Green homes provide increased energy savings and healthier indoor air. With people being pickier about the homes they buy today, more than ever before, green home sales and construction is bound to take a huge jump up in popularity in the coming years. According to one report by McGraw-Hill Construction, a 10% hike is expected within the next few years.
What defines a green home? A green home is a house built with eco-friendly materials and energy saving appliances and heating and cooling systems. Taking that definition a bit further, some builders are even including solar panels on the roofs of home in order to increase their viability in a market where the home buyer has ALL the say.
Taking the total cost of ownership into consideration, the green home is more affordable over the life of the mortgage than a standard home. With reduced water and electric bills, the home owner will pay far less in utilities than their traditional home owning counterparts. These savings are enough for some potential home buyers to look for ONLY green homes on their home search.
Transforming a traditional home into a green home, or a semi-green home, is not that hard. Changing out all the appliances for energy star choices and the heating and cooling systems for newer, more energy efficient models is a step in the right direction. Spending another $5000 on solar roof panels could mean a home selling much more quickly even if the price is raised a bit to account for the installation costs of the solar panels.
Other green changes that can be made within a home include tankless water heaters and subfloor heating systems that keep the home warmer in the winter without the need to crank the heat to 76 degrees. Drought resistant landscaping and drip watering systems also offer huge benefits for the green home buyer.
With a greener home, the new homeowner also has the option to shop around for homeowner’s insurance with a discount offered for green home choices. In some cases, mortgage lenders are also offering discounts to potential buyers who choose a green home.
Over time, the purchase of a green home just keeps giving back to the owner as property values will remain higher even when the values of homes in the surrounding area decline.
Without a doubt, green homes are set to be the next big thing in real estate and with the huge advances in energy saving methods, there is surely more to come.
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I agree, however, it is still a hard sell to clients who are searching for bargains. It is more expensive to build a "green" home and the initial price is usually set quite a bit higher than a traditional home. It is going to take a little more educating of the public to help buyers see the long term effects of what a "green" home can save them in the future.
Small steps at this point are helpful.....if we can convince one person to recycle, compost, change bulbs to CFL's, etc, then we are headed in the right direction!
Good post!