This infographic from Houseplans.co explores the trend in America's small house movement and illustrates what will probably be trending for new home plans in 2015.
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This infographic from Houseplans.co explores the trend in America's small house movement and illustrates what will probably be trending for new home plans in 2015.
Read MoreTopics: trends in home buildings, Liberty Homes, size of new homes, size of new homes being built, Poconos Custom Home Design
About 60% of your energy bill goes to heating your home. This helpful infographic from Farquhar and Black Insurance can help you winterize your home and save you money one energy costs.
Read MoreTopics: Liberty Homes, winterize your home, Poconos Custom Home Design, Energy Efficiency
When you're building a dream home, you want to have everything just right, from the interior to the exterior, as well as the fixtures and garden in your backyard. A spa or hot tub is a relaxing and inviting fixture in any backyard! This addition can be freestanding or built in conjunction with a custom swimming pool. Read tips for choosing backyard additions [from the following] infographic.
Read MoreTopics: things to add to your back yard, customizing the back yard, outdoor living, outdoor additions PA, Liberty Homes, back yard fixtures, back yard pools, outdoor additions Pennsylvania, Poconos Custom Home Design, Poconos Lifestyle, Poconos Homes
If you're thinking about building a vacation home in the Poconos you have lots of questions about location, design, floor plan, energy efficiency, budgets and finding a builder. It can be a little overwhelming if you don't know where to begin. At Liberty Homes we offer many free resources for people who are thinking about building their dream vacation home.
Read MoreTopics: Design, Sanctuary Homes, Liberty Homes, Poconos Custom Home Design, Poconos Lifestyle, Energy Efficiency
Energy prices are continually being raised by national suppliers, cranking up your annual gas and electricity bills at an alarming rate. But there are plenty of ways to combat this hike in prices and suitable options for homeowners on varying budgets. View the following infographic from Quotatis to view some of the ways you can reduce your energy bills and your carbon footprint at the same time.
Read MoreTopics: sustainable homes, Eco Friendly Housing, liberty homes custom builders, buying an eco friendly home, Liberty Homes, Eco Friendly Homes, Poconos Custom Home Design, reducing the carbon foot print of your home, Energy Efficiency, Poconos Homes
Got a dream green home you’d love to build? Sure, you’ll probably want to include solar panels in the building… but that’s just one element. Green building involves making the most efficient use of the materials that go into the building, and creating a space that allows for sustainable use of resources needed to live in that home… so, energy’s important, but so is water use, air quality, and the relationship of the landscaping to the larger surrounding environment.This helpful inforgraphic from Sustainablog.org illustrates 13 steps to take when building your green dream home.
Read MoreTopics: Solar panel, Liberty Homes, Sustainability, Sustainable Architecture, Poconos Custom Home Design, Poconos Lifestyle, Energy Efficiency, Poconos Homes
Topics: Real estate, Liberty Homes, Renting, Poconos Custom Home Design, Cottage, Poconos Lifestyle, Poconos Vacations
This is a helpful infographic from Australian Outdoor Living that helps you plan and design your outdoor living space. It isn't enough to add a couple of patio chairs to the back yard and call it good. That's no living space. Use this handy guide to increase your home investment and make the outdoors a luxury space.
Read MoreTopics: Technology, Australia, Liberty Homes, Patio, Furniture, Poconos Custom Home Design, Poconos Lifestyle
NAHB, 2013 - As the Senate examines existing tax policies as part of its “blank slate” approach to tax reform, and as the House Ways and Means Committee continues its review of the tax code, it is appropriate to keep in mind the importance of the mortgage interest deduction (MID) as a middle-class tax provision that makes it possible for many families to achieve homeownership. It is also useful to review some of the claims against the MID to determine if those claims are valid. Economists at the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) have analyzed data from the IRS and the Census Bureau, as well as estimates from other sources, to assess the validity of these claims.
Claim #1: The wealthy get most of the benefit from the mortgage interest deduction.
Read MoreTopics: United States House Committee on Ways and Means, Liberty Homes, United States, Poconos Custom Home Design, Aging in Place in the Poconos, Poconos Lifestyle, Poconos Homes
POCONO LAKE, PA – Liberty Homes Custom Builders, dedicated to helping homeowners save energy costs for more than 35 years, reports that data from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is consistent with the Monroe County’s builder’s mission to keep long term operating costs for home owners at the lowest possible. John Holahan, president of Liberty Homes, says the NAHB found that homes built before 1960 have average maintenance costs of $564 a year, while a home built after 2008 averages $241. Similarly, operating costs average nearly 5 percent of the home’s value for pre-1960 structures, while they average less than 3 percent when the home was built later than 2008. NAHB’s study first looked at how utility, maintenance, property tax and insurance costs vary depending on the age of the structure. Using data from the Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2011 American Housing Survey, NAHB found that buyers could purchase a more expensive, newer home and achieve the same annual operating costs as an older, existing home.
The study then compared the first year after tax cost of owning a home by the year the house was built, taking into account the purchase price, mortgage payments, annual operating costs and income tax savings. This data showed that a buyer could afford to pay 23 percent more for a new house than for one built before 1960 and still maintain the same amount of first year annual costs. While the NAHB study says mortgage payments will be greater with the higher purchase price of a newly-built home, the lower operating costs mean the home buyer will have annual costs that are about the same as if they’d bought a lesser-priced, older home with a smaller mortgage payment and higher operating expenses.
Other benefits of new homes include open space floor plans, creative storage options and entertainment resources that cater to modern lifestyles, as well as the safety consideration that the structure was built and wired to modern codes and standards.However, a newly reintroduced Senate bill would allow lenders to include projected energy savings from energy efficient upgrades for homebuyers purchasing energy-efficient properties. This proposed bill by Senator Johnny Isakson and Senator Michael Bennet says consumers should get credit for energy-saving construction materials, which are often “out of sight and out of mind and are not valued,” according to aJune 6, 2013 New York Times article published.
Minimizing the amount of energy a home uses, translates to increasing “the amount of dollars in the pockets of the homeowners,” says Holahan, an evangelist of energy efficiency for years. Liberty Homes is affiliated with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Energy programs on green building practices, indoor air quality, water savings, Energy Star performance, and the benefit to the environment,” said John Holahan, president of Liberty Homes. “We are using agency affiliation and guidance to deliver safe, comfortable and affordable homes, and the third party nod from the EPA and DOE is an important one,” Holahan believes. “We are giving people a healthy, safe, energy-efficient home that will reduce operating costs to save money for years to come.”
Since 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Builders Challenge Program has recognized hundreds of leading builders for their achievements in energy efficiency, resulting in over 14,000 energy-efficient homes and millions of dollars in energy savings. The DOE Challenge Home, successor to the Builders Challenge Program, represents a new level of home performance with rigorous requirements that ensure outstanding levels of energy savings, comfort, health, and durability. The Total Challenge Home Program incorporates a total home performance protocol that enables builders to rate the exact levels of energy savings and efficiency. As a DOE partner, Liberty Homes will certify that its homes are built with leading, innovative products and technologies.
Ask Team Liberty For more information on why building is a good idea. Call, click or visit today! 866-4-YOUR HOME. info@libertyhomesPA.com
Topics: Poconos Custom Home Design, Poconos Homes
