Endless Hot Water

Ameri Built Homes, Myrtle Beach’s Premier Custom Green Home Builder has partnered with Rinnai to provide tankless water heaters in its communities and custom homes.  Tankless water heaters only heat the water you need, when you need it. Turning any water source into hot water on demand. You are not limited to the amount a storage tank heater can hold. Whether you are washing the dishes, washing your clothes, or drawing a hot bath, Rinnai’s tankless water heater technology will supply endless hot water to your lifestyle demands-even if it demands you do them all at once.

Reduced Energy Costs

With Rinnai tankless water heaters, you will enjoy up to 40% energy savings. That’s because our units are designed to be highly efficient and only heat water when it is needed. When the demand for hot water ceases, the unit shuts down and uses almost no energy, a revolutionary advantage over inefficient tank-style heaters.

Longevity

Rinnai tankless water heaters have a typical life of up to 20 years, when installed in residential applications. This can be twice as long as a tank style unit.

Clean, Fresh Water

Traditional tank-style water heaters can build up rust and scale inside their tank, where the hot water you use for bathing and drinking is stored. With Rinnai tankless water heaters you will always experience fresh, clean water that is heated on demand, as it passes through the unit.

Space Savings

Traditional tank water heaters can take up to 16 square feet of valuable floor space. However, Rinnai tankless water heaters are about the size of a carry-on suitcase and can be installed on virtually any wall inside or outside of your home.  Ameri Built Homes chooses to install most of the units on the exterior of the home to save valuable garage space.

Greater Capacity

Meeting increased hot water demands can be a challenge for traditional tank-style heaters, however, with Rinnai’s innovative technology you’ll never run out of hot water.

Peace of Mind

With Rinnai tankless water heaters, there’s no tank to leak or break.

Gas tankless water heaters are the way to go if you are building a new home in the Myrtle Beach area.  Contact Ameri Built Homes for more information.

Custom Green Homes Myrtle Beach, SC

Most homeowners who have heat pumps use them to heat and cool their homes. But a heat pump also can be used to heat water—either as stand-alone water heating system, or as combination water heating and space conditioning system. 

How They Work

Heat pump water heaters use electricity to move heat from one place to another instead of generating heat directly. Therefore, they can be two to three times more energy efficient than conventional electric resistance water heaters. To move the heat, heat pumps work like a refrigerator in reverse.

While a refrigerator pulls heat from inside a box and dumps it into the surrounding room, a stand-alone air-source heat pump water heater pulls heat from the surrounding air and dumps it—at a higher temperature—into a tank to heat water. You can purchase a stand-alone heat pump water heating system as an integrated unit with a built-in water storage tank and back-up resistance heating elements. You can also retrofit a heat pump to work with an existing conventional storage water heater.

Heat pump water heaters require installation in locations that remain in the 40º–90ºF (4.4º–32.2ºC) range year-round and provide at least 1,000 cubic feet (28.3 cubic meters) of air space around the water heater. Cool exhaust air can be exhausted to the room  or outdoors. Install them in a space with excess heat, such as a garage. Heat pump water heaters will not operate efficiently in a cold space. They tend to cool the spaces they are in. You can also install an air-source heat pump system that combines heating, cooling, and water heating. These combination systems pull their heat indoors from the outdoor air in the winter and from the indoor air in the summer. Because they remove heat from the air, any type of air-source heat pump system works more efficiently in a warm climate such as Myrtle Beach.

Contact us for more inforation on new technology in Custom Homes in the Myrtle Beach area.

Best regards,

Shawn Becker CMB, CGP, BSRE, BIC

Ameri Built Homes, Inc.

Office (843)903-5229

Fax (843)903-3933

Mobile (843)385-1304

www.AmeriBuilt-Homes.com

www.LiveAtSouthbury.com

Home Builder’s Blog

Here is some great housing news (see below).  There couldn’t be a better time to buy or build a New Custom Home in Myrtle Beach.  Construcction prices are low, interest rates are low and Homeowner’s Equity is starting to rise once again.  Contact Ameri Built Homes to maxamize your investment with a LEED and ENERGY STAR Certified Green Home.

Good Real Estate News: Home Equity Is Rising Again

With all the bad news about underwater home owners and strategic walkaways, you might think that American home owners’ equity holdings are in the tank. But the least-publicized recent statistic on real estate is that, despite these scary reports, home equity is again on the rise. According to the Federal Reserve’s most recent “flow of funds” survey, home owners’ net equity grew by nearly $1 trillion from the recession’s nadir in the first quarter of 2009 through the third quarter. From June 30 to Sept. 30, net equity rose by $418 billion. That’s not all that impressive compared with the quarterly increases during the hyperinflationary housing boom years, but it could signal something important. After three years of unprecedented shrinkage in home equity — and three years of rapid expansions in the number of underwater borrowers with negative equity — there are signs that the down cycle may be shifting. (www.washingtonpost.com)
Washington Post (2/13/10); Kenneth R. Harney

Best regards,

Shawn Becker CMB, CGP, BSRE, BIC

Ameri Built Homes, Inc.

Office (843)903-5229

Fax (843)903-3933

Mobile (843)385-1304

www.AmeriBuilt-Homes.com

www.LiveAtSouthbury.com

The end of round one of the first-time homebuyer tax credit ended November 30 and there was some fear that housing sales would flatten back to the levels of the summer of 2009. Instead in December not only did housing sales maintain their momentum, recording a solid increase of 17.1% over December 2008, but for the first time in three years the average price of homes sold went up – that’s right, actually increased by 0.6%.  With lot prices in the Myrtle Beach area at an all time low and construction costs down, now is the time to build your New Custom Home in Myrtle Beach. Source: Realtrends.com

Every New Southbury Home Will Be a Green Home Complete With Rinnai Tankless Gas Hot Water Heaters, Low E Windows, 14 SEER Heat Pumps, Energy Star Fixtures and Appliances, Water Saving Toilets & Faucets, Drip Irrigation, High Performance Insulation and Air Infiltration and much more! Contact us today for more information! Tired of cookie cutter homes with nothing but a garage door to greet you? Welcome to Southbury, MB’s newest and most unique community! Each fully customizable home features a front porch, rear 2- car garage, security system, irrigation system, 42″ cabinets & so much more! Come home to tree-lined streets, sidewalks, a community park, & super low HOA fees! Visit our on-site model to discover the difference for yourself! Homes from 3-6 bedrooms & 1350-2600 heated square feet! CLICK HERE FOR COMMUNITY INFORMATION AND DIRECTIONS!

The U.S. Green Building Council Awards Ameri Built Homes LEED Gold Certification
for Green Home Building

In Southbury subdivision off of HWY 707, 116 Southbury Drive was awarded LEED Gold by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for achievement in green home building. LEED for Homes is a national third-party certification system for energy efficient, healthy, green homes.  LEED-certified homes complete a technically rigorous process that includes a home energy (HERS) rating and on-site inspections to verify that the home is built to be energy and water efficient, environmentally sound, and a healthier place to live.

116 Southbury Drive is one of the new local Myrtle Beach homes that Ameri Built Homes has certified using LEED.  Ameri Built Homes is well-known in the area for their expertise in building LEED homes.  Green homes have substantially lower utility bills and may qualify for advantageous financing, lower insurance rates and government incentives. Through their commitment to green home building, Ameri Built Homes is helping to keep home ownership affordable.

Quote from USGBC National, builder, and/or provider.

“The U.S. Green Building Council is proud to help celebrate Ameri Built Homes’  commitment to greener living,” said Michelle Moore, Senior Vice President of Policy & Market Development, U.S. Green Building Council.  “Their leadership – demonstrated at 116 Southbury Drive is at the national forefront of quality; and their example can help us all to live better by reducing our environment footprint, cutting our utility bills, and coming home to a healthier place to live.”

Information about the home.

This home is located in Southbury subdivision built and developed by Ameri Built Homes.  Southbury is located off of hwy 707 by St. James High School.  Their model home is open daily from 10-5 Monday thru Saturday and 1-5 on Sundays.  Every new home in Southbury is built to both LEED and ENERGY STAR standards.

About the U.S. Green Building Council

The U.S. Green Building Council is a nonprofit membership organization whose vision is a sustainable built environment within a generation. Its membership includes corporations, builders, universities, government agencies, and other nonprofit organizations. Since UGSBC’s founding in 1993, the Council has grown to more than 14,500 member companies and organizations, a comprehensive family of LEED® green building rating systems, an expansive educational offering, the industry’s popular Greenbuild International Conference and Expo (www.greenbuildexpo.org), and a network of 77 local chapters, affiliates, and organizing groups.  For more information, visit www.usgbc.org.  

About LEED® for Homes

LEED® for Homes is a third-party certification system for high-performance green homes.  Developed and administered by USGBC, LEED for Homes awards points to projects in seven categories of environmental performance: Location & Linkages, Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Indoor Environmental Quality, Energy & Atmosphere, Homeowner Awareness, and Innovation and Design.  For more information, visit www.thegreenhomeguide.org.

Ameri Built Homes won the “Best in Category” award in the 2009 New Home Parade for their Green Model Home in Southbury subdivision off of 707 by St. James high school.  This Green Home as well as all new home in Southbury are both ENERGY STAR and LEED Certified.  Come by and check out these Green Custom Homes.

RE/MAX Southburn Lifestyles Wins “Best Interior Design”RE/MAX Southern Lifestyles, the company marketing Southbury, also won the ”Best Interior Design” award for their interior design of the Santee Model at Southbury.

This award winning home is available for sale.  A sale lease back options is also avaialble.  Contact Rick for more infomation at (843) 215-4663.

Courtsey of BuilderOnline.com

Builder, in conjunction with Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, debuts its metric for determining markets with the best and least potential.

With most economists and builders expecting a national market decline this year, this may not seem like the best time to be selecting the “healthiest” markets in the country. Virtually every market was down last year. But a close look at the numbers reveals that some markets have way outperformed others during the last four years and are likely to continue to do so this year.

When the housing market stages its official recovery, the markets listed on the following pages are likely to lead the parade. It may take a year or more for the weakest markets–where burgeoning foreclosure sales are still pounding new home values, making building and selling new homes an exercise in futility– to finally stage a turnaround. We’ll present that list next week.

The healthiest markets have many things in common. Most of them are great places to live, either close to the ocean, mountains, or major universities. Most of them didn’t have a huge run-up in prices during the boom and aren’t experiencing rampant deflation during the bust.

To compile these lists, we analyzed the top 75 housing markets in the country. We ranked them based on population trends and job growth, perennial drivers of housing demand. We also examined what’s happened with home prices; many of the healthiest markets have managed to hold the line on home values. And finally, we considered the rate building permits, which may be the single best ongoing indicator of builder confidence in a market. We combined all these metrics to produce a score for each market. Here are the top 15, in reverse order.

The Healthiest Markets for 2009

15. Myrtle Beach, S.C.

2008 total building permits: 3,211

Though permit activity dropped sharply last year, Myrtle Beach remains one of the hottest markets in the country, especially when you analyze the number of permits pulled per resident. Only 263,287 people live in the Myrtle Beach metro area, which until recently had been growing its population by nearly 5 percent a year. That means builders pulled one permit for every 82 residents. A steady influx of people, many of them retirees, are drawn by close proximity to the ocean and 117 golf courses at last count. That has helped keep home prices steady; they fell only 10 percent last year to a very affordable $174,800. Most of the home building is split between Brunswick and New Hanover counties. Jobs are dependent on the tourist industry, though, and the metro area was rocked last year when a $400 million rock-and-roll themed amusement part, Hard Rock Park, opened and then filed for bankruptcy. Myrtle Beach added jobs last year, but as of December employment was decreasing at a 4.2 percent rate compared to a year earlier.

Click here for the complete article.

March 2, 2009 Myrtle Beach, SC-Today, 135 Southbury Drive was awarded LEED Silver by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for achievement in green homebuilding. LEED for Homes is a national third-party certification system for energy efficient, healthy, green homes.  LEED-certified homes complete a technically rigorous process that includes a home energy (HERS) rating and onsite inspections to verify that the home is built to be energy and water efficient, environmentally sound, and a healthier place to live.

135 Southbury Drive is located in Southbury Subdivision, where all of the new homes will be certified using LEED standards.  The home was built by Ameri Built Homes, which is well-known in the area for their expertise in building LEED homes.  LEED homes have substantially lower utility bills and may qualify for advantageous financing, lower insurance rates and government incentives. Through their commitment to green homebuilding, Ameri Built Homes is helping to keep homeownership affordable. In fact, the homes at Southbury are 35-50% more efficient than a standard home built to code, offering Southbury homeowners long term savings.

Quote from USGBC National:

“The U.S. Green Building Council is proud to help celebrate Ameri Built Homes’ commitment to greener living,” said Michelle Moore, Senior Vice President of Policy & Market Development, U.S. Green Building Council.  “Their leadership – demonstrated at Southbury, is at the national forefront of quality; and their example can help us all to live better by reducing our environmental footprint, cutting our utility bills, and coming home to a healthier place to live.”

Information about the home:
This home is located approximately one mile from St. James High School.  135 Southbury Drive is in Southbury Subdivision.  Design & construction of the home focused heavily on reducing energy use.  The five bedroom project features Rinnai tankless gas water heaters, low-e windows, high efficiency lighting fixtures, compact fluorescent bulbs and high density, recycled cellulose insulation.  Other energy efficient features include programmable thermostats, high efficiency HVAC, and a sealed thermal building envelope.  Water efficiency was achieved using dual flush toilets, automatic drip irrigation systems and high efficiency fixtures.  More information about green homes can be found on www.ameribuilt-homes.com

Enhanced Tax Credit Provides Outstanding Opportunity for Myrtle Beach Home Buyers

In its efforts to stimulate the economy and revive the housing market, Congress has enacted legislation providing a tax credit of up to $8,000 for first-time home buyers (defined as anyone who has not owned a home in the last three years).

But time is of the essence for buyers who want to take advantage of this opportunity. Only homes purchased on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009 are eligible

$8,000 Home Buyer Tax Credit at a Glance

• The tax credit is for first-time home buyers only.
• The tax credit does not have to be repaid.
• The tax credit is equal to 10 percent of the home’s purchase price up to a maximum of $8,000.
• The credit is available for homes purchased on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009.
• Single taxpayers with incomes up to $75,000 and married couples with incomes up to $150,000 qualify for the full tax credit.

This credit not only applies to homes already built but also for first time home buyers that are building homes on a lot the already own.

For more information call Shawn Becker at (843)903-5229 or send me an email at abh@sccoast.net