The other day I received an email VIA Active Rain regarding Green Building. The person was sharing their thoughts on the issue as to what they thought the down side was of Building Green. This was not a hostile e-mail, he was simply sharing his views.
I appreciate that. This is one way how I know what topics need to be discussed. One of the statements I was quick to disregard at first:
"So, I guess one might ask the question: Why should a house appraise for more because its constructed to the codes? Its required by law!"
The more I thought about this, I realized that many consumers would not understand why I disregarded this statement. There are a couple of misconceptions here. One big one and that is what I am going to talk about. I am going to refrain from saying this is true about ALL High Performance or Green Homes because as I mentioned in another post, these terms are sometimes used loosely and I can't speak for all builders around the globe. Just the many that build true to terms.
Why should a house appraise for more because its constructed to the codes?
This is a great question and the answer is simple. The Majority are NOT built to code. They are for the most part built ABOVE codes. Again, we run into some confusion regarding Green Homes and High Performance Homes...for the sake of conversation I will use the High Performance Home as an example as I believe that is what the consumer was referring to. Again, this is just one example.
I contacted a builder that is part of the Green and LEED community in Houston today to get his opinion on the statement above. I am going to do my best to quote..I was driving when I had the conversation.
"You can build a home to Codes at $100,000 or you can build it at $10 Million-homes can be built to code but it does not guarantee performance. Codes have to do more with Safety than they do Performance"
This is why the term is used. If it were simply a little more energy efficient, Energy Star would be a better term. By 'High Performing' it will be a step above. I will use just a few Houston Building Codes for an example:
- Exterior Walls- Building code asks for an insulation factor of R-13. You are more likely to see a Minimum of R-15 or higher.
- Attic Insulation- Building code asks for an R-30. You are more likely to see an R-38 or higher.
- A/C Seer Rating- The new minimum is 13 Seer that is manufactured. You are more likely to see a 15 Seer or higher. Buyers with the money will choose 20 Seer or higher. (The higher the Seer, the higher performing)
There are many, many other aspects of building Green or High Performance Homes. I felt as though these 3 topics would be a great, easy way to explain. These homes do not cost/appraise more because they are built to code. They cost/appraise more because they exceed.
Now, the cost. How much more are we talking about? Well, that's for another post. Let's just say that it's another slight misconception that needs to be put to rest.
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