“Our experience with Green Energy Money (GEM) and SecurityNational Mortgage Company (SNMC) has been great. They truly know how to value a green building. For this project they were able to appropriately appraise, and affordably finance this amazing 100% rainwater home when no one else could. GEM and SNMC are the future of green financing!” – Eddie Thomas, Build Native, Austin, Texas
Austin Energy Green Building (AEGB) 5-star rating
Driftwood, TX
Builder: Build Native; Hill Country High-Performance Builder
Architect: Donovan Davis, Danze & Davis Architects
Built in 2013
3,117 square foot home
“Working with Teresa Lopez and the rest of the Green Energy Money and SecurityNational team on arranging permanent financing for our highly unique, near-net zero energy project turned out to be a great experience. After spending several months working with our local lender – who was unable to comprehend the significant added value of our green and sustainable approach to building the home and the market value of our 7.5-acre hillside site – we turned to the GEM team to get us across the finish line. The amazing result, accomplished in a short time, was an appraisal that literally came in 50% higher than the other lender, which enabled us to secure a conventional loan at prevailing low fixed interest rates, rather than paying much higher rates at the other lender on what was the only product he could offer us, an ARM.”
“The GEM team was thoroughly knowledgeable about all of the ins and outs of green and sustainable building and how to properly construct a loan program that embraced our approach to building (rather than penalizing us for going green the way the other lender tried to do), including our insistence on using only 100% rainwater collection for all of our water needs. Their thorough, customer-centric approach ensured we were guided down the most efficient loan path. I would highly recommend them for anyone contemplating building a green home.” -Tom Kolnowski, homeowner
Green Building Features
- Rainwater Harvesting (as only source of water)
- 5kw Solar System
- Geothermal
- Solar Hot Water
- HERS Index 7
Yearly utility payments – $295, including water
Yearly energy savings – $3,112
Water savings – 100% reduction