The New York Times yesterday published an eye-opening article on the perils of financing green projects by attaching liens to private property. Such “green liens” are a centerpiece of Noam Bramson’s GreeNR “sustainability” plan.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government entities that guarantee more than half of the residential mortgages in the United States, have different priorities. They are worried that taxpayers will end up as losers if a homeowner defaults on a mortgage on a home that uses such creative financing. Typically, property taxes must be paid first from any proceeds on a foreclosed home.
As indicated in this story, many banks will not refinance a home with a ‘green lien’ or loan money to a buyer. Banks are worried that property owners who cannot keep up with payments will default on their loans, sticking it to the banks.
I found this article an eye-opener as I thought solar would be the way to go and was thinking about financing.
Maybe the way-to-go is to go-slow and only sign up for green projects that you can afford to pay for in real time without loans. CF bulbs and rain barrels are a good place to start.
Buyer beware! Find out the real costs of going green, ask to see real numbers and shop around before signing on the dotted line. Residents who want GreeNR should sign up for it, house by house.
Read the entire Times story,
Solar Energy Loan Giants Threaten Energy – Efficiency Programs.
Pullquote: “….Now Mr. DeKay is worried about his own home, which carries a $25,500 lien for a five-kilowatt solar array installed last year. ‘If we ever want to refinance the house, it will be impossible for us to do that,’ he said….”
Will GreeNR Plan tax North Enders More?
Imagine the large lawns around town. Think about the effort, fuel consumption to run mowers, trimmers, leaf blowers, operation of a leaf dumping station, chemical fertilizers, weed killers, the water to keep the lawns lush and green. Then combine that with the elaborate landscaping lighting, more energy consumption. We have stressed the demand for energy to the point where the increasingly popular method for drilling for natural gas (hydrofracking) -read more here- http://www.citizenscampaign.org/campaigns/hydro-fracking.asp will potentially put water sources at risk. Our water sources affect everyone in spite of your location. A very simple, inexpensive water meter could be installed on every landscape irrigation system, allowing taxation on a sliding consumption basis. This would encourage the downsizing of lawns in favor of more rock gardens and less water intensive landscape design. Less lawn, less fuel to maintain, less chemical, less precious water consumption, more tax revenue (especially from the larger lawns). All in all a GreeNr New Rochelle. I’m sure the North End would be happy to do their part. What do you think?
Green Lawns and Rock Gardens
On the Trolley Tour, Jim of Habitat emphasized the need for more green, less concrete. I don’t think your idea of rock gardens instead of lawns would fit with that vision.
I imagine if we turned our lawns into little farms that would be more to the Green liking.
I just wish that the government would leave us alone. If I want a lawn, let me have a lawn, if I want a rock garden, let me have a rock garden. The government, local, state, federal, should not be involved in any decision on what to do with my property unless my decision infringes upon the property rights of others. Whether I use water to keep my lawn green or cement the whole thing over is not the business of anyone else but me.
Green regulation is the loss of freedom. Property rights are freedom. Property rights are the basis of liberty.
Happy Fourth of July.
The Government IS Coming to get YOU!
Part of the Mayors GreeNR plan includes ways to incentivise (tax) people into behaving certain ways. The potential for huge savings in water consumption, reducing the carbon footprint (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_footprint)on a property by property basis, and reducing the use/runoff of chemical fertilizers, makes the irrigation water metering to tax consumption a perfect fit into the new world order of greening. If I can think of it, you can bet the ruling party has thought of it. It’s just a matter of implementing it in a subtle way. I can see it now, stark xeriscaped ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xeriscape) lawns – oops, rock gardens, replacing all the big lawns in the north end. The government is coming to get you, unless you stand up and join the pushback of concerned residents at the voting booth.