Have you seen those amazing eco-friendly houses lately? There are pretty hard to miss since they are being featured in a lot of magazines and several shows on television. They do seem ingenious right? Who would have thought that such green houses were possible? The houses not only look nice, but they also come equipped with things that make the house function fully while not doing damage to the environment. Like most people, you might be wondering how those people did it. They merely combined their interest in the homes with their interest in being kind to the planet.
If you are interested in building an environmentally friendly house and you are planning to get a mortgage anyway then maybe you should know that there is a way that you can combine both things and come up with a mortgage that will cover the cost of whatever green installations you put up. This is called an eco-mortgage and here are some details that may be of interest to you. This eco mortgage thing is not new, it was supposedly pioneered by one US president who you may be familiar with; President Jimmy Carter sound familiar to you? He signed this executive order in 1979 and it basically stated that every second market institution that was federally sponsored had to give their clients some bonuses for building homes that were energy efficient. The idea behind this was that by building a more energy efficient house, the homeowner saves a lot on utility bills and these savings translated to income and this higher income could then be used to help them qualify for a much bigger loan than what they normally would have been qualified for. Obtaining an eco-mortgage helps pass the savings to the homeowners and helps increase their buying power.
If you are interested in applying for this eco-mortgage, you will have to go through the Home Energy Rating System or HERS for short. This report is a requirement since it will show them that your house is able to meet all the guidelines for energy efficiency. You have to pass the HERS before you can move on your application to get an eco-mortgage.