Through these eyes

Small and energy efficient

Houses are becoming smaller and more energy efficient these days – and it’s partly to do with our change of lifestyle.

In past decades we needed large gardens and small orchards to supplement our food sources. Now we can choose to buy fresh at Farmers’ Markets, or organic in supermarket aisles. We also tend to use our homes less for entertainment when we can connect our tablets and i-phones to…

Housing shouldn’t be a market option

If we still lived in caves, we’d be fighting over the hills. We don’t, of course – we live in houses made of popular building materials and built according to local/national government rules and costing what the ‘Market’ dictates.

What has happened since our cave-dwelling days is that we have become victims of our need to shield ourselves from risk.

We insure ourselves against shoddy work by…

Do you love the musical acoustics of old railway stations, too?

By Heather Sylvawood, Amazon Author of Real Estate Rollercoaster

I have always appreciated looking up into the huge heights of old railway station buildings. The details of some are akin to cathedrals. As a child I remember being in awe of Wellington Railway Station (New Zealand) and I loved the echoing of our voices, especially if we shouted when few people were there.

Although the ticketing…

Buying a home or investment property

by Heather Sylvawood, Author of Real Estate Rollercoaster

The buying process can be fraught if you are not aware of what is involved.

Solicitors and real estate agents deal with the legalities all the time and they understand them. They may assume you know more than you do, and unless you ask the right questions you won’t get the answers you need. Of course, you may not know the right questions…

Keep your home free of SMART meters

By Heather Sylvawood, Amazon Author

Sorry if you’re reading this information from another Blog post, but I feel it so important to pass on. Please share it freely. What’s so smart about SMART meters?

Power companies (all over the world) are introducing an appliance that could be harming our health irreversibly, and we’re just going along with it without question.

The villain is the SMART meter.…

New analogue meters are an option in NZ

Originally posted on Power Struggle:

Just had a call from a chap at Contact Energy offering me a new analogue power meter.

The company wrote to me about two weeks ago to say a Smart Meter would be installed. Subsequent phone calls, while politely and professionally handled, didn’t show much chance of an alternative.

I pressed on.

Today I got a call saying Contact Energy will install an Actar…

Building an Extension to an existing house

By Heather Sylvawood, author of Real Estate Rollercoaster

Building an extension can have added complications compared to building a new home off existing plans.

Special considerations for building extensions

Above: The extension we had built on our own home.

An extension has to take into consideration all the complications of building, such a boundaries and recession planes, but it also…

Why use a Real Estate Agent?

What I’m about to write might not make real estate agents (realtors) comfortable. However, this is written from the point of view of a buyer/seller and is meant to help them be clear about what is going on for THEM.

The ‘games’ real estate agents have to play

We bought our first home through a real estate agent. She was a really warm person and we felt immediately comfortable with her. As two…

Avoid the pressure of real estate markets

The state of the real estate market can put emotional pressure on you to act rashly. The state of the market can push you into buying a home or investment property you may live to regret.

Most people’s first real estate buying experience is purchasing an existing house. It certainly was our real estate purchase experience. We had a combined cash deposit of $15,000 at a time when banks would only…

A Realistic Look at Green Construction?

Guest blogger: Herb Nordmeyer takes a controversial look at our perceptions of ‘Green’ housing and…

Reblogged from Pepperbox Couture:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Luwc_ejaLjw&w=551&h=340]

Hi Everyone,

This is a super quick post full of inspirational designers that need major kudos for their amazing eco-friendly designs!

I hope  you find them…