When buying or selling your home, you have the chance to give big to the cause of your choice.I’ll admit it: I am one of those Californians that everyone loves to hate. I left the “Golden State” and am considering buying a house in another state because, as radio host Garrison Keillor might say, outside of California, “all the women are strong, the mountains are good-looking, and all the Real Estate prices are below California’s average.”
But whether you’re a peregrinating Californian or any other homebuyer or seller, consider this: you can generate a huge donation to the non-profit of your choice by working through a company called HomeGift Realty. With a $300,000 home, for example, you can put aside as much as $1,312.50 for your favorite non-profit at no cost to you.
I was introduced to HomeGift Realty via Care2.com’s daily action site. The day after filling out Care2’s “Get Started Now” form, I received a phone call from a very pleasant lady with HomeGift Realty. We chatted about sustainable architecture, and since I didn’t already have a realtor with knowledge of green homes, she put me in touch with one in my area. The realtor benefits by gaining a client and in exchange she agrees to let me donate a percentage of her commission to charity. I love win-win situations.
To learn more about how to use the purchase or sale of your next home to generate funding for the non-profit of your choice, visit HomeGift Realty or Care2.com.
Another exciting green option for homebuyers comes from the increasing presence of green homes on the market. Make sure to ask your Real Estate agent about green buildings in your area. To see what makes a home green, take a look at the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. If your house is a greener-upper, you can get tips and information on making it more environmentally friendly in the Green Home Guide as well as on HGTV’s Green Home, where next year you will also be able to enter to win a fully-furnished green home. If you’re not sure where to go to purchase the items you’ll need to green your home, you can find a great number of them online at greenhome.com. So, with all this in mind, why not throw a house greening party?
By Gavin Hudson
