Picking house paint colors

Picking house paint colors isn't just difficult. It's terrifying! Pick colors that are blah, and your house will seem flat and featureless. But if the colors you pick are too bold, they might overwhelm the architecture... and upset the neighbors.

The best colors will highlight the most beautiful features of your home. Skillful use of color can even disguise design flaws, boosting the curb appeal and market value of your home. How do you find that magic color combination? Follow these tips.

1. Honor History
If you're planning to paint an older home, you'll probably want to use a historically accurate color scheme. You can hire a pro to analyze old paint chips and recreate the original color. Or, you can refer to historic color charts and select shades that might have been used at the time your home was built.

2. Jazz Up the Past
In some neighborhoods, homeowners fly in the face of history. Instead of choosing historically accurate colors, they paint their houses modern colors to dramatize architectural details. Using bright colors on old architectural details can produce startling and exciting results. But before you buy 10 gallons of bubblegum pink, it's a good idea to look at what your neighbors are doing. A fluorescent colored Victorian that looks splendid in San Francisco will seem wildly out of place in more conservative neighborhoods.

3. Consider Your Neighbors
The house next door can give you paint color ideas, but don't copy your neighbor exactly. Choose colors that set your house apart, without clashing with nearby buildings.

4. Borrow From Nature
The landscape around your house is blooming with color ideas. Trees may suggest an earthy palette of greens and browns. A beach setting might suggest vivid blues, turquoises, and coral colors. Even the garden in your front yard can inspire exciting color combinations.

5. Check the Roof
Your house is your canvas, but it is not blank. Some colors are already established. What color is your roof? Your paint color doesn't need to match the roof, but it should harmonize.

6. Look For Things That Won't Be Painted
Every home has some features that will not be painted. Does your house have brick walls? Vinyl windows? A natural wooden door? Will steps and railings remain their existing colors? Choose a color scheme that harmonizes with colors already present on your house.

7. Find Inspiration in Your Living Room
It may seem comical to paint entire house based on the pattern of a pillow case, but this approach does make sense. The color of your furnishings will guide you in the selection of your interior paint colors, and your interior paint colors will influence the colors you use outside. Once again, your goal is to harmonize.

8. Focus on Details
Depending on the size and complexity of your home, you may want to choose two, three, or as many as six colors. In addition to color for your siding, select accent colors for shutters, moldings, doors, window sashes, brackets, columns, and porch decks. But beware: too many colors will overwhelm your house. Too few can make your house seem flat and uninteresting.

9. Use Light to Add Size
It's no wonder large, grand estates are often painted white. Light colors make a building look larger, and white is the favored color for traditional classical architecture. You can add to your home's sense of size and dignity by using white or a pale cream color.

10. Go Dark For Drama
Dark siding or dark bands of trim will make your house seem smaller, but will draw more attention to details. Darker shades are best for accenting recesses, while lighter tones will highlight details that project from the wall surface. On traditional Victorian homes, the darkest paint is often used for the window sashes.

11. Discover Color Families
Contrasting colors will draw attention to architectural details. But, extreme contrasts will clash and actually detract from details. To be safe, consider staying within a single color family. For some accents, try using a darker or lighter shade instead of a different color.

12. Strike a Balance
A burst of a single color on just one part of your home may give it a lopsided appearance. Strive to balance colors over the entire building.

(via About.com)

Green buildings going strong

Can green be the lifeboat the home building industry needs? During a presentation at the International Builders’ Show, Harvey M. Bernstein, vice president of industry analytics, alliances, and strategic initiatives for McGraw-Hill Construction, suggests that eco-friendly design and products are proving to be a market differentiator for builders and an in-demand feature for home buyers.

Utilizing data from McGraw-Hill Construction’s 2006 and 2008 Smart Market Reports on green building, as well as a few other studies, Bernstein offered the following conclusions:

• Green is a market differentiator: Builders are finding it easier to market green homes and homeowners are much more interested in buying them, even in a down economy. Bernstein called green building a “savior,” and said that while the residential market overall has plummeted, the green residential market is climbing at a steady pace, increasing fivefold between 2005 and 2008 and expected to triple by 2013. The total residential green opportunity in 2013 will be $40 billion to $70 billion.
• Involvement in green building is on the rise: In addition to a growing number of local and national green building certification programs, green policies have jumped from 57 local governments in 2005 to 156 in 2008. The new presidential administration also has demonstrated a commitment to green policies and stimulus programs. At the builder level, in 2007 32% of builders reported being “significantly dedicated” to green building. In 2008 that number climbed to 52% and is expected to reach 69% in 2009.
• Interest in green homes spans all income levels: While the greatest percentage of demand for green homes (27%) is within the $50,000 to $74,000 income range, 30% of the demand falls into the two lower income brackets.
• Younger generations will expect green options: “They can’t imagine building anything that isn’t sustainable,” Bernstein said.
• Green-home buyers are driven by operational cost savings and improved health. Associating green with quality will be a strong selling point in the down market.
• As a builder’s green building experience increases, perceived costs decrease.
• Energy Star is the most well-known product standard.
• When remodeling, homeowners will spend the most on features that make their homes greener, versus those that increase comfort or improve the appearance.

For those pros still wary of the trend, it’s worth noting what Bernstein calls one of green building’s biggest obstacles for homeowners: In some markets, there just aren’t enough builders doing it.

(via Builder Online)

Is this the end of the Bilbao decade?

Have we reached the climax and termination of a whole era in architecture? An era you might dub "The Bilbao Decade"?

I'll explain about Bilbao later. But first two news items. Between them, they bracket the present moment.

"The downturn is spreading. It's getting worse. It hasn't hit bottom yet," says Kermit Baker, the American Institute of Architects' chief economist. Another journal suggests that for American architects "there may be nothing to do but wait and pray."

The AIA maintains an index of prosperity for architects. That index has now fallen to historic lows in every category - commercial, residential, industrial, institutional, whatever. Projects of all kinds are being halted and put aside, for nobody knows how long. Architects are told by their clients to stop working until further notice.

Usually institutional work - especially hospitals and universities - holds up best in a recession, which can be good news for New England architects. But that sector too has hit an all-time low.

OK, the American news is too gray and depressing. Let's focus on an item from the other side of the world.

In the emirate of Dubai, over there on the Arab peninsula, the sun is still shining. In fact, it's shining so brightly that the Palazzo Versace, a hotel due to open next year, plans to offer its guests a beach of artificially cooled sand.

The Guardian, a British newspaper, reports that pipes filled with coolant will be installed beneath the beach to prevent it from stinging anyone's toes. "We will suck the heat out of the sand to keep it cool," says the hotel's president.

Huge fans, too, will maintain a gentle breeze on the beachgoers. These will be wind machines, but instead of generating energy, like windmills or wind farms, they'll be expending it. Not only that: The new Versace plans also to refrigerate the water in its enormous acre-and-a-half swimming pool.

Why would anyone want to visit such an unnatural beach? Why not just stay in your air-conditioned hotel suite with a sun lamp? I have no idea. Perhaps part of the attraction for a tourist is the sheer pleasure of knowing that you have the power to waste the earth's resources.

The Dubai tale goes on and on. Just one more detail: Thirty thousand mature trees are being shipped to the emirate to landscape a new golf course. In Dubai's climate they will, of course, be artificially irrigated.

Severe architectural recession on the one hand, grotesque architectural luxury on the other. The two stories are the yin and yang of this moment in time. They mark the end, perhaps, of what we'll call the Bilbao Decade. It's been a boom, a clearly defined epoch in the history of architecture.

By Bilbao I mean, of course, the Guggenheim Museum in that Spanish city, designed by American architect Frank Gehry, which opened in 1997. With its billowing curves of shiny titanium and its powerfully massive sculptural presence, it was instantly perceived as a masterpiece. Tourists flocked to it. This one building put the city of Bilbao on the cultural map of the world.

Suddenly architecture was in. Every city, it seemed, wanted to be like Bilbao, wanted its own daring, avant-garde iconic building. Usually that building was an art museum or a skyscraper. Every few months, someone announced plans for the new tallest building in the world. (The current candidate is Burj Dubai, still under construction, which when complete will be approximately twice the height of the Empire State Building.)

Buildings took on crazy forms, largely because the computer made it possible for structural engineers to figure out how to make almost any shape stand up. Students at schools of architecture, influenced by the work of Gehry and others, played with their new computer programs to invent amazing shapes. Every work of architecture, it seemed, sought to be an original icon. A few leading international architects became, for the first time ever, media celebrities.

Architecture critics were not immune. Some of them, during this decade, perceived architecture as an elite activity, an art form of spectacle created by maybe 20 major architects around the world for an audience of a few thousand aficionados. There wasn't a lot of attention to everyday building types like schools and housing.

All that fever now feels passe. Architecture students, I'm told, are more interested in so-called "green architecture," work that responds to the global crisis of climate and resources, than they are in artistic shape-making. They're interested in urbanism, in the ways buildings gather to shape streets and neighborhoods and public spaces. They research new materials and methods of construction. Increasingly, they're collaborating with students in other fields, instead of hoping to produce a private ego trip.

As others have pointed out, there's an upside to recessions. They give people time to step back from the frantic pace of a boom economy and think hard about what it is they want to do. In a time of limited resources, architects and their clients will focus again on solving the practical problems of making an environment that is, in every sense of today's overused word, sustainable.

Some day, the tourist vogue will fade in Dubai. The emirate will cease to be the latest toy for the jet-setter. There will be a big empty pool and a forgotten beach. A moment of selfish insanity will have passed.

The Bilbao Decade produced some wonderful buildings, but it was a time when the social purposes of architecture were sometimes lost. Architecture is supposed to be about making places for human habitation - rooms, streets, parks, cities - not merely skyline icons or beachfront palaces.

Just as one feels a page turning with the arrival of a new American president, so a page is turning, once again, in the history of architecture.

(via Boston.com)

Taking a home loan? Beware of these facts

Sameer Tiwari, a Pune based mechanical engineer, thought he had made a "prudent decision" by opting for a fixed rate, home loan five years ago from a reputed national bank.

Three years after the date of disbursement, Sameer received a letter, which said it was time for renewal of his loan and that the interest on his fixed home loan had been increased by 0.5 per cent. On checking with the bank, he learned that there was a clause in the agreement that said the fixed rate was only for a period of three years and not for the entire tenure!

This letter brought endless, sleepless nights to Sameer and his family now, they had to recalculate and replan all their income sources and planned expenses because the "fixed EMIs (Equated Monthly Instalments)" will increase!

What is a loan agreement?

A loan agreement is a 'contract' entered into between the borrower and the lender (banks and financial institutions) that regulates the terms of a loan. The loan agreement comes into picture immediately after the bank appraises your credit and the property that you have identified.

The agreement and the fine prints...

In the euphoria to acquire that dream house, various clauses in the loan agreement are often overlooked. However, these clauses have a significant bearing on areas ranging from interest rates to repayment schedules. Reading home loan agreements is generally viewed as a sheer formality and one always tends to ignore points that the agreement mentions. Moreover, the legal language used in the document often seems more alien than human!

In any case, not reading a loan agreement thoroughly can land you in a soup. Here are some clauses, which should be searched for inside a loan agreement and be clarified with your HFC (Housing Finance Company):

Reset Clause on Fixed Rates: Banks have introduced the reset clause in their fixed rate, home loan agreements so that they can increase interest rates in case the market rates increase in future. This effectively makes fixed rate loans equivalent to floating rate ones. This gives the banks an escape from interest rate surges but is a disadvantage for the borrower who is mostly unaware about such content in their agreement. Typically, the period for such reset clause varies from two to five years depending on the bank or housing finance company you borrow from. So read this clause in your loan agreement carefully.

Force Majeure Clause: There may be certain loopholes in your home loan agreement that allows the bank or home loan company to unfix and raise the fixed interest rate under exceptional circumstances. This will be mentioned under the 'force majeure' clause of your agreement. However, the differentiation between 'exceptional circumstances' and normal circumstances is always a tough task.

For e.g. A cut in banks' prime lending rate is not automatically translating into reduction of all PLR-linked loan rates. The reason being cited is that the bank's margins are under severe stress due to lending rate cuts. They feel interest rates on some existing sub-PLR loans do not even cover their cost of funds and any further fall in those sub-PLR loans will worsen the matter. Therefore, some public sector banks have revised the existing loan contracts in case of select sub-PLR borrowers, by using the 'force majeure' clause, meaning a 'situation beyond control'.

Defining a Fault: A 'fault' for a layman often means a non-payment of an EMI during the loan tenure. However, your bank or HFC may have a different meaning for this term. The home loan agreement of few banks defines fault as a case when the borrower expires, the borrower is divorced (in case of more than a single borrower), or the borrower is/are involved in any civil litigation or criminal offence. Therefore, you must be clear what your lender means by the term 'fault'.

Security cover at times of falling property rates: This clause states that a bank is eligible to demand additional security when property prices fall. Even if you are loyal on your EMI payments, this clause demands a security cover in addition to your loan amount and if a borrower fails to provide such a security then he/ she may be declared a defaulter by the lender.

Floating is Fixed and vice versa: Floating rate as well as fixed rate home loans are linked to the Benchmark Prime Lending Rate of a bank or the HFC from which you take a home loan. Hence, if the BPLR is 13.5 per cent and floating rate home loans are at a discount of 1.5 per cent to the BPLR, then the interest rate on a floating rate home loan is 12 per cent. So whenever the BPLR is raised, then the interest to be paid on the floating rate home loan goes up. The vice versa also holds true.

However, banks and HFCs do not show the same alacrity to reduce the interest rates, which they might have shown when increasing it. When interest rates come down, banks and HFCs offer lower rates to new customers but existing customer continue paying the higher interest rates. Check with the bank or HFC regarding the details about such clauses.

These clauses are overlooked by most home loan borrowers and some of them eventually end up paying interest rates, fees, or hidden charges completely out of the blue. It is imperative that you have a thorough understanding of such clauses with your bank or HFC.

(Rediff.com)

A surprising idea for "solving" climate change

Environmental scientist David Keith proposes a cheap, effective, shocking means to address climate change: What if we injected a huge cloud of ash into the atmosphere to deflect sunlight and heat?

2009 will separate men from boys in real estate

Global uncertainties arising out of the sub-prime meltdown, a slowdown in US and weakening of the dollar, the ripple effect has also been felt in India.

With inflation no longer a worry and with the threat of a slowdown looming large, the Indian government is going all out to give the necessary boost to the economy, including the real estate sector. Amir Hashmi, Correspondent, HT Estates speaks to Anuj Puri, chairman and country head, Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj on what can be expected in 2009.

Since India is not isolated from the global meltdown, what more can be expected in the real estate space in 2009?

The recent measures taken by the RBI will need to couple with lowered property prices and further injections of liquidity to effect any significant changes.

Until then, domestic demand is likely to sink even further, and international interest will remain at cautious levels before the situation gets better. There has already been an overall drop of demand to the tune of between 45-50%.

We expect these figures to reflect a more positive scenario in 2009, at least with respect to residential real estate.

The fallout of the ongoing financial crunch and a justified watch-and wait stance by homebuyers will set some badly needed market adjustments in motion between January and March, 2009.

We also expect that, in 2009, the circumspection currently evident on both the domestic and international investor fronts will give way to cautious forays.

A decisive turnaround phase will come only in another 18 months to two years, but 2009 will see the groundwork for revival being put in place.

In terms of liquidity, we will definitely continue to have a challenge situation on our hands.

However, in 2009, we expect more innovative financial structures and liquidity mechanisms to ensure that delivery of the development pipeline is not affected.

Is 2009 actually the ”Year of Turnaround?” Or is the worst yet to come? If so, what can we expect?

The structural adjustment programme of the early 1990s initiated the liberalization of the Indian economy. High appreciation rates on India’s property market began with the reduction of interest rates that the NDA Government instituted after 2001.

In early 2004, home loan rates sank to a record low of 7.5% and this paved the way for the alarming spiking that previously typified the country’s property rates in many Indian cities.

The very amenable borrowing rates encouraged individuals to avail of home loans to buy residences, where actual property purchase had only been an option for the considerably rich before that.

This resulted in a huge demand for quality real estate all over the country post 2003. After March 2005, Indian real estate rates displayed an unstoppable upward curve - until the meltdown that began in late 2008.

No matter what it took to rationalize the market, we are still talking about a badly needed correction here.

Yes, 2009 will indeed be a turnaround year that will decisively separate the men from the boys, finally introduce new transparency parameters and keep the focus squarely on the end user.

Are government sops / stimulus packages enough to revive demand in realty - across residential, commercial and retail properties?

No. Players need to rationalize their asking rates, and end users must have the maturity to abandon their chronic watch-and-wait stance and make their move when the rates fall into their purview of affordability.

Only when Government initiatives dovetail with the positive actions of developers and end users will the market see renewed demand again.

What more policy initiatives can be undertaken in such a grim / dampened scenario for real estate sector to ensure more transparency in land / real estate dealings?

The introduction of a proper system for accreditation for those engaged in land valuations and a uniform stamp duty structure for all states in India would be a decisive step forward.

However, we are on the whole convinced that the Government is doing all it can under the present circumstances.

Is it a good time to invest in Tier-II cities? Why / why not?

Developers are currently focusing on market catchments that they are familiar with, and where there is established rather than projected demand.

This, in the current context, means the metros rather than Tier II cities. Certain Tier II cities such as Pune and Hyderabad continue to offer good investment potential, but investments must be done judiciously and in context with local market expertise.

MMRDA plans iconic tower at Wadala, Mumbai

With a height of 526 m (1725.28 ft), MMRDA mandarins say it will be the world's third tallest building after the under-construction Burj Tower in Dubai and Freedom Tower in New York.

The project, if it ever gets through with approvals, is expected to fetch the government an annual lease rent of Rs 1,800 crore. The project, to be submitted to chief minister Ashok Chavan for approval, will cost Rs 4,128 crore. The tower will have five floors reserved for parking and 16 for other essential services.

The remaining 80 floors will house office spaces and other commercial, recreational, academic and entertainment facilities.

"The one we have planned at Wadala will be bigger than that of Taipei's 101-floor structure; ours will have more height than that. While the cost of construction will be Rs 3,600 crore, that of developing infrastructure in and around will be Rs 500 crore," said an MMRDA official, adding that it would require no state funding and would be built on a build-operate-transfer basis.

The state is keen to rope in a global firm to attract MNCs and corporates to hire spaces in the building.

Proposed on a 1.4-lakh-sq-m plot, its built up area with 4 FSI will come to around 60,00,000 sq m. The concession period for the private firm will be a maximum of 35 years.

Anand Gupta, honorary general secretary of Builders' Association of India, said such structures were "feasible in terms of location and financial viability". Told that factories (such as RCF) were located nearby, he said such factors could not be constraints.

Aniruddha Paul, director of Raheja College of Architecture, said even though there was no need for high-rises to brand Mumbai abroad, the project was feasible. "Such skyscrapers can be green buildings as well. I will suggest that proper environmental care be taken," he added.

(via Times of India)