The High Country Association of REALTORS released statistics today for residential homes sold through the end of November. Sales are off from October’s numbers, approaching June’s total residential units sold.

Sales continue to fall below last year’s figures. When comparing year-to-date numbers with the same time period in 2008, the number of residential units sold is down 11.1 percent, and the median sold price for residential property is down 11.3 percent. The total number of new residential listings is down 6.2 percent from 2008.

Mortgage rates are also dropping, which is good news for homebuyers. According to Freddie Mac, the   national average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage fell to 4.88 in November, down from 5.06 percent in September. The rate was 6.09 percent in November 2008.
In addition to lower mortgage rates, buyers now have more time to secure big tax savings. On Nov. 6, President Obama signed The Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009, which includes an $8,000 tax credit for qualified first-time buyers and a $6,500 tax credit for qualified existing homeowners. This gives prospective buyers an additional six months to take advantage of the popular tax credits, which have helped boost sagging homes sales.

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All of you know Stillwater Dwellings. This new company is indeed very busy these days with an array of orders. They have recently completed their first prefab home in Bend, Oregon. This home was built using the sd231 floor plan and includes 2,950 square feet of space. This house contains three bedrooms, two and halfbathrooms, a laundry room, and 600 square feet of garage space. The cost of construct this house was $175 per square foot which includes the entire site work.

Click here for more from Homedit.com

By: Scott Nicholson
The Watauga County Board of Commissioners gave the go-ahead for a gas-to-electricity project at the former county landfill Tuesday night.

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Early Registration for NAHB’s Certified Green Professional Courses Ends September 18

Story by Sam Calhoun
Face it—if you are builder and don’t have a plan to go green soon, you are way behind the pack. Green is definitely the buzzword these days, especially in regards to building, as homebuyers are now more than ever looking for homes that are energy efficient, sustainable and feature renewable technologies. So why are you still building yesterday’s stick-built home when you could be learning how to build tomorrow’s sustainable, energy-efficient masterpiece?

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Last year, High Country Press introduced readers to High Country Green Boxes’ DwellBox, the first permanent inter-modal steel building unit (ISBU) residential home in North Carolina. The brainchild of local entrepreneurs and partners Casey Pond, Ethan Anderson and Jeffrey Scott—collectively known as High Country Green Boxes LLC—the DwellBox certainly struck a nerve in the national and international communities. In the last year, more than 750,000 interested people have clicked to the website, even though the partners have not conducted any marketing.

For more information, click to www.dwellbox.com or www.dwellbox.com/dwellblog.

Click here for more about DwellBox from High Country Press

Find a spot in the high country and be the first to have this Ger stilt camper/house for an awesome Appstate Football get away. I guess a kid never really grows up. Editor

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The Lofted Forest Home is one that defies categorization. It cannot be called strictly modern, traditional, or naturalistic. Rover Harvey Oshatz did not have a particular style in mind when he designed the home, but instead focused on a source of inspiration from the owner.

Click here to read about it from SwipeLife.com

So, you’re thinking about grabbing a few acres of dirt, and building a simple cabin.  Well take a look at this article about mail order green homes I came across: http://fabprefab.com/fabfiles/home.htm

How Can I Get A Prefab Home?

The easiest way to get a prefab home is to call a design firm that specializes in prefab such as one of the ones mentioned above. Here are some of the other options in green prefab design:

• pieceHomes (Los Angeles, CA)
• Blu Homes (Boston, MA)
• Eco-Infill (Denver, CO)
• kitHAUS (CA)
• Hive Modular (Minneapolis, MN)
• h-haus (Santa Fe, NM)

Many people I talk to in Boone are interested in Off-the-Grid life.  Many homes in the area are already basically free because they use a well or spring for water and a septic tank for waste.  However, they are all powered by Blue Ridge Electric or New River Electric.  I came across a pretty great site for purchasing Solar/Wind/Generator kits, take a look: http://firemountainsolar.com