Real Estate Investing

Recycling. Reclaiming. Recovering. Dumpster Diving. Whatever you call it, there is tons of perfectly good waste discarded every day and the most resourceful among us are putting it to good use. These are the ultimate eco-friendly warriors. Some call them crazy, some call them genius. The above video is a good example. Filmed by Texas Country Reporter, the video offers a tour of Dan Phillips’ home in Huntsville, Texas. Phillips is a resourceful person and a skilled woodworker who decided to use 85% of would-be waste to create his sizeable, impressive-looking home.

From discarded picture frame corners to old wine bottle corks, Phillips was standing right by the dumpster with his hand out to bring them back to home sweet home. While Phillips may represent the ultimate in recycling, he is by no means alone. There are countless stories of junk retrieved from dumpsters — some of which is not so junky. Think about all the people who are too lazy or busy to donate their junk or hold a yardsale after spring cleaning and/or relocating to a new house. There’s a lot of great stuff to be had, especially after a little elbow grease, creativity and bleach disinfectant!

For the more squeamish among us, like myself, you can put a company to work for you. There are plenty of companies offering reclaimed and recovered lumber, for instance. Whether it’s recovered from the bottom of a river or reclaimed from trash piles, there’s plenty of recycled lumber to be found. Why cut down a perfectly good tree? For starters, and to get a grip on the possibilities, check out the 2008 Green Log Awards nominees in the category of “Reclaimed Wood — Flooring.” And happy dumpster diving — er, recycling!

I always thought of log homes as one of the least eco-friendly building options around. But one web site actually says they can be eco-friendly too. In fact, log homes are “actually the most natural, organic and environmentally sustainable dwelling in the history of homebuilding,” the web site states. Of course, the web site belongs to PrecisionCraft Log & Timber Homes, not exactly an unbiased source. But Timber Homes is not alone in their approach. There are a lot of log home companies currently stressing the eco-friendliness of the building material, not surprising since eco-friendliness is all the rage.

Regardless, PrecisionCraft has a wealth of ideas on eco-friendly building. These are basic, common sense ideas, not the more expensive ones like tankless hot water heaters and photovoltaic panels.

- Use eaves, porches and awnings. This can not only increase the life of your windows, but can help cool your house by shielding the windows from direct sunlight.

- Placement of your home on the lot. Consider such characteristics of the land like slope, which could impact your building design. Also, when choosing a location, try to shield your home from the hot afternoon sun.

- Keep vaulted ceilings to a minimum. This is a tough one because vaulted ceilings are all the rage and often used as a selling point in home ads. However, not only is it wasted space, but it is also more air to heat or cool.

- Choose your windows carefully. The effects of windows placed in certain locations can be significant. For example, a large, unprotected window on a home’s west side is letting in ample heat from the afternoon sun. This is one reason clerestory windows are so popular. They project natural light from up high, but are too small and narrow to allow much heat to pass through.

- Add a cool pantry or root cellar. This strategy simply increases the shelf life of many products. It could also be useful for the person wanting to get into growing and canning their own vegetables, always an eco-friendly idea.

By the way, kudos to PrecisionCraft Log & Timber Homes for teaming up with Mountain Architects and others to found the annual Green Log Home & Lifestyle Awards. Now there’s something you don’t see a lot of log home companies doing.

So you think you’re cut out to be a general contractor, architect, house flipper, or to simply build your own casa. You might want to first try Build-a-lot, the intriguing little game that hit retailers last month packaged with the enticing motto “Become Your Own Real Estate Tycoon.”

While this game is probably as similar to actual real estate dealings as Guitar Hero is to an actual rock ‘n’ roll guitar solo (i.e. not at all), it has been getting rave reviews. Users of Yahoo!, where the game first debuted for download, gave the game a rating of 4.5 of 5 stars. This genre of games, called “casual games,” are those typically played on PCs with little long-term dedication or special skill requirements. Statistics show they typically fare much better among women, MarketWire.com reports, but Build-a-lot has attracted a large male fan base as well.

The long and short of it is that players are charged with increasing property value by improving the property itself and building up the surrounding area. Buy, sell, build, renovate till your heart’s content. As the game progresses, you will even have to deal with actual problem-solving scenarios.

If this isn’t enough, try your hand at the newer Build-a-lot 2: Town of the Year. In this sequel game, the “Curb Appeal” feature appears and such cumbersome worries as building permits and property taxes disappear. You must keep your curb appeal up if you want to keep your property value high, and that means building in the right area, away from industrial development. Kudos to HipSoft for developing a fun game around a topic that is often very intimidating for many people. It may decrease some of the mysteriousness typically associated with real estate and development, but it could also take the self-proclaimed “experts” down a notch or two when they discover it’s not as easy as it looks.