing your car, or watering your garden.

The air circulation in the home is designed to work in conjuction with the conventional heating and  high seer AC  system which cuts down on the energy used when needed.

Open House time and date

If you are considering the purchase of an energy efficient home with green built features, or if you are considering building one you should come by the open house and learn more about what Las Casas Verdes and David Martin have to offer.   Would love to see you there this coming Sunday 9/12/2010 from Noon to 6pm.

For more information on Las Casas Verdes

Contact me and I will be happy to send you more information or schedule a time for a private showing if you can’t make the open house!

Bluebonnet Electric has  a trademarked their Sustainable Grid program  which details how they are looking at the present and future needs of the areas they serve which includes Bastrop.  They recognize that this area between Austin, Houston, and San Antonio. is no longer just a community on the Highways in between the big cities, but a big energy user base that is constantly growing.

Recently they have adopbed a net metering policy and will be actively  involved the local economic development of the area. Bluebonnet will be proactively discussing  the concepts and systems that can be implemented to create a partnership with new subdivisions and new industry which would move those new consuemer from a position of just being an energy demand to a potential partner in the creation of shared sustainable energy.  It is easier financially  to put energy saving or energy creating  systems in place from the beginning rather  than trying to retrofit after the fact.

Right now any customer of Bluebonnet Electric Coop can choose to use green –   sustainable – renewable energy by participating in the Bluebonnet Green Rate on their existing accounts.  This participation is a bit more expensive than the already established electric rate, they say by about $.005 per KW .  As it is explained if a customer uses 1000 KW of service it would be approximately $5.00 more per month.  There is no fee to switch, no length of term agreement to do this, a customer can call and change to the Green Rate and it will become effective the next billing cycle, and can always call and cancel to have the billing rate dropped back down to the established rate.  The energy that is purchased comes from outside of Ft. Stockton from the Delaware Mountain and Indian Mesa  wind farms.

The other thing I have started doing is brewing up home made fly spray to save money and be a bit more eco conscious. There are a number of recipes out there but the one I am testing now was published in Dressage Today and also on Equisearch.   Simple to make at home it takes one more to do item off of my list by eliminating the need to run in to the local feed store to buy spray when I am out.  It smells fairly pleasant and is non toxic. I am still on the fence about it’s effectiveness to deter mosquitos but it seems to be effective on the horses but those pesky bugs are another subject to address later!

Here is my edited version of the recipe:
Take 2 cups of apple cider vinegar and 2 cups brewed tea ( get creative and try green or chamomile ), about 20 drops of eucalyptus and citronella oils, ten drops of lavendar, tea tree, and cedar oil and 20 drops of emulsifier ( like polysorbate 20 )

Happy Horsekeeping! Keep me in mind if you or anyone you know is looking for a horse property in the Austin area. I would love to help find just the right place!