It’s simple, when considering buying a home you need to factor in the true cost of ownership, it’s not just about the mortgage payment and taxes, you need to include utility bills, and other expenses that will always be attached and associated with home ownership.
I decided to run the numbers based on a true case in which I had a potential buyer for one of my high efficient homes or green home for that matter and another one built to code. The results were amazing…
Since I knew the location, and asking price for the other home, I found out through my sales agent, power company, insurance agent and the tax assessors’ office information pertaining to HOA fees, average home energy consumption in the neighborhood, home insurance, property taxes, and other cost associated with the subject property.
With that information I made a side by side comparison, of the subject property, and the EarthCraft House. Since the subject property was a bit larger I made some adjustments for the energy bill.
The bottom line is that a High Performance House, in this case, will save the homeowner roughly $135 per month. That represents a life savings of $27,000.00 Then I ask, who would not want to own a home like this.
Another way to look at this number is that if you are in the market for new homes, you can actually afford a “bigger home” is you were to compare it apples to apples. In other words, if your budget is let say $160,000 suddenly you can now afford an Energy Efficient Home that is worth 199,000 with no impact to your wallet. In fact, with time we know that utility rates will continue to go up thus saving more money.
In conclusion, it makes sense for consumers to start demanding for this type of homes; it does not only make sense for environment, but also to your wallet.
