Homebuyer Education
Take a course to learn about the benefits of buying a home

Home Purchase Loans
We offer several types of affordable loans

Buy & Renovate
Combine a Purchase Loan with a Repair Loan

INHS Homes for Sale
Houses renovated to be low maintenance; a virtually new house!

LEED Certified Homes
Energy Star and LEED certified new homes

LEED Home Features
Here's what makes these homes special.

INHS's LEED Certified Homes

INHS's mssion is to revitalize Ithaca’s neighborhoods - encouraging stability and diversity. Started in 1977, INHS has been dedicated to preservation and sustainability for over 30 years. By "recycling" over 100 houses, INHS has helped make downtown Ithaca an attractive place to live while conserving resources. As an extension of that mission, INHS is now building new LEED certified houses.

INHS has joined the pilot residential program of the US Green Building Council, LEED for Homes. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. LEED for Homes is a voluntary rating system that promotes the design and construction of high performance "green" homes. Green homes are built to meet the highest performance standards; the homes are designed to be durable, healthy to live in, and environmentally friendly.

What is a Green Home? - A green home is a high performance home that is built to exceed the minimum requirements of the building code, especially in the areas of indoor environmental quality and resource efficiency (including energy, water, materials, and land).

Under the LEED system, houses receive points for including features that are extra energy efficient, conserve water, preserve indoor air quality, or reduce the amount of natural resources used to build the house. Based on the total number of points received, houses are certified at one of four levels, from the basic Certified level up to the Platinum level. The differences between a regular new house and a LEED certified house are significant. For a description of the features found in INHS's LEED certified houses, click here.

Why LEED for Homes? - One of the many challenges faced by a home buyer is how to compare a green home to another home. Any one home can be called green, but how do you determine how green it really is? LEED for Homes is a national brand that consumers can look for – to readily identify true green homes. All LEED Homes are third party inspected, performance tested, and certified to be higher-performing that conventional homes.

To date, we have registered 2 houses with the LEED program, 218 Second St and 502 First St. INHS intends to register all of its new one and two family new construction projects with LEED and designs those projects so that they are certified at least the Silver level.

What Do the Houses Cost? - In keeping with the long term focus of green building, INHS is dedicated to providing affordable housing for the long term. All of our LEED certified homes are part of INHS's Community Housing Trust which is designed so the houses will be affordable permanently.

These homes are sold to homebuyers at market value but INHS also has special financing terms which can dramatically reduce the monthly mortgage payments. The houses require the buyer to fit certain income restrictions. We welcome inquires about our projects at any time but only accept purchase offers near the end of construction; contact INHS at info@ithacanhs.org for more information. INHS can provide the purchase financing and works with buyers to find the best financing package.

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