Green Mortgages – Great Ways to save Money and the Environment

Posted by MoneySavvy on May 28th, 2010 | no comments home title

Are you an environmentally conscious individual? Do you want to save money and be a friend to the ecosystem? If you are buying a house, you may want to consider a green mortgage.

It seems that everything and everybody is going green these days. That’s alright. The earth can stand to have a few more friends. But, did you know that caring about the environment can also save you money? Well, it can.

Our home is our biggest investment. It is also the biggest drain on resources and often we don’t know it. Using energy-efficient appliances and improvements for your home lowers the overall cost of upkeep in your home. And that means more disposable income. Anyone would like that, wouldn’t they?

This is one of the benefits of a green mortgage. They are more traditionally called Energy Efficient Mortgages. Ask your loan officer about one of these mortgages.

The incentive for home buyers is that they can qualify for more money in their loan if they are willing to make energy-efficient improvements. Let’s say that you are buying an existing house. By identifying ways that the home can lower its energy costs you may be able to get the money to make the improvements built in to your mortgage loan. So, instead of trying to get a personal loan later to improve the house, you can do it in the beginning with no worries.

If you are buying a new construction, there are also incentives to go energy efficient. If your new home meets guidelines for energy efficiency, you can get money towards your closing costs from your lending institution.

One thing that you do need to have done is an energy audit of the property. This will cost you some money but it will pay for itself in the long run when you qualify for a green mortgage. The energy audit can tell you if a new construction is compliant with the energy-efficiency requirements. For an existing home, it can identify specific ways to increase the energy efficiency of the home to acceptable parameters.

This report is important to verify to your lender that you are serious about a green mortgage and making the necessary improvements. As a green mortgage holder, you probably qualified for more money on your loan than you otherwise would have. Your mortgage will still be fixed-rate or adjustable depending on your needs and credit, but it will be more as a reward for your environmental consciousness. Besides, you will save money each month as the improvements enhance your home.

Now you have another mortgage option to add: green mortgages. Ask your lender about it and see if your efficient habits can save you some money.