Since The Real Story launched into cyberspace on March 17th, we’ve published 352 posts. It’s been our privilege to speak with some true visionaries in shaping the future of California, which leads the nation in so many ways.

As 2009 draws to a close, we’d like to share with you our ten most listened-to podcasts. We’ll be back with fresh stories and many more insights beginning Monday, January 11, 2010.

In the meantime, have a joyous holiday season. Keep it real.

10. Mending broken ARMs
Guest: Christopher George, Director, California Mortgage Bankers Association

9. Goodbye, McMansions. Hello, Cohousing?
Guest: Ron Jones, Principal, Hunt Hale Jones

8. Horror stories from the foreclosure front
Guest: Thomas Murray Jr., WJ Bradley Bank

7. A hundred million reasons to buy a home
Guest: Jim Ghielmetti, CEO, Signature Properties

6. A new neighborhood for San Francisco
Guest: Chris Meany, Wilson Meany Sullivan

5. The greening of California homes
Guest: John Burns, Real Estate Economist

4. Leading the world toward recovery
Guest: John Burns, Real Estate Economist

3. Talking about dis-ARMs-ament
Guest: John Burns, Real Estate Economist

2. From bearish to bullish
Guest: John Burns, Real Estate Economist

1. Report card on recovery
Guest: John Burns, Real Estate Economist

Podcast: | Download

This is the last post for 2009, as The Real Story takes a break and starts planning the editorial calendar for next year. Count on it—real estate is going to stay in the headlines and in conversation in 2010, as California looks at foreclosures and mortgage resets, assesses the value of its commercial portfolio, starts looking hard at how to meet the new green standards set by SB375, weighs tax incentives, rewrites rules on assessments and looks at the pros and cons of investment opportunities that come from such a long downturn.

In the nine months since we launched The Real Story, we have interviewed fifty (50!) people whose professional lives in planning, research, building, architecture, design, green living, sales, mortgage, finance, interiors, landscape architecture, land development investment, government programs and innovation have made for some interesting conversations, five days a week. We have posted more than double that number of stories that have highlighted lifestyle, technology and how people approach the nature of community.

It is appropriate to end the year with a podcast with Cheryl O’Connor, acting CEO of the Home Builders Association, as she looks at what’s in store for California homeowners in 2010 and beyond. Cheryl’s interview—and all 49 others—are available to you on iTunes.

The best of all good wishes from all of us at The Real Story.

Podcast: | Download

Talking to Cheryl O’Connor, acting CEO of the Home Builders Association, The Real Story got some terrific perspective about the changing profile of the homebuyer today. Because of so much emphasis on low interest rates, below-replacement cost prices and tax incentives, it’s no surprise that the majority of homes sold nation-wide are to first-time homebuyers in the 25-35 year age group. This buying group consists primarily of Gen Y (or Millennials, as they prefer to be called to keep them separate from Gen X). Are they different from the buyers who have dominated the home buying landscape for the last forty years?

Oh yes, Cheryl tells us. The benefits of tax credits aside, Gen Y isn’t convinced that home ownership is for them. They might prolong their time in the renting cycle; marrying later and only looking into home buying when they start their families. Motivators to purchase include buying new homes with green features—this is the first generation so raised on green that they expect it as a standard in their homes. And although planners are currently approving new transportation-focused projects, the funny thing is that their idea of transportation is no private transportation at all. Gen Y, like their predecessors, aren’t going to give up their cars. They may drive a hybrid, but they are going to want garage space with their new homes.

The same principles of being green apply to holiday decorations. Start with local, reuse and recycle and you’re off to a good start. By taking a few simple steps, your holidays can be festive and eco-friendly at the same time.

Tree tips.
Natural, live or artificial? Each has its pros and cons.

The reusable nature of an artificial tree may sound appealing, but most fake trees are made of petroleum-based materials in an energy-intensive process. Add on the transportation costs to ship the tree from the manufacturer to the retailer, and it’s not a very eco-friendly option.

Live trees are a renewable resource grown on tree farms. While growing, they contribute to improved air quality. While it just sounds wrong to cut down a tree, many municipalities use old Christmas trees for compost (check with your waste company for pick-up). As many pre-cut trees sold on lots need to be transported, which contributes to carbon emissions, it’s best to find a local, preferably organic, tree farm—then plan a family outing to cut your own.

Another option is a live potted tree that you can replant after Christmas. Just be sure the tree is well watered while it’s indoors and doesn’t get too warm. Ask your nursery for instructions.

Oooh, ahhh, ornaments.
Keep it natural. Instead of foil and tinsel, string cranberries and popcorn garlands. There’s always room for heirloom ornaments, but use walnuts, small pinecones, ribbons, cookies, and candy canes instead of buying new glass ornaments.

It’s a wrap.
Most commercial wrapping paper is not recyclable, as it contains metal fibers and foil. They encourage gift givers to get creative in their package wrapping. Reuse colorful items like old maps, flyers, decorated grocery bags, newspaper comics or kids art projects. Cloth items such as dish towels, scarves or fabric remnants also make good wrapping material—and provide and extra bonus gift. The Sierra Club estimates that if every family wrapped just three gifts this way, it would save enough virgin paper to cover 45,000 football fields. If you must use wrapping paper, save it and use the gently used paper next year.

Tie one on.
Reuse is also good approach for ribbon. If every family reused just 2 feet of holiday ribbon, 38,000 miles of ribbon would be saved—enough to tie a bow around the entire planet. Fabric ribbon or yarn, or natural materials such as cotton string or raffia, makes good ties.

Let it shine.
Most Americans see a 27% increase in their power usage over the holidays—much of that from decorative lights. LED lights, now widely available, are up to 90% more efficient that traditional Christmas tree lights and last about 200,000 hours. That’s a lot of merry brightness!

Resources:
http://www.sierraclub.org/tips/holidays.aspx
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/12/1220_041220_green_christmas.html

Podcast: | Download

Today, Cheryl O’Connor, acting CEO of the Home Builders Association and LEED-certified green consultant, talks to The Real Story about people’s desire to “green up” their homes. Too often, a green retrofitting decision will be made based on how cool a product or service appears—with solar, wind and rainwater all looking like interesting contenders in the area of green home improvement. The trouble, according to Cheryl, is that a homeowner can choose something that sounds like it’s going to be great for energy-savings, and yet miss the real energy thieves—old sliding doors and windows, poor or missing insulation or a set-back thermostat. Not exactly cutting edge technology, but among the worst energy-wasters in a home.

In a similar vein, she talks about the problems of LEED commercial buildings when it comes to real-life performance—not just projections. How people use and operate the features within a building—even the products they use for cleaning their space—makes a tremendous difference in how the building operates as a Leader in Energy and Environmental Design. Not surprisingly, what the architects and engineers see for their buildings and how the tenants settle in and use or ignore its systems is another big disconnect for the future of green design.

Podcast: | Download

This week, The Real Story is talking to Cheryl O’Connor, head of the Home Builders Association and certified green consultant, about some of the new laws passed recently that will have an impact on our energy costs for years to come.

The first, SB 375, was passed in an effort to create more housing around transportation centers, like BART stations. One of its side effects is that it puts in place by 2012 a ruling that all new homes built in California will offer solar either as a standard or as an upgrade—in traditional single-family homes as well as attached dwellings. Cheryl reminds us that the current mantra on the subject is “reduce, then produce”. The changes in building science of the last decade have made new homes so efficient that they only contribute 1percent to the carbon emissions in the country. So adding solar to a new house will actually do more to help drive down the homeowner’s monthly energy bill than to change the environment.

Another bill, this one AB 811, provides for the cost of energy retrofitting on existing homes to be put on the tax bill. Although he bill has already been passed, the reason we don’t hear a lot about it that there is currently no way to fund it. The original idea was to use bonds as a funding mechanism, and we have all seen what has happened to bond programs in California. ABAG (Association of Bay Area Governments) is talking about approaching this from a regional basis, and local governments are waiting to see what they come up with.

In the not-so-distant future, Cheryl says we may be seeing energy inspections at the time of resale being as common as a termite inspection—imagine the wave of retrofitting that would start in response to this kind of measure.