NORTHAMPTON — Thanks to Realtor Craig Della Penna, there’s now one less place to park your car downtown. There are, however, 10 more places to park your bicycle.

Last Friday, a flatbed truck rolled up to Pedal to Properties, Della Penna’s full-service real estate shop at 14 Strong Ave., and two workers unloaded and installed Northampton’s first “bike corral.” The hefty steel structure, painted in circus blue and red, takes up exactly one on-street parking spot — the one directly in front of Della Penna’s shop. A yellow hood had been padlocked over the parking meter.

“This will be good for business,” said Della Penna. “Ten bikes versus one car.”

The new bike rack takes up one parking space; Della Penna pays the city a $5 daily fee for the meter hood.

The new structure is designed to offer safe, secure bike parking for visitors or commuters to downtown Northampton, he said, and may be used by anyone, not just his customers.

While most passersby expressed pleasure at the sight of the new street-level bike rack, one man was less than pleased. “Hey! I was going to park there!” he remarked to Della Penna, who was supervising the installation. “How do you get away with that?”

Della Penna explained that he had procured a permit from the city’s Parking Division, and had signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Mayor Mary Clare Higgins that requires him to pay the city a $5 daily fee for the meter hood. The permit is seasonal; the rack must be removed by November 15 and can’t be put back until April 15 of the following year.

The structure was built by Salmon Studios, a Northampton-based metal shop specializing in custom signage, sculptural elements and architectural work.

Anyone can borrow a cruiser bike from Pedal to Properties at no charge.

Pedal to Properties offers another unique service: free cruiser bikes rentals. “Anyone can borrow a bike,” said office manager Jessica Lapinski. “We’ll take a picture of your credit card and license, and you’ll be good to go. No charge.”

She added that Pedal to Properties is involved in discussions with the Hotel Northampton and the Autumn Inn to provide free cruiser bikes there, too.

Della Penna is known nationally and locally for his ardent and effective rail-trail advocacy. He’s a former staffer with the national Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, and has shepherded many projects through his own consulting firm, Northeast Greenway Solutions. He serves on several state advisory committees, non-profit boards and other organizations devoted to the support of everyday cycling by ordinary people.

“Northampton is within the densest network of rail-trail development in the Northeast,” he said, “of which I’ve helped create over 1,000 miles.”

Realtors Craig Della Penna and Jessica Lapinski showcasing their new bike corral. Sam Ostroff, whose Salmon Studios designed and built the structure, is at Lapinski’s left.

When asked what motivates him — and why a Realtor would spend money to provide cycling infrastructure for the community — Della Penna talked at length about the relationship between his personal and business values.

“I’ve spent many years of my life promoting rail trails, smart growth and liveable communities,” he said. “It makes sense for Realtors to be interested in the environment. In fact, the American Association of Realtors publishes a smart growth magazine. More and more people are interested in buying homes in communities where they can live, work, and play.”

“If you’re a Realtor without a niche, you’re dead in the water,” Della Penna continued. “I’ve always specialized in houses near rail trails and conservation land. We’re just taking it one step further here. I believe in smart growth, infill, environmental quality, and walkable, bikeable neighborhoods.”

“I’ve built an art gallery (The Trailside Gallery) and community meeting room downstairs as well,” he said. “We’re currently featuring water colors by David Gloman.”

Painter David Gloman’s work is featured at the Trailside Gallery, located at Pedal to Properties on 14 Strong Ave.

Della Penna and his wife also run the Sugar Maple Trailside Inn, a bed-and-breakfast located at 62 Chestnut St. in Florence, adjacent to the rail trail linking downtown Northampton with Leeds.

Pedal to Properties features home sales, buyer agent services, property rentals, and rental management. While clients may tour homes on bikes, they’re under no obligation to do so.

“For initial showings, we’ll often drive potential home buyers out to different towns and neighborhoods so they can look around. When they’ve narrowed down their choices, we’ll hop on bikes and go, if that’s what people want to do. It allows them to really explore and see things in a different way.”

“We’re here to make a difference,” Della Penna concluded. “This is not your grandmother’s real estate office.”

Great piece out of Realtor.com

By: Richard Koreto

An estate plan will help ensure your home becomes a legacy for your children—not a source of friction or a financial burden.

A detailed estate plan means your heirs won’t face any financial surprises. Image: Siri Stafford/Photodisc/Getty Images

The time to solve estate planning problems is before they happen. Otherwise, what you think is a loving act—leaving your home to your heirs—can turn into a financial and familial disaster.

Estate planning is complicated, and you’ll need help from qualified pros, but here are four reasons why you should start thinking about an estate plan now.

1. A good estate plan can keep your heirs from fighting

Say you intend to leave your house jointly to a son and daughter. But what if, as often happens, one child wants to live in the house and the other wants to sell it? A reasonable estate plan would not force one child to indefinitely forgo his or her share of the value of the house.

Possible solutions:

• If you have other assets, it may make more sense to divide your estate, leaving the house to the child who wants it, and property of equivalent value to the other.

• If the house makes up the bulk of the estate, an insurance professional can talk to you about a policy that would provide enough money for one sibling to buy out the other’s share.

• In either event, talk with your heirs up front so you can structure your estate plan to head off potential problems.

2. A good estate plan means no financial surprises

Consider these two scenarios:

• You’ve sold the family home and bought a retirement condo, with a mortgage. Your heirs will eventually inherit both the condo and the loan as part of the estate. But they can’t assume the mortgage unless they’re planning to live in the condo. They’ll have to pay it off. That can be a nasty shock, explains A. Raymond Benton, a certified financial planner in Denver.

• It’s very possible that in later years you’ll want a reverse mortgage to help pay for nursing care, for example, while you stay in your home. Upon inheriting the house, your heirs will have to come up with the money for the outstanding loan. Otherwise they’ll likely have to sell the house to pay back the lender. The bank will not allow your heirs to just assume a reverse mortgage.

Explain your situation to your heirs in advance as part of your estate plan, so they can be financially and emotionally prepared to accept an encumbered house as part of the estate.

3. A good estate plan means less of an estate tax hit

When it comes to estate planning, the biggest issue to consider is taxation. It’s a particularly thorny problem right now because the federal estate tax is in flux. If you die in 2010, there’s no estate tax, but it will almost certainly come back in 2011.

While that sounds like a good thing for 2010, there’s a catch: There’s only a limited “step up” for home value in 2010, according to Robert Demmett and Gerald Marsden, CPAs at Eisner & Lubin LLP in New York. When there is no step-up, your heirs could end up paying capital gains taxes on the difference between what you bought the house for 30 or more years ago and what they get for it when they sell. With a full step up, they would only have to pay tax on the difference between what the house was worth at your death and the sale price.

There are strategies for dealing with this, now and in the future. An estate planning attorney can set up a trust to help manage step-up issues.

4. A good estate plan can keep you from losing your house if you get sick

Of course, you may be thinking, “This is all academic. I’ll have to sell my home to pay for eldercare.” However, with a combination of long-term-care policies and trust-based solutions, you may be able to take care of yourself and leave your home to your heirs. Consult a lawyer experienced with estate planning or a qualified financial planner.

Richard J. Koreto is HouseLogic’s managing editor of finance, taxes, and insurance. He has been editor of several professional financial magazines and is the author of “Run It Like a Business,” a practice management book for financial planners. He and his wife own a pre-Civil War house in Rockland County, N.Y.



If you want to live in a sought-after urban neighborhood, you might have to be willing to sacrifice space.

If you’re willing to make the time and effort, taking on home improvement projects yourself can save you money.

Staying under budget when buying a home gives you extra cash to add the upgrades and decor you’ve always wanted.

Falling home prices have made some homeowners wish they had waited longer and paid less when buying their first place.

Before house hunting, get pre-approved for a loan so you can make an offer with confidence as soon as you find the perfect home.

During a home inspection, don’t overlook the details. Examine woodwork and tiling to make sure both the craftsmanship and materials are high-quality.

A smart bidding strategy can mean the difference between an offer that’s ignored and an offer that’s accepted.

Lesson #21: Low-balling doesn’t always pay off
Justin and Sarah bought their first place in Scottsdale, Ariz., but before they finally closed the deal, they had to endure the discouraging feeling of being outbid or rejected multiple times. From the beginning, Justin and Sarah were adamant about not spending more than $240,000. Unfortunately, by looking for homes at the top of their price range but making lowball offers — plus asking sellers to contribute to their down payment and closing costs — their offers looked weak and were rejected, outbid or ignored every time. If you find yourself incurring multiple losing bids, a change in strategy is in order. By giving a little bit, you can get a lot in return.
Learn More: When to Make a Lowball Offer >>Lesson #22: Change a bid strategy that’s failing
Tweaking your bidding strategy can make the possibility of getting the house you want much more realistic. Justin and Sarah learned that you have to be smarter, faster and closer to the original asking price in order to put in a competitive bid. The offer should be strong enough to at least hit the seller’s base price. The key to remember is if you would like the sellers to do something for you, such as contributing to closing costs or the down payment, then you need to get as close to their asking price as possible.

Beautiful home in quiet, peaceful, Parkside only 100 yards to the park thru the back gate! This home boasts an extensive remodel with whole house insulation, new exterior stucco, all new windows and doors. Both bathrooms have also been remodeled and new ss apps in the kitchen! Newer furnace and hot water heater! Private hot tub and extra storage in the garage! Wood floors to be installed in the kitchen and dining room or a credit w full price offer. $5k credit for granite and cabinet upgrades.

New San Rafael service offers real estate tours on bicycle

Pedal to Properties, a new real estate franchise in Sonoma

Jeanne Wailes, left, owner, and Nella Papadin, managing broker, at their Sonoma office. (Courtesy of Pedal to Properties)

A bike, a neighborhood and a few homes with “For sale” signs in the front yard.
Put them together and you get “Pedal to Properties,” a new real estate office that opened in May in Sonoma.
The operation is a franchise of a four-year-old company based in Boulder, Colo.
The idea is for people to get out of their car and onto a bicycle so they can take a closer look at a neighborhood where they might want to live.
“You get to see it and feel it,” said owner Jeanne Wailes. “It’s a great experience, and it’s a lot of fun.”
No, you don’t have to get on a bike to work with or buy a home from a “Pedal to Properties” agent. But Sonoma is a small town, and it’s relatively easy for even-occasional cyclists to tour the neighborhoods there on a bike, said Wailes, who previously led people on winery bike tours.
To scoffers, she points out the positive feedback she gets from folks who see her riding around town.
“We get tons of great comments, which I never got as a car Realtor,” she said. That includes “people who think it’s a cool idea because it’s green.”
Has she yet sold a home to someone who took a bike tour? “We haven’t,” she said. “It’s still pretty new.”
Along with Sonoma, Pedal to Properties has a franchise in Northampton, Mass.
The Sonoma franchise at 645 First Street West, Suite A, is a full-service agency with all the traditional real estate services, Wailes said.
Wailes is joined in the operation by managing broker Nella Papadin. They hope to add more agents soon and to open an office in San Rafael.
For those who want to cycle in another Sonoma County city, Wailes said she is willing to bring the bikes for a neighborhood tour. And those who buy a home from the company will receive a bike of their own.
Visit Pedal to Properties online.
— Robert Digitale

“Jeanne and Nella are perfect for Pedal to Properties. We know this is something they’ve thought about doing for a while. We’re just glad they chose to introduce our model in California, in particular in wine country where bikes are common.”
Tim Majors, President, U.S. Operations
Pedal to Properties

“For people who want to drive less, it just makes sense that they’d be looking for different things in a neighborhood. My realtor was able to see things about places we were looking at that I don’t think a normal agent would have noticed.”
Emily Gardener, Home Buyer

“Bike friendliness was our number one criterion, and this was a great way to find a realtor who understood where we were coming from. It’s also a totally fun way to spend a Sunday.”
Jessica Engeman, Home Buyer

“We had an instant connection our Pedal to Properties realtor. We didn’t know about the Pedal to Properties service. We went out to the car and noticed nice bikes on a nice rack, everything spic and span, much attention to details. We pulled up to a house, and the agent asked if we’d like to ride the bikes around the neighborhood. So we went house hunting with the definitely cool bikes. Riding on the bikes makes it an easier, more friendly process with the realtor. The different feeling you get about a neighborhood by being in it, seeing it – you get a more intimate perspective of your surroundings. After the contract for the house was signed, I took my own bike to the neighborhood, and I knew we made the right decision. I could see the neighborhood park, and families there.”
Bill Cluzel, Home Buyer

“Bill and I are active people. When I travel I love to run or rent a bike and explore the area. I thought, ‘Wow, this is a great idea.’ If you’re going to be living there, you get an idea of a neighborhood – what the yards look like – and feel the vibes. And the bikes are really cute.”
Kelley Cluzel, Home Buyer

“It was my realtor’s willingness to go by bike that attracted me. I lived 15 miles outside of town and I wanted to move closer to town, primarily so I could bike to work. I thought pedaling from house to house would be a great way to judge how bike-friendly each home was. One Sunday, my husband and I spent about three hours with our realtor, seeing seven houses. We eventually chose a house less than two miles from my job and commutable entirely by bike paths.”
Kelly Stroker, Home Buyer

When sweet, red crude began sticking to the marsh grass in coastal Louisiana in May, it was the end of an era for many people, including shrimpers, fishermen and a huge swath of the Gulf Coast tourism industry. But it was also, at least symbolically, the end of an era for the marketing world.

For more than a decade, BP had flooded the media with advertisements showing solar panels, windmills and waving fields of grass without a drop of oil in sight. It changed its name, KFC-style, from British Petroleum to BP to deemphasize its claim to fame: hydrocarbons. The company adopted a stylized green sun as its logo and rolled out the slogan “Beyond Petroleum.”

But when the company’s Deepwater Horizon offshore well began blowing tens of thousands of barrels of crude into the Gulf of Mexico each day, no outlay of advertising dollars could change the cold, hard facts: The company that had cultivated the greenest image in the oil industry still derived more than 99 percent of its revenues from gas and petroleum. For consumers who had been fed the image of the company out tending windmills, the revelation was almost as shocking as the images of oil-soaked pelicans.

The BP blowout was the swan song of an old style of green marketing, one in which companies could make green claims and hope that no one would look over their shoulders. In the last five years, a new type of green marketing has taken hold, and it has high standards.

It’s no longer enough to say you’re green in your advertising. It’s not even enough to have one or two flagship green products in your line or to screw in a few compact fluorescents and send out a press release. In a time when consumers and watchdogs measure the environmental impact of raw materials and industrial processes, packaging and transportation, a company marketing itself as green needs to have sustainability built into its DNA, or at least painstakingly retrofitted into its culture. But even more important, green products have to be good products.

Research has shown that consumers don’t respond simply because something is environmentally friendly

. “Being green in and of itself isn’t a differentiator except with a small group of consumers,” says Joel Makower, executive editor of GreenBiz.com and author of Strategies for the Green Economy. “Green succeeds only to the extent that it means better–it’s cheaper to buy, it operates better, it lasts longer, it’s cooler for my image. People do want to do the right thing, but they don’t want to go out of their way to do that. They love ‘change’ when it’s a noun; they hate it when it’s a verb.”

Back in 2006, Matt Kolb, a real estate agent in Boulder, Colo., had his “change” moment when a client decided to ride around town on a rented bike to look at houses. Kolb lost the client when he went with a private seller he’d met on his bike ride, but the encounter led Kolb to form Pedal to Properties, a real estate firm that offers agent-led bike tours to houses for sale. Last year, after the company became a major player in the Boulder area, Australian entrepreneur Tim Majors approached Kolb and bought half of the company to help franchise the concept around the country. Their green twist of using bicycles is what helps Pedal to Properties stand out in the homogenous, blazer-clad real estate sector, but Majors says it’s more the company’s overall quality.

“When I bought into the company, I realized we had to be more mainstream to be successful,” he says. Majors helped recruit some of the highest-earning agents in the Boulder area and persuaded Terabitz, a market leader in real estate software, to help Pedal to Properties develop a next-generation real estate platform that uses social media. That has helped Pedal to Properties become not only a greener alternative, but also a company with strong fundamentals. It has launched locations in Northampton, Mass., and Sonoma, Calif., with more on the way.

And the bike tours, which are optional, aren’t just a green gimmick. Majors says they offer buyers a real advantage. “Biking slows down the buying process and gives clients a feeling for the community. They get to see what it’s like to bike to local schools or churches. It’s a great differentiation from other real estate firms.”

But the company is cautious about calling itself “green,” even though it’s made strides in becoming paperless by handling massive real estate documents electronically and have pushed the idea to others in the industry.

“I would never say we’re absolutely 100 percent green,” Majors says. “But we understand the responsibility of a green company, and we’re very environmentally conscious.”

That’s another distinction between old-school green marketing and today’s generation of green salespeople–a willingness to reveal exactly what the practices are and a willingness to admit strengths and weaknesses to customers. That’s the basis of “radical transparency,” a practice in which a company allows consumers to examine its manufacturing processes, warts and all. The outdoor gear and clothing company Patagonia, for example, created a mini site called The Footprint Chronicles in which consumers can track individual products and their carbon footprints from their raw materials to their delivery to store shelves.

“Making a change like that is like turning a gigantic ship–it doesn’t happen fast,” Makower says. “No company is or likely will be perfect. There’s no such thing as a sustainable company yet in the truest sense of the word. We have to accept our green status as imperfect or be paralyzed by imperfection.”

In many respects, green transparency is being forced on the corporate world. Sustainability stats are likely to become as common as food nutrition labels when Wal-Mart implements its sustainability index during the next few years. The index will assess the environmental effect of all of the 100,000 products Wal-Mart sells, from Coca-Cola to Black & Decker. That’s the type of large, mainstream change that can drive other companies to improve their green bona fides.

Government is getting involved, too. After almost 15 years without a revision, the Federal Trade Commission is updating its guidelines for green claims, creating verifiable definitions for buzzwords such as “sustainable” and “biodegradeable.” It’s begun calling out greenwashers, too. Last year, the FTC fined four companies for selling bamboo-derived rayon clothing as 100 percent pure bamboo and hit Kmart for improperly marketing paper plates as biodegradable. More states are implementing strict laws to cut down on greenwashing, meaning that green marketing needs to focus on honesty and transparency.

Easy access to information, understandable definitions and a crackdown on greenwashing are essential if green marketing is to overcome its weak link: consumers.

In an Eco Pulse survey conducted this spring by The Shelton Group, a Tennessee-based marketing firm that tries to mainstream green products, 64 percent of participants said they were interested in buying green, especially low-cost, low-risk items such as cleaning products and recycled paper products. But, in practice, green products haven’t caught fire; according to the survey, only about 20 percent of respondents said they are “consistently green in their behaviors or purchases.” Part of that is because consumers are confused about which companies are truly green. In a 2009 BBMG Conscious Consumer Report, survey participants rated Wal-Mart both the greenest and least green company. All of those green “seals of approval,” green bottles and eco-sounding product names make it difficult for consumers to determine which products are the real deal. So, they often simply cut green out of their decision making.

“Twenty-five percent of our respondents said they had no idea how to decide if a product is green,” says Lee Ann Head, Shelton’s vice president of research. “The vast majority of people still make their decision based on reading labels–but at the same time they don’t trust the labels. There’s still a sense of buyer beware with green products.”

And because consumers don’t understand exactly what green means, they often conclude that the green product won’t perform as well.

In the service industry, selling yourself as green can be an expensive endeavor, especially if there is no guaranteed payoff. That’s why Joey Terrell went it alone when he decided to refresh his Joliet, Ill., Denny’s by building a LEED-certified restaurant in 2009. (LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design , an independent certification program run by the U.S. Green Building Council.)

Denny’s gave him permission to build the green restaurant as long as it cost about the same as a regular store, he says. The project turned into a marketing boon itself as Terrell’s Denny’s raced a nearby McDonald’s to become the first green-certified restaurant in the country.

When it was all said and done, Terrell says, he came in $40,000 under budget and is saving about $20,000 a year in energy and water conservation. Plus, he’s benefiting from a marketing boost. “We’re seeing double-digit sales increases over last year. It’s a surprise for us, we weren’t anticipating that. People generally come into the restaurant and tell us it’s because it’s green,” says Terrell, who is planning to turn his Mokena, Ill., Denny’s green, too.

“People tell us they love eating in the restaurant but can’t pinpoint why,” he says. “Maybe it’s because the air is fresh with reduced contaminants, and the skylights make it feel like you’re eating in a meadow.”

In many ways, green marketing has transcended marketing. To market itself as green, a company has to do the often difficult work of actually being green, not simply flashing pictures of windmills.

But unlike the first generation of green marketing, which imploded when the expensive products failed to live up to customer expectations, today the momentum is so strong, and the benefits often so compelling, that companies aren’t likely to abandon their green efforts. In fact, much of the most successful environmental advances have happened under the radar as companies have squeezed waste and inefficiency from their manufacturing processes and reduced packaging. For instance, the aluminum can is a third lighter than it was 20 years ago, a remarkable green achievement that doesn’t show up in Budweiser advertisements.

Green marketing eventually will fade away, and if innovation continues at the current pace, that will be sooner rather than later. Not because green marketing is ineffective but because green is becoming the status quo. When all cleaning products are nontoxic, when every appliance is an energy sipper, when all toaster ovens are 100 percent recyclable, green will cease to be a factor. Until then, marketers need to plug their green achievements without making that their only notable selling point.

“Green is no longer a trend, it’s inextricably linked to how companies do business, design, use and dispose of products,” Makower says. “In 10 years, you won’t be able to sell a car without electric assist. Green will be part of the fabric. It’s those other differentiators, like cost and performance, that will still be important.”

Our agents Leyla Steele and Barbara Hyde will be showcasing 3060 8th Street. Each property will have delicious food provided by 5 of Boulder’s top restaurants.

Our agents Leyla Steele and Barbara Hyde will be showcasing 3060 8th Street. Each property will have delicious food provided by 5 of Boulder’s top restaurants.
Price reduced again!! Avail immediately! THE most gracious, comfortable & beautifully crafted home in Newlands! A tremendous value at $354/ sq ft for all above ground living. Steps to N. Boulder Park. Luxurious finishes, spacious open flr plan, lovely gardens & great views. Chef’s kitchen, 4 large light filled upstairs bedrooms, main flr bedroom/study, atrium doors to lovely front veranda for ideal indoor/outdoor living. Built new 2005 w/exacting attention to detail. Owner financing considered.