317 Encina Avenue – Covell Park Beauty with Eco-Friendly Features and Super Location!

 Have it all in North Davis! This exquisite home is just steps to the magnificient Covell Park greenbelt. From the large, open kitchen, elegant dining room and inspired family room, you’ll enjoy delightful views of the spacious and newly landscaped back yard, and the south-facing living room brims with style and light. You’ll love the oversized bedrooms with beautiful bamboo flooring.

 

The eco-friendly home is loaded with energy-efficient features including dual-paned windows and doors, two furnances and two air conditioners with programmable thermostats, a whole house fan to welcome the Delta breeze in summer evenings, and extra attic insulation.

 

The back yard features a shady patio and trellis, perfect for entertaining or just relaxing. You’ll see new fences and a cheerful garden area with a new drip system. Discover a bounty of colorful, newly planted fruit trees including nectarine, peach, cherry, apricot, pomegranate, plus a variety of citrus. Unbeatable location on a quiet U-shaped street provides an easy bike ride to North Davis Elementary, Community Park, the library and more.  $625,000.

806 Eleventh St. – Charming Central Davis Cottage with Enchanted Gardens and Green Features Just Listed for $460,000. Oh, Yeah… It’s Zoned R-3 so you can build 2 more units!

You’ll fall for this treasure in Central Davis surrounded by lush gardens!  The delightful home features a beautiful master bedroom and bath addition built by Morse Construction in 2000 and a fabulous, newly remodeled kitchen. Hardwood floors bring a classic style to the living and dining rooms, and new bamboo floors create ambiance in the second bedroom. The home is brimming with green features: dual-paned windows and sliders, Sun City leased solar panels, tankless water heater, extra insulation, ceiling fans, 9-year-old gas furnace and air conditioner.

The property is zoned R-3, so you can potentially add up to two more units. The current owners enjoy an encroachment permit with the city, allowing them to maintain the garden open space to the east and south of the adjacent well house. The city would likely renew this permit for the new owner—truly a gardener’s dream! Did I mention the greenhouse and aviary…?  All this for a nice price of $460,000.

· 1,138 square feet of living space

· 7,239 sq. ft. lot,

· 1-car detached garage

· Built in 1949

· 2 bedrooms and 1.5 baths

· Indoor laundry room

· Pest and city clearance

Call Joe today at 530-304-5978 for more information, or to schedule a private tour of this very special property.

Your feedback, please – Davis CA Real Estate News is growing

With February around the corner, Davis CA Real Estate News soon celebrates the anniversary of it’s birth.  Woohoo! Monthly viewership is climbing, with around 700 sets of eyeballs reading posts this month, so I figured it’s a good time to ask for your thoughts.  Based on your comments I’ll try to adjust the content accordingly.

What types of posts do you find worthwhile? – Davis real estate price and volume trends, or other stats? Posts highlighting current listings? Green real estate news, features? Development issues around Davis? Current events in Davis? Other topics you’d like to see? Please comment.

Thanks.

Joe

“The Greening of the Davis Resale Ordinance,” or “How the City of Davis Could Further Punish Home Sellers”

The city is considering a revision to the city resale inspection process to include opportunities and/or requirements for “greening” existing homes at the time of resale. Gregory Mahoney, Assistant Building Official with the city, spoke at this morning’s Yolo Association of Realtors meeting to introduce the various methods under consideration and seek our input. 

Many agents like myself are concerned that these measures are punitive to owners trying to sell their homes, adding perhaps $5,000 or more of additional seller costs on top of complying with the resale inspection process as it currently exists. I believe that greening of existing homes should be voluntary, and it should be rewarded by the city. The city could provide incentives such as lowering a homeowner’s property taxes when green features are implemented, rather than forcing owners to green their homes when facing  financial and other stresses at the time of sale, such as divorce, job change, relocation, or short sale issues. I am a Certified Ecobroker and I love listing and showing homes with green features, including passive solar, use of sustainable materials and water conservation, but forcing the issue at the time of resale is the absolute wrong time to implement a greener Davis.

The following passages are taken directly from a memo from Mr. Mahoney’s office:

Background:

The proposed green building ordinance was reviewed at the March 26, 2008 joint Planning Commission, Natural Resources Commission meeting. During that meeting commission members expressed an interest in seeing a companion ordinance that relates to the greening of homes or buildings at point of sale. The City Council also expressed an interest in seeing a revised resale ordinance that addresses the opportunity to green buildings at the time of sale. In response, staff began exploring options for a green resale ordinance. This report includes a basic timeline for the development of the green resale ordinance. The timeline lists milestones in the development of the ordinance and also opportunities to ensure that the ordinance is vetted by affected stakeholders.

The report also lists some possible methods for compliance and enforcement. The process is in the initial evaluation phase at this time. Staff will develop recommendations for the ordinance after evaluation of feedback from the Natural Resources Commission and affected stakeholders.

Timeline

October 17, 2008 – Identify possible program components or methods for compliance

November 24, 2008 – Presentation to NRC of general program components under consideration

December/January 2008/2009 – Develop recommendations for the program

February 2009 – Meet with the real estate community

March 2009 – Bring recommendations to NRC for feedback

April 2009 – Develop implementation schedule and re-write resale ordinance

May 2009 – Submit to City Attorney for review and comment. Present to NRC/Planning Commission

June 2009 – Present to City Council for approval

Methods and Measures under Consideration

1. Prescriptive Method

List of sustainable measures that must be in place at the time of resale. Similar to what is in place in Berkeley, the list would include measures such as low flow fixtures, minimum insulation requirements, weatherstripping, and CFLs.

2.  Performance Method

Based on diagnostic testing, the building would have to meet minimum efficiency criteria. The testing would include duct blower testing to determine the efficiency of the HVAC delivery system, and blower door testing to determine the efficiency of the building envelope.

3.  Points Based System

Would include a list of sustainability measures in different categories such as energy efficiency, water conservation, indoor air quality, preservation of natural resources. Point thresholds would be established. Points based system would offer the homeowner flexibility. The homeowner could choose which measures to implement in order to gain compliance. The measures would be assigned values based on cost, time to complete the measure and bang for buck.

4. CA Energy Commission, HERS Phase II.  Expands upon the existing program scope by including audit or rating of new and existing homes.

Consistent, accurate, and uniform ratings performed by 3rd party HERS raters, based on a single statewide rating scale. Audits or ratings include reasonable estimates of potential utility bill savings and recommendations on cost-effective measures to improve energy efficiency. Establish labeling procedures to meet the needs of home buyers and homeowners, renters, the real estate industry and mortgage lenders with an interest in home energy ratings. Provide techniques for determining energy efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Provide techniques to develop recommendations for energy efficiency improvements, including cross checking against utility bills.

5. Build It Green for Existing Homes

Green Point Rated Existing Home is modeled after Green Point Rated New Home. The Green Point Rated Existing Home is graded on the same 5 categories – Energy Efficiency, Resource Conservation, Indoor Air Quality, Water Conservation and Community. Energy modeling matches the CA Energy Commission’s draft protocols for evaluation of existing homes. The rating system is available for homes of all vintages: existing or undergoing remodeling.

Attend composting class and get worms

Once again the City of Davis is offering free 45 minute classes on backyard composting and worm composting this coming Friday at 3pm and Saturday at 10am at the Community Gardens located on 5th St.  Participants will receive a free composting bin and worms that are ready to turn your kitchen food scraps into rich compost.

Here’s the link to the City’s October calendar to learn more. Please sign up in advance. http://www.city.davis.ca.us/calendar/

Solar Saturday, October 18th

 

After cruising the farmers market on the 18th, head across the street to the City Council chambers at 23 Russell Blvd. between 10-12 for this informational program on installing residential solar power sponsored by the City of Davis, the UC Davis Energy Efficiency Center and PG&E.

From the City’s website:

Hear about current market-ready solar power technologies and the key steps necessary to own a solar electric system for your home.

This short overview is for residential customers interested in learning the fundamentals of solar power for small grid-tied systems.

Become familiar with the solar power installation process and how to reduce energy costs. Get answers to frequently asked questions, such as:

• How does it work?
• Will it work for my home?
• How much will it cost?
• What incentives exist?
• How much space will I need?
• Will PG&E pay me for the energy I produce?
• How can PG&E help me install solar?

Come learn the key factors to ensure a successful project and bring your solar questions.

The workshop will be conducted by Pete Shoemaker, the Renewables Program Coordinator from the PG&E Pacific Energy Center.

For more information, call the Parks & General Services Department at (530) 757-5656 or pgsweb@cityofdavis.org

U.S. Bike Capitol

Davis, CA was the first city in the country awarded with a platinum level of bicycle friendliness from the League of American Bicyclists. The only other city to achieve such a designation is Portland, OR, awarded as a platinum level city this past April. Davis also claims to have more bikes per capita than any city in America. Davis city planners truly go the extra mile in accomodating bikers, from kids to commuters. It’s what helps make Davis an extraordinary place to call home.

I enjoy biking to my downtown Coldwell Banker office, with a variety of easy 3-mile routes to use. My favorite is the scenic Putah Creek bike path which eventually leads me under I-80 and past the eastern edge of the UC Davis arboretum. Another route follows Pole Line Road over I-80, then west on Fifth St. into the heart of downtown. Wherever you live in Davis there are bike lanes, greenbelt bike paths, tunnels, overpasses, and even America’s first bicycle stop light (at the intersection of Russell Blvd. and Sycamore Ln.) to get you where you’re going in comfort and safety.

 

It’s fun to meet my buyers and sellers by bike for home tours, inspections and more. Give me a shout if you want to tour Davis by bicycle with Davis’s only certified EcoBroker and we’ll hit the road on two wheels. Save the planet & stay fit – a win-win. Happy biking!

Enjoy this short video on biking in Davis:

http://www.cityofdavis.org/bicycles/streetfilms.cfm 

It’s a Tankless Job

I’ve been getting more requests for information about tankless water heaters lately from Davis area home buyers.  Below is a helpful summary from the US Dept. of Energy website:

Demand (tankless or instantaneous) water heaters provide hot water only as it is needed. They don’t produce the standby energy losses associated with storage water heaters, which can save you money. Here you’ll find basic information about how they work, whether a demand water heater might be right for your home, and what criteria to use when selecting the right model.

How They Work

Demand water heaters heat water directly without the use of a storage tank. Therefore, they avoid the standby heat losses associated with storage water heaters. When a hot water tap is turned on, cold water travels through a pipe into the unit. Either a gas burner or an electric element heats the water. As a result, demand water heaters deliver a constant supply of hot water. You don’t need to wait for a storage tank to fill up with enough hot water. However, a demand water heater’s output limits the flow rate.

Typically, demand water heaters provide hot water at a rate of 2–5 gallons (7.6–15.2 liters) per minute. Gas-fired demand water heaters produce higher flow rates than electric ones. Sometimes, however, even the largest, gas-fired model cannot supply enough hot water for simultaneous, multiple uses in large households. For example, taking a shower and running the dishwasher at the same time can stretch a demand water heater to its limit. To overcome this problem, you can install two or more demand water heaters, connected in parallel for simultaneous demands of hot water. You can also install separate demand water heaters for appliances—such as a clothes washer or dishwater—that use a lot of hot water in your home.

Other applications for demand water heaters include the following:

• Remote bathrooms or hot tubs
• Booster for appliances, such as dishwashers or clothes washers
• Booster for a solar water heating system.

Although gas-fired demand water heaters tend to have higher flow rates than electric ones, they can waste energy if they have a constantly burning pilot light. This can sometimes offset the elimination of standby energy losses when compared to a storage water heater. In a gas-fired storage water heater, the pilot light heats the water in the tank so the energy isn’t wasted. The cost of operating a pilot light in a demand water heater varies from model to model. Ask the manufacturer how much gas the pilot light uses for the model you’re considering. If you purchase a model that uses a standing pilot light, you can always turn it off when it’s not in use to save energy. Also consider models that have an intermittent ignition device (IID) instead of a standing pilot light. This device resembles the spark ignition device on some gas kitchen ranges and ovens.

For homes that use 41 gallons or less of hot water daily, demand water heaters can be 24%–34% more energy efficient than conventional storage tank water heaters. They can be 8%–14% more energy efficient for homes that use a lot of hot water—around 86 gallons per day. You can achieve even greater energy savings of 27%–50% if you install a demand water heater at each hot water outlet.

Selecting a Demand Water Heater

Demand water heaters cost more than conventional storage water heaters. However, you may find that a demand water heater may have lower operating and energy costs, which could offset its higher purchase price.

Before buying a demand water heater, you also need to consider the following:

• Size
• Fuel type and availability.
• Energy efficiency (energy factor)
• Estimate costs.

For information about specific demand water heater models, see the Product Information resources listed on the right side of this page (or below if you’ve printed out this page).

Installation and Maintenance

Proper installation and maintenance of your demand water heater can optimize its energy efficiency.

Proper installation depends on many factors. These factors include fuel type, climate, local building code requirements, and safety issues, especially concerning the combustion of gas-fired water heaters. Therefore, it’s best to have a qualified plumbing and heating contractor install your demand water heater. Do the following when selecting a contractor:

• Request cost estimates in writing
• Ask for references
• Check the company with your local Better Business Bureau
• See if the company will obtain a local permit if necessary and understands local building codes, etc.

If you’re determined to install your water heater yourself, first consult the manufacturer. Manufacturers usually have the necessary installation and instruction manuals. Also, contact your city or town for information about obtaining a permit, if necessary, and about local water heater installation codes.

Most tankless water heaters have a life expectancy of more than 20 years. They also have easily replaceable parts that extend their life by many more years. In contrast, storage water heaters last 10–15 years. Periodic water heater maintenance can significantly extend your water heater’s life and minimize loss of efficiency. Read your owner’s manual for specific maintenance recommendations.

More on tankless water heaters from the Home Depot website: 

The Home Depot recommends Tankless water heaters as the most energy effiecient and environmentally responsible option for supplying all your family’s hot water needs. We feature Paloma, maker of the most advanced gas tankless system sold in America. With no bulky, inefficient holding tank to keep hot, tankless water heaters can save you up to 33% on your energy consumption while delivering you an on-demand, continuous supply of hot water.

• Hot water that never runs out! – no more waiting for the tank to re-heat
• Great for hot tubs and the new surround showers – systems for indoor and outdoor applications
• Tankless systems last years longer and are easier to repair and replace than conventional hot water heaters
• Save space and use areas not available for tank heater systems
• Get up to $300 Home Energy Improvement Federal Tax Credit on Paloma’s Digital Tankless line of hot water heaters

Keep It Cool, Davis!

          The piece below was written back in 2005 by the DOE – it’s chock full o’ good summertime tips for saving energy.  As for my home, our favorite energy saving tactic is to open all the windows and doors in the house upon waking, often as early as 6am when the outside temp is the coolest. On days expected to be very hot, exceeding 95 degrees, we’ll shut all the windows and doors by mid-morning, and close the blinds on south and west-facing windows. The dual-paned windows do an admirable job of keeping the heat out, and we seldom run our central A/C.  If you have techniques that work for you, feel free to post a comment.

Keep Your Cool and Save Money Too: Summer Energy-Saving Tips from the Department of Energy
Save 10 to 50 Percent on Utility Bills This Summer While Staying Cool

WASHINGTON, D.C. –  Save money and keep your cool this summer by saving energy.  As part of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) continuing outreach and education efforts, here are some easy, energy saving tips that are also available in a free guide for consumers.  By following a few easy, common sense guidelines, properly maintaining or upgrading your air conditioner, adding insulation and taking other easy energy-saving measures, you can cut your energy bills by 10 to 50 percent.

“Almost 45 percent of a homeowner’s utility bill goes for heating and cooling,” said Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman.  “By taking a few simple steps, American families can make their homes more energy efficient and can save a significant amount of money, too.”

Your individual savings will depend on how energy-efficient your home is now, the type of home you have, and the area of the country where you live. 

Use Air Conditioning and Fans Wisely

• Open windows and use portable or ceiling fans instead of operating your air conditioner.
• Use a fan with your window air conditioner to spread the cool air through your home.
• Use a programmable thermostat with your air conditioner to adjust the setting warmer at night or when no one is home.
• Don’t place lamps or TVs near your air conditioning thermostat.  The heat from these appliances will cause the air conditioner to run longer.
• Look for the ENERGY STAR® label.  If your air conditioner is old, the new energy efficient models can save you up to 50 percent on your cooling bills. 
• Consider installing a whole house fan or evaporative cooler if appropriate for your climate.                      

Low Cost Tips to Save Energy

• Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents.
• Air dry dishes instead of using your dishwasher’s drying cycle.
• Use a microwave oven instead of a conventional electric range or oven.
• Turn off your computer and monitor when not in use.
• Plug home electronics, such as TVs and VCRs, into power strips and turn power strips off when equipment is not in use.
• Lower the thermostat on your hot water heater.  115 degrees is comfortable for most uses.
• Take showers instead of baths to reduce hot water use.
• Wash only full loads of dishes and clothes.
• Use cold water to wash your clothes.

Landscape for Energy Efficiency

• Plant trees or shrubs to shade air conditioning units, but do not block the airflow.  A unit operating in the shade uses less electricity.
• Grown on trellises, vines such as ivy or grapevines can shade windows or the whole side of a house.
• Avoid landscaping with lots of unshaded rock, cement or asphalt on the south or west sides — it increases the temperature around the house and radiates heat to the house after the sun has set.
• Trees whose leaves fall off in the winter, planted on the south and west sides, will keep your house cool in the summer and let the sun warm your home in the winter.
• Just three trees, properly placed around a house, can save between $100 and $250 annually in cooling and heating costs. Daytime air temperatures can be 3 to 6 degrees cooler in tree-shaded neighborhoods.           

Shade Your Windows

• Sunny windows can make your air conditioner work two to three times harder.
• Install white window shades, drapes or blinds to reflect heat away from the house.
• Close curtains on south- and west- facing windows during the day.
• Install awnings on south-facing windows.  Because of the angle of the sun, trees, a trellis or a fence will best shade west-facing windows.
• Apply sun-control or other reflective films on south-facing windows.
• If you want to replace your windows, consider the new double-pane windows with spectrally selective coatings. 
• When buying windows or appliances, look for the Energy Star® label.  Visit http://www.energystar.gov/ for more information.

 

 

Weatherize

• Air leaks can waste energy dollars year-round.
• Caulking and weatherstripping will keep cool air in during the summer.
• Add insulation around air conditioning ducts when they are located in un-air conditioned spaces such as attics, crawl spaces and garages.
• If you see holes or separated joints in your ducts, hire a professional to repair them.
• Check to see that your fireplace damper is tightly closed.
• Invest in insulation. Visit the DOE Zip-Code Insulation Program for R-values specific to your home:  http://www.ornl.gov/~roofs/Zip/ZipHome.html

Composting Workshop for Davis Residents – Got worms?

The City of Davis is hosting workshops on composting this upcoming weekend.  If you’ve been interested in composting, but reluctant for one reason or another, here’s your chance to dig in.

Read more from the City of Davis:

 

 The City of Davis Public Works Department is offering free composting classes on Friday May 30 at 2:00pm and Saturday May 31 at 10:00am. The classes will be held at the Compost Demonstration area at the Community Gardens on 5th Street. Classes will cover both backyard composting and worm composting. Davis residents in single family homes can receive a free compost bin after attending the class.

To sign up for the class, call the City of Davis Public Works Department at 757-5686.

 http://cityofdavis.org/pw/recy…