How To: Green Up Your Home Before You Sell
Portland is well known as a green city. Whether it’s at the grocery store, where reusable bags are increasingly common, on the roads, where 8% of Portlanders ride bicycles, or at home, where upwards of 50% of waste is recycled or composted, we take significant steps to reduce our impact on the planet. Why not bring the Green theme to selling your home or real estate?
Most homeowners do repairs or make major improvements to their homes before they list them for sale. At the very least, it’s quite common to replace old appliances and light bulbs with more efficient ones. Is your home already in top-notch condition? Then your focus is on decluttering and staging so that it will look its best when buyers come through with their agents. When you work at it from the angle of reducing waste and avoiding toxic materials, you can even save yourself some money along the way!
Why Go Green?
It’s cheap and trendy
When you use recycled or reused materials, you’re not only keeping them out of the landfill, but you have the chance to add character to your project that you won’t find in the big box stores! Start by repurposing your own materials. In older homes, reuse those old windows as wall art, apply some rustic touches with re-sanded decking or fencing, or get creative with old kitchen or bathroom tiles. There are tons of DIY guides on the internet! Don’t have any cool stuff lying around? Head to the nearest thrift store! Vintage touches like light fixtures, drawer pulls and door knockers make the difference between “ho-hum” and “charming”. Portland is a city like no other, and your home can be just as unique!
It’s better for your health
Another important aspect of keeping your home eco-friendly is avoiding toxic cleaning products, paints and other materials. The biggest risk that toxic materials pose is from Volatile Organic Compounds, or VOCs. These gases released by everything from air fresheners to electronics to carpet pads, and there’s no way to completely eliminate them from your home. However, you can significantly reduce their levels by looking for low to zero VOC products and cleaning with fewer chemicals. At low levels, VOCs can cause headaches and nausea, and at high levels they can cause cancer and damage to the liver and kidneys. As awareness grows about this health risk, home buyers may be on the lookout for signs of poor indoor air quality, so be sure to keep it in mind as you prepare your home for sale!
Support local businesses
Portland has tons of resources and shops where you can buy used building materials, home furnishings and new appliances and materials that are eco-friendly. Habitat for Humanity ReStores, Goodwill, locally owned thrift stores, the list goes on! By going green and shopping locally, your dollars will do far more to bolster the local economy than heading to a big-box home improvement store!
Help a neighbor
It’s inevitable that the moving process will help you realize that you have stuff you don’t need. Rather than pulling a dumpster up to the house and throwing things in it, consider donating those items. You’d be surprised what can be reused, and it’s a tax deduction for you! Pick-up services are available from St. Vincent de Paul and other organizations that not only resell your unwanted housewares, clothing and furniture, but also use the profits to do good in the community.
There are some things you can’t donate but definitely don’t want to throw in the municipal garbage – toxic materials like old paint, cleaning supplies and batteries. For these, find out when your next neighborhood collection event is happening by checking out the City of Portland website. Most neighborhoods have one around springtime.
More Pro Tips From Your Energy Wise Realtor
For the past five years one of my many real estate agent designations has been as a trade ally of Energy Trust of Oregon. This organization assists homeowners with energy efficient features and improvement to their homes. You can save up to 30% on energy costs with Energy Trust of Oregon cash incentives! Here are some ideas to get you started.
Appliances are key
Your home can be an energy guzzler or sipper depending on the decisions you make when you buy your materials and appliances. Energy-Star Certified appliances have the most buyer-appeal. Look for the certification when you shop for appliances, and be sure you comparison shop to get the best deal. When you’re ready to get rid of old appliances, Energy Trust will not only pick them up for free, they’ll even give you cash for them!
Small energy savings add up
Potential buyers of your home love improvements that will save them money on their utility bill. Whether you sealed up gaps and cracks, put in new insulation or replaced leaky windows, be sure to let your real estate agent know. LED light bulbs and motion detecting fixtures are an often-overlooked but easy way to boost your home’s green cred.
Make your home smarter
The “smart home” is no longer a sci-fi fantasy, it’s here! Energy Trust of Oregon (at the time this article is written) offers rebates for Nest smart thermostats, which can greatly reduce home heating and cooling costs. These devices can tell when you’re away and can even use local weather information to make energy-saving temperature changes automatically.
Don’t demolish, deconstruct!
Is your home or property going to go through some major transformations before you put it on the real estate market? The City of Portland now offers grants to encourage deconstruction as an alternative to demolition. It’s a new program that started up last year. Get up to $2,500 for deconstructing an entire building, or less if it’s just a room that’s got to go. Deconstruction frees up materials for reuse, keeping them out of the landfill and reducing the need for new lumber and other materials.
Need more tips? Ask your Energy Trust Certified Portland real estate agent! I’m here to help you sell your home right.
