Frequently Asked Questions

VA, also known as the Department of Veteran Affairs, offers to qualifying current and ex-members of the Armed Forces (to include the Reserves and National Guard) guaranteed mortgages up to 100% of the value of the property they are purchasing. Based upon a person's "eligibility", home loan amounts can be as high as $417,000 in Arizona.

VA home loans are fixed rate mortgages with terms of either 15 or 30 years. Since the VA guarantees the mortgage, there is no mortgage insurance. However, the VA requires the borrower to pay a funding fee ranging from 0.5% to 3.3% for the mortgage (this fee is waived for qualifying disabled veterans). In addition, VA home loans are fully assumable by a qualifying borrower. VA guaranteed loans are made by mortgage lenders, such as Sun Nations Mortgage. If the home loan is approved, VA guarantees the loan when it is closed. The guaranty means the lender is protected against loss if you or a later owner fails to repay the VA home loan.

Whether you are buying your first home or this is your fiftieth, the steps involved in purchasing a home with your VA benefits are the same. It is important to review the entire process before beginning. By doing so will only ensure a smooth and easy home buying transaction for you.

Steps involved in using your VA home loan benefits:

1. Determine if you are eligible for VA home loan benefits. This is a two part step that will begin the process. First, talk with a mortgage lender familiar with VA loans in order to see how large of a VA home loan you will qualify for. You should take into consideration not only the price range you desire but also the monthly payment you wish to have. 
2. Request your Certificate of Eligibility which will determine how much entitlement you have remaining. 
3. Find a real estate agent to assist you in buying a home.  Find an agent that you feel comfortable working with and an agent that believes he or she works for you (instead of the other way around). Remember, the seller can pay for all of your closing costs so be sure to find an agent that is savvy enough to negotiate this into the contract.
4. Once you have found a property and the seller has agreed to a sales contract, you will need to obtain full VA loan approval. This step may differ upon your choice of lenders but should consist of the following applying for the loan, determining the value of the property with a VA appraisal and Certificate of Reasonable Value, title search, and submission to an underwriter for approval 
5. Upon approval, you will go to the title/escrow company to close on the purchase of your home. This is the step where you will sign the mortgage/deed of trust, the note, and other pertinent closing documentation.
6. Upon closing, you should receive the keys to the home and the property legally becomes your own.

Though this is a simplified version of the process, it does outline several key points that you need to be aware of:

• Find out how much you qualify for before beginning the home search. In this step, you should also be able to identify any potential hurdles that would impede or prevent you from buying a home. ·
• Request your Certificate of Eligibility before beginning the home search process (this could take several weeks to receive and has the potential of delaying the process). ·
• Find an agent that knows how to negotiate! Too many veterans are buying homes for $0 down and NOT paying any closing costs because they have a competent real estate agent working for them. Don't be left out of the crowd.

For more information on using your VA benefits, give us a call a call at 602-993-7509.

There are many different shades of green that may or may not be expensive.
 
Throughout the Phoenix area, for example, there are many green, Energy Star qualified neighborhoods that have been hit hard by foreclosures and short sales.
 
The result, however, is that prices have dropped to levels equal to other homes in the area that are less efficient and green.
 
On the other hand if you are looking for a home with a 10KW solar electric system on the roof, you may have to pay a bit of a premium when compared to the home to other homes in the neighborhood.
 
The key to determining if a green home is expensive or not lies in your decision to work with a qualified green Realtor that can show you how easy it is to find a green home. Your Realtor should know where green neighborhoods are located and be able to help you find the green options you are looking for in a home, regardless of the neighborhood.
 
To talk with a qualified green Realtor in the Phoenix area, give our office a call at 602-993-7509.

Windows account for 10 to 25% of the exterior wall area of a home and can account for up to 50 percent of the cooling load in Phoenix.  High performance windows can help offset energy costs by providing an improved thermal performance by minimizing the heat gain in a home.
 
When older homes were originally built, home builders installed single pane, metal framed windows.  Efficiency and energy savings were not a consideration. 
 
As home buyers demanded greater efficiency, the materials and construction of windows have improved considerably.
 
High performance windows can be characterized as windows with a low U-Factor (how much heat gain the window has), the SHGC, solar heat gain coefficient, (measures how well the window blocks the heat from the sunlight), and how much air leaks through the window.  High performance windows should have a U-factor of 0.33 or less, a SHGC of 0.55 or less, and does not allow air leakage of no more than 0.15 cfm/ft (cubic feet per minute of air leakage per linear foot of window edge).
 
The material and design of the windows influence the performance of a window.  Materials and designs that do not allow the window to conduct heat into a room is critical.  Wood, vinyl and insulated fiberglass perform better than high conductive materials such as aluminum. 
 
The benefits to high performance windows are numerous:
 

• Improved comfort - high performance windows reduce the heat gain in a room.  In a home, 40 percent of our physical comfort is due to the radiant heat exchange between our bodies and the surrounding environment.  High performance windows reduce this heat exchange.  Furthermore, high performance windows reduce air drafts and provide for more consistent temperatures in the home.
• Quieter home - Multiple paned windows reduce unwanted noises from the outside
• Increased quality - High performance windows are often constructed with better quality materials that result in longer lasting windows.
• Improved indoor air quality - With a tighter air seal, high performance windows reduce air drafts and limit the amount of dust and pollution that enter a home.
• Lower utility bills - Better performance results into increased efficiency and results in lower energy bills. 
• Reduced obsolescence - High performance windows are become the standard for new homes these days and reduced the need for future owners to replace the windows.
• Reduced wear and tear on home furnishings - Low E windows block the harmful UV light that fades fabrics and carpets in a home.
• Improved resale of the home - As home buyers are increasingly looking for more and more green options in their homes, the benefits to high performance windows are resulting into higher resale values and shorter marketing times for a home.

The U-factor of a window is its rate of heat loss,. The U-value is the reciprocal of the R-Value.  The lower the U-factor, the greater a window''s resistance to heat flow and the better its insulating value.  Essentially U-factor deals with the heat gain/loss of the actual window itself.

The Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) measures how well a window blocks heat from sunlight. The SHGC is the fraction of the heat from the sun that enters through a window. SHGC is expressed as a number between 0 and 1. The lower a window''s SHGC, the less solar heat it transmits.  SHGC deals with how much heat gain comes through the glass of the window.

VT refers to visible light transmittance, or how much light gets through a window.  The higher the number, the greater the amount of light that comes through the window.

These three items can be found on a window's NFRC label. The National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC) is a nonprofit, public/private organization created by the window, door, and skylight industry. It is composed of manufacturers, suppliers, builders, architects and designers, specifiers, code officials, utilities, and government agencies. 

Structural insulated panels (SIPs) are high performance building panels used in floors, walls, and roofs for residential and light commercial buildings. The panels are typically made by sandwiching a core of rigid foam plastic insulation between two structural skins of oriented strand board (OSB). Other skin material can be used for specific purposes. SIPs are manufactured under factory controlled conditions and can be custom designed for each home. The result is a building system that is extremely strong, energy efficient and cost effective.
 
SIPs are highly efficient and have virtually no air infiltration.  Building with SIPs generally costs about the same as building with wood frame construction, when you factor in the labor savings resulting from shorter construction time and less job-site waste.  Other savings are realized because less expensive heating and cooling systems are required with SIP construction. 
 
 
 

Optimum value engineering is another term for advanced framing techniques used in the construction of a home.
 
OVE eliminates unnecessary framing members without compromising the structural integrity of the building that results in lower material and labor costs and improved energy performance for the building. 
 
Techniques employed include:

• Use of hangers to eliminate jack studs
• Double top plates
• Placing windows and door openings to align with the stud layout
• 2x6 framing with 24in centers instead of 2x4 framing on 16in centers
• Headers sized for the needed load and eliminating headers in nonbearing walls
• Two stud corners to allow for more insulation (instead of four studs)
• Roofs are built with trusses instead of being conventionally framed
• Using insulating sheathing instead of conventional plywood around the thermal envelope

Insulated concrete forms are used in a home's wall system that combines insulation and concrete.  ICF's are formwork for concrete that stays in place as permanent building insulation for energy-efficient, cast-in-place, reinforced concrete walls, floors, and roofs. The forms are interlocking modular units that are dry-stacked (without mortar) and filled with concrete. The forms lock together somewhat like Lego bricks and serve to create a form for the structural walls or floors of a building.
 
Manufacturers commonly cite the following advantages compared to traditional building materials, especially in residential and light commercial construction.

• Minimal, if any, air leaks, which improves comfort and less heat loss compared with walls without an air barrier
• Thermal resistance (R-value) typically above R-17; this results in saving energy compared with uninsulated masonry 
• High sound absorption, which helps produce peace and quiet compared with framed walls
• Structural integrity for better resistance to forces of nature, compared with framed walls
  • Higher resale value due to longevity of materials
  • More insect resistant than wood frame construction
  • When the building is constructed on a concrete slab, the walls and floors form one continuous surface; this keeps out insects.
  • Concrete does not rot when it gets wet
• Reduces heating and cooling costs from 30%-70%
• Construction methods are easy to learn, and manufacturers often have training available
• ICF structures are much more comfortable, quiet, and energy-efficient than those built with traditional construction methods.
• Designing and Building with ICFs help your construction project attain Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building status.
• Insulating Concrete Forms create a structural concrete wall (either monolithic or post and beam) that is up to 10 times stronger than wood framed structures.

Disadvantages include:

• Adding or moving doors, windows, or utilities is somewhat harder once the building is complete (requires concrete cutting tools).
• Cost - Depending on design, an average home will cost about five dollars per square foot more than a conventional wood built home. This usually amounts to about 5% of the cost of the home. For high-end wood homes this percentage decreases to about 2% or 3%. For high-end homes constructed of concrete the insulating concrete form solution is usually less expensive.
• During the first weeks immediately after construction, minor problems with interior humidity may be evident as the concrete cures. Dehumidification can be accomplished with small residential dehumidifiers or using the building's air conditioning system.
• Depending on the form material, concrete mix and pouring procedures, honeycombing may occur during the pour, where gaps are left in the concrete. This can be resolved with the use of a vibrator, using free draining form materials or self-consolidating concrete, though the latter option is much more expensive and not necessary.
• With polystyrene based forms, the exterior foam insulation provides easy access for groundwater and insects. To help prevent these problems, some manufacturers make insecticide-treated foam blocks and promote methods for waterproofing them.

Warm air leaking into your home during the summer and out of your home during the winter can waste a lot of your energy dollars. One of the quickest dollar-saving tasks you can do is caulk, seal, and weatherstrip all seams, cracks, and openings to the outside. You can save on your heating and cooling bill by reducing the air leaks in your home.
 
Tips for Sealing Air Leaks

• First, test your home for air tightness. On a windy day, carefully hold a lit incense stick or a smoke pen next to your windows, doors, electrical boxes, plumbing fixtures, electrical outlets, ceiling fixtures, attic hatches, and other locations where there is a possible air path to the outside. If the smoke stream travels horizontally, you have located an air leak that may need caulking, sealing, or weatherstripping.
• Caulk and weatherstrip doors and windows that leak air.
• Caulk and seal air leaks where plumbing, ducting, or electrical wiring penetrates through walls, floors, ceilings, and soffits over cabinets.
• Install foam gaskets behind outlet and switch plates on walls.
• Look for dirty spots in your insulation, which often indicate holes where air leaks into and out of your house. You can seal the holes with low-expansion spray foam made for this purpose.
• Look for dirty spots on your ceiling paint and carpet, which may indicate air leaks at interior wall/ceiling joints and wall/floor joists. These joints can be caulked.
• Install storm windows over single-pane windows or replace them with more efficient windows, such as double-pane. See Windows on page 18 for more information.
• When the fireplace is not in use, keep the flue damper tightly closed. A chimney is designed specifically for smoke to escape, so until you close it, warm air escapes—24 hours a day!
• For new construction, reduce exterior wall leaks by installing house wrap, taping the joints of exterior sheathing, and comprehensively caulking and sealing the exterior walls.
• Use foam sealant around larger gaps around windows, baseboards, and other places where warm air may be leaking out.
• Kitchen exhaust fan covers can keep air from leaking in when the exhaust fan is not in use. The covers typically attach via magnets for ease of replacement.
• Replacing existing door bottoms and thresholds with ones that have pliable sealing gaskets is a great way to eliminate conditioned air leaking out from underneath the doors.
• Fireplace flues are made from metal, and over time repeated heating and cooling can cause the metal to warp or break, creating a channel for hot or cold air loss. Inflatable chimney balloons are designed to fit beneath your fireplace flue during periods of non-use. They are made from several layers of durable plastic and can be removed easily and reused hundreds of times. Should you forget to remove the balloon before making a fire, the balloon will automatically deflate within seconds of coming into contact with heat.

A home's thermal envelope is its exterior shell: walls, foundation, floors, ceiling, windows, doors, and roof.
 
A thermally enveloped house does not allow hot air in or cold air out. Most houses, however, are as pourous as Swiss cheese. Ignoring the holes that allow for such leakage will waste energy, descrease the home's comfort level, and increase your utility costs. 
 
Cold and hot air can escape from your home in a variety of places. The following are the most obvious areas:

1. The chimney. A poorly designed chimney can allow 14 percent of the air escape through the chimney.
2. The attic. The older the home, the poorer the insulation.  Attics in Arizona can reach 140 to 150 degrees F in the summer.  Penetrations for electrical wires, poorly insulated can lighting, and unevenly distributed insulation allow air to filter from the home to the attic and vice versa.
3. Windows. Windows account for 14 percent of the air lost in a home.
4. Light fixtures. Any place in the house that has an electrical fixture built into the wall is suspect. Wires have to travel through the walls. Because wires and walls are solids, they cannot occupy the same space. That means holes have been cut. Make sure that those wires are thick enough to plug the holes. If they are not, caulk or putty can seal them.
5. Doors. Poorly sealed doors account for 10% of the air lost in a home (assuming that your door isn't wide open all of the time).

Creating a thermal envelope is a worthwhile investment. It may be something that is easily put aside for a later date, but the faster you fix it, the faster it will save time, money and energy.

Fly ash is a byproduct of coal from coal burning power plants that amounted to nearly 131 million tons in 2007.  Currently, the fly ash is released into the air, buried in a landfill or illegally dumped into our oceans. Fly ash contains approximately 1 part per million of mercury.
 
Fly ash can be used to replace portland cement in concrete.  It makes for better concrete and is cheaper than the cement that it replaces.  For every ton of fly ash used in place of portland cement about a ton of carbon dioxide is prevented from entering the Earth’s atmosphere. Also, it takes the equivalent of 55 gallons of oil to produce a single ton of cement.
 
Another significant benefit of using fly ash is that it requires less water than portland cement, conserving a limited resource, while also reducing a project’s water and equipment costs.
 
Source: American Coal Ash Association, April 2010.

Buildings in the U.S. account for:

• 65% of electricity consumption
• 36% of energy use
• 30% of raw materials use
• 30% of greenhouse gas emissions
• 30% of waste output
• 12% of potable water consumption

 
Green buildings, on the otherhand, reduce:

• 30-50% of energy use
• 35% of carbon emissions
• 40% of water use
• 70% of solid waste

The average payback time is 12 to 24 months while the average cost premium is only 1-2%.
 
Green homes can ensure an immediate and measurable impact where it really counts: dramatic energy savings, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, better indoor air quality and lower operating costs.

LEED for Homes is a voluntary rating system that promotes the design and construction of high-performance green homes, including affordable housing, mass-production homes, custom designs, stand-alone single-family homes, duplexes and townhouses, suburban and urban apartments and condominiums and lofts in historic buildings.
 
LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is a program of the US Green Building Council (USGBC).
 
LEED for Homes focuses its standards in eight areas:
 

1. Indoor Environmental Quality:  LEED homes are designed to maximize fresh air indoors and minimize exposure to toxins and pollutants.
2. Energy Efficiency: LEED homes have the potential to use 20% to 30% less energy (and some up to 60% less energy) than a home built to the ICC standards for minimum energy efficiency.  
3. Water Efficiency:  LEED homes use innovative strategies to reduce a home's water use and find creative ways to reuse water.
4. Site Selection: LEED encourages homes that are close to schools, shopping, work and transit while maximizing your quality of lifve and reducing the amount of time you waste in traffic.
5. Site Development: LEED homes avoid destructive construction practices and have landscaping and other elements that protect the land where the home sits.
6. Materials Selection:  LEED homes use recycled, reclaimed and responsibly obtained materials everywhere possible.
7. Residents' Awareness:  LEED homes stand as an example to the community of a well-built home and encourages others to live the same.
8. Innovation: LEED incourages builders and designers to find innovative ways to increase a home's performance, taking into account local and regional needs and promoting durability for a long-lasting, comfortable home.

LEED is an acronym that stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.  LEED is a green building rating system designed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) that defines an established standard to promote an integrated, whole-building design process. 
 
LEED provides a complete framework for assessing building performance and meeting sustainability gools that are based on well-founded scientific standards and emphasizes state of the art strategies for sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, material selection, and indoor environmental quality.
 
LEED provides the framework to plan, design, construct and operate high performance green buildings that have a positive impact on environmental, human and economic health.
 

The Forest Stewardship Council's (FSC) certifies sustainably harvested wood used in home building.  FSC is an international nonprofit organization that protects forests around the globe. 
 
Lumber certified by the FSC must meet certain standards designed to protect the forests in which it was cut, as well as the people who live there.
 
The standards used include strict requirements for how the wood is harvested, how much can be clear-cut, and how the existing forest ecology is to be protected.  Furthermore, the program also determines whether indigenous people are affected by lumber harvesting.
 
FSC certified lumber is becoming increasingly available in the marketplace, even showing up in the large chain home improvement stores throughout Phoenix.

In order for a home to be considered an Energy Star Home, the home must meet US EPA energy efficiency guidelines. These homes are at least 15% more efficient than what the 2004 International Residential Code (building code) require and usually make them at least 20% to 30% more efficient than the standard home. Efficiency upgrades to qualifying Energy Star homes include:

• Effective Insulation to ensure even temperatures throughout the house, reduce energy use, and increase the comfort of the occupants
• High Performance Windows that employ advanced technologies such as protective coatings like Low E coatings, improved frames, dual or triple pane windows with Argon or Krypton injected gases, and improved designs to keep the heat in during the winter and the heat out during the summer
• Tight Construction and Ducts that seal the envelope of the home to prevent drafts, moisture, dust, pollen, and noise.
• Efficient Heating and Cooling Equipement that require less energy, produce less noise, and increase in the overall comfort of the home.
• Efficient Products that meet the Energy Star requirements such as lighting fixtures, appliances, and other equipment found in the home

A programmable thermostat helps make it easy for you to save by offering pre-programmed settings to regulate your home's temperature in both summer and winter — when you are asleep or away. Homeowners can save about $180 a year by properly setting their programmable thermostats and maintaining those settings. For every 2 degrees F that you lower your thermostat in the winter, for example, can save 4% on your utility bills. The key is to establish a program that automatically reduces heating and cooling in your home when you don't need as much. Costs for a programmable thermostat range from $30 to $250 and are fairly simple to install yourself. This upfront cost is usually offset by the savings in the first year or two.

The R-Value refers to the resistance to heat flow for insulation. The higher the R-Value, the less heat that enters a home in the summer time and the less heat that escapes the home during the winter time. Generally an R-19 value is accepted new construction for wall insulation in a home and R-30 for ceiling insulation (though Energy Star and other green building options usually have greater R values for wall and ceiling insulation).