If you are in the market for a new home, you probably have a lot on your mind. You might be dreaming about how many bedrooms you will need and how you could decorate those spaces. You might be spending your days imagining what your new backyard will look like and thinking about how you could enhance your outdoor living space.
In addition, you might be thinking about how you can purchase a home that will allow you to naturally glide into an eco-friendly lifestyle after the move. If you are on the hunt for a sustainable home, these are the features that you need to prioritize during your search:
Anyone who is looking for a home is often searching for the best house within their price point that includes valuable features, such as new appliances. If you are interested in buying an eco-friendly home, one of the best features to look at first is the type of appliances that are installed in the home. Prioritize buying a home that has energy-star appliances that will be included as part of the purchase agreement, as this allows you to get efficient appliances along with the rest of the property.
It's not often that you are going to look at a listing and see what types of materials were used to construct the home. If sustainable building materials are important to you, then you may have to ask your real estate agent to do a bit of digging to find out which materials are used throughout the home. Some sustainable materials to keep an eye out for include reclaimed barn wood, recycled steel or bamboo.
Insulation is the type of feature that is easy to overlook during the home buying process because it is not seen from the exterior or interior of the property. Nestled inside the walls and along the attic, insulation plays an important role in the overall efficiency of your home. Work with a home inspector in order to find out what kind of insulation was used throughout the home and when it was installed. Good insulation will keep your home comfortable and help keep your energy costs down.
Of course, you are likely going to be looking for a home with a well-kept yard that is easy to maintain, but take it a step further and find a home with a sustainable landscaping plan. Plants, shrubs and trees that are native to the area - and that are not considered invasive species - will grow and thrive in the local climate. You will not have to water them as frequently, and you can rest easy knowing that your outdoor space is good for you and the environment as a whole.
There's a common misconception that the only way to get an eco-friendly home is to build one yourself. While you certainly can work with a sustainable home builder to create the green home of your dreams from the ground up, you also can search the real estate market for existing properties that have environmentally-friendly features. Any prospective home buyer at any price point can find a home that will help them adopt a green lifestyle.
I'm John Mahan, Sales Associate with William Raveis Real Estate, Harwich Port Office.
Throughout his childhood, John Mahan spent summers on Cape Cod at his parents’ home in Dennis Port. His intro to the Cape was, as he puts it, when his parents “carried me down the stairs at Sea Street Beach when I was a week old.” With a lifelong connection to Cape Cod, it seemed only natural for John and his wife, Mary, to move to Harwich – where they still reside – with their two young children in 1996.
Prior to moving to Cape Cod, John lived in the Worcester-Auburn area where he worked for Mass Electric for 10 years and was a member of the International Brotherhood of Utility Workers. When John and his family moved to the Cape, he worked at NSTAR for six years.
John began his career in real estate in 2002 when he joined Team Waystack Realty in Harwich Port. He has been a consistent top producing realtor in the Harwich area for the past 20 years. John’s approachable demeanor, combined with an integral understanding of the Cape Cod residential real estate market, have allowed him to build trusting, long-term relationships with his clients – both sellers and buyers.
