Category: Green Building

Jan 15

9 Reasons to Buy a Brand New Home

iStock_000000974184XSmallIf you’re in the market for a new home or condominium in Hawaii, have you considered buying a brand new home?  Not only do you get a home that’s as close to custom-built as possible, you also get energy efficiency, modern floor plans and excellent value!

Here are 9 fantastic reasons why you consider buying a brand new home rather than a pre-existing, used home.

1. Competitive Pricing

Compare prices of existing homes to those of comparably-sized new homes!  In today’s real estate market, home builders are competing for your business, and when builders compete, you benefit.  Most home owners looking to sell their homes cannot offer incentives or attractive financing options like builders can.

2. Choices

When shopping among existing homes, buyers have to take the previous owners’ style into consideration.  Do you pay even more to redecorate or do you make do with someone else’s choices? With a new home, however, you have choices in design, color and material options.  Having the luxury to tailor a home to your tastes can be one of the greatest features of buying a new home.

3. Home Location

Location, location, location. New home buyers often get to choose which individual unit they prefer within a new home development.  Would you prefer your bedroom get morning sun or afternoon sun? Would you prefer to live near the pool or closer to the beach in Maui?

4. Convenient Financing

In today’s market, securing financing for home ownership can be tedious and stressful.  Many new home communities have simplified this process in order to provide you the best deal possible that gets you into your new quickly and easily.

5. Low Maintenance

Why worry about upgrading or constantly maintaining your home if you don’t have to?  New developments like Kai Ani Village use the latest and greatest materials that technology can offer.  The result?  New homes are virtually maintenance-free for many years.

6. Floor Plans

Never thought about the convenience of modern floor plans?  Take a tour of many existing condos and you’ll find bad layouts and wasted or unusable space.  New home buyers, however, benefit from modern layouts suitable for today’s lifestyle.

7. Energy Efficiency

New communities are required by law to meet stricter energy codes than in the past, which benefits YOU, the consumer.  This is an enormous cost-saving benefit when considering the costs of fuel and energy today.  Many existing homes were built when energy codes were either more lenient or nonexistent.

8. Modern Appliances

Appliance manufacturers introduce new models every year and new home communities are able to offer the latest state-of-the-art equipment at the time of completing a new home.  And, because builders buy for the entire production of new home, the purchasing power often reduces the buyers’ costs.

9. Appreciation

The typical home needs remodeling after 25-30 years. Since new homes have an assured longer life, appraisals are generally higher than on comparable existing homes.  That means new homes will likely sell for a higher value in the future.

Jan 04

Walkable Communities Protect the Environment, Your Budget and Your Waistline

couplewalkingHow far have you walked today?

Besides the shuffle from your bed to your bathroom, or from your car to your office desk, how far have you really walked? Most people don’t spend enough time enjoying the world’s oldest cardiovascular exercise, shunning numerous opportunities to put one foot in front of the other and actually going out of their way not to walk (yeah, we know you’ve waited an extra 5 minutes for that close parking space at the mall to keep from walking an extra 20 feet).

But did you know there are those among us who actually enjoy walking and prefer living in a walkable community?

It’s true!

There are places, like the brand new Kai Ani Village in Kihei, Maui, where most of your daily needs are mere steps away and where you rarely need to use a car.

Not only are walkable communities good for your health (duh!), they are also good for the environment. Walkable communities:

• Reduce air pollution
• Reduce traffic congestion
• Conserve energy

In addition, walkable communities promote spending in local businesses, keeping local dollars local to enhance an area’s economic vitality.

When looking at new housing options, be sure to consider your new community’s walkability quotient.

Are there recreational areas within walking distance? What about shops, entertainment districts and restaurants? Are there opportunities to work near or in your new home?

And when evaluating costs, be sure to consider your reduced automobile costs – maintenance, insurance and gas – and time saved during commutes and errand runs.

Purchasing a new home in a walkable community can save your waistline, but it can also help protect the environment and add to your family’s bottom line as well.

Nov 19

Buying a New Home? Make Sure It’s Green!

These days it seems like everything is green.

Green cars.  Green furniture.  Even green clothing lines.

Sometimes it may seem like overkill, but there is one area of “green” that you need to pay attention to if you’re in the market for a new home:  green building.

That’s because “green” isn’t just a catchphrase when it comes to home construction.  It’s a philosophy and a building practice that impacts everything from the way a home is designed to what types of building materials are used to how construction waste is disposed of and reused.

Green residences like Kai Ani Village, a Hawaii Built Green community, incorporate environmentally friendly features that can add value and reduce the lifecycle cost of the home.  It’s all about bringing together a vast array of practices and techniques to reduce and ultimately eliminate the impacts of buildings on the environment and on the occupants’ health.

Many environmentally friendly products provide benefits that help improve the performance of a home. For example, Kai Ani Village uses durable building products that not only save resources, but also reduce maintenance and replacement costs.  It also uses energy efficient appliances and water-saving fixtures that save buyers money over time through lower utility bills and maintenance costs.

Often, it’s the little details that have the biggest impact.  The pool and spa at Kai Ani Village will use saline instead of damaging chlorine.  The native Hawaiian landscaping will save precious water.  Even the paints consist of low volatile organic compounds, which means less indoor air pollution.

But it’s not just about the products and landscaping.  In a green built community, the community’s overall design should lend itself to a shrinking carbon footprint.

“Smart growth” communities are getting a lot of ink lately, but what exactly does that mean?

Well, communities like Kai Ani Village are built near the town center, which encourages walking and less driving.  Smart growth development maximizes space through better land use.  Kai Ani Village’s live/work residences incorporate office or retail space within the residence, reducing sprawl, traffic congestion and excessive energy consumption.

It’s a lot to consider, but oh so important.  The next time you’re in the market for a new home, make sure it’s a green built home – for your health and our planet’s.

Jan 20

KAI ANI VILLAGES COMMITMENT TO GREEN BUILDING

The design of Kai Ani Village has been focused around sustainability with the preservation of native wetlands and the integral use of green building, earth-friendly strategies. Kai Ani Village has been designated a Hawaii BuiltGreen project. Green Construction materials and techniques within Kai Ani Village include

  • Sealed roofs which reduce heat flow, mold and mildew
  • Radiant barrier roof sheeting and  long overhangs to help with cooling
  • Ceiling fans to reduce electricity use
  • Low flow toilets and fixtures
  • Sound reduction insulation on both floors and interior walls
  • Low Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) paints
Page 1 of 11