If you have happen to be in the market to buy a house chances are you have a good idea of what your looking for or then again maybe you don’t. The good thing about Pasadena is that there are many styles available to meet the demands of today’s home buyer’s. If your looking for property built in the 1950’s try Hastings Ranch. Looking for a California Bungalow, try Bungalow Heaven. If you find Spanish architecture more to your liking there are many styles and price ranges available as there are with English Tudors or Craftsman styles. There is Garfield Heights, Madison Heights and Orange Heights.

About the only things Pasadena homes have in common is that they are…..well they are old. Many of our houses were built between 1917 to 1925 and while they are full of character, some folks just prefer something more recent. The problem is as you may know, if you have been looking at houses here in town about the only new construction is in townhomes or condominiums. Not too many single family houses.

The Housing Dilemma

Many people who move to California are surprised to find that their housing dollar buys less than half the house they used to own, and it also comes with a price tag of 2-3 times what they hoped to pay. It’s hard to find a house to fall in love with. It is easy to find a home that meets most of your criteria and you can call home. Most people however never consider building their own custom home. The current density in our area just seems to preclude this from consideration.

Enter the Pasadena Eco House

Our soon to be home owners looked at many different houses and configurations during their home search. Many things they liked but felt these too would need some additional customization to suit their tastes. Remodeling projects can take another 6 months to complete. They started doing research on the benefits of green building technologies on the internet. Green building just seemed to make sense. The increased efficiencies from an energy efficient design, the water saving features and the sustainable materials that would be used in the construction process.

In their home search they discovered an available lot suitable for building with excellent views to the north and the San Gabriel Mountains. This they thought would make an excellent location for a new home. They happened to find a local architect who was designing and developing other projects. They met and after a few meetings the Eco House became a reality.
Picture Description – (Top) back of the lot looking to the northeast (Middle) view to the northwest and (Bottom) view of the mountains to the north