Is Green Good for Home Re-Sale Value?

How does 97% return sound?

This morning, The Washington Post came out with an article that explores how the “green” in your home can pay back up to 97% at resale.

The Article states, The  Earth Advantage Institute, a nonprofit group based in Portland, Ore., found that newly constructed homes with third-party certifications for sustainability and energy efficiency sold for 8 percent more on average than non certified homes in the six-county Portland metropolitan area. Existing houses with certifications sold for 30 percent more.”

Apparently they have been doing a study for the last four years, while most people thought the “green” trend was dead or at the very least, put on the back burner for the duration of the economic crisis. Dakota Gale, Earth Advantage’s manager of sustainable finance says in the article,” we can still see a consistent trend that third-party certification continues to result in a higher sales price, even during the past year when home sales were down.”

Also keeping track or the “green” homes values is Sacramento and San Diego who have been watching the trends when you install photovoltaic solar panels on your roof and seeing how much yo get back when you re sale, on top of the monthly energy savings.

“Researchers examined home sales in both metropolitan areas from 2003 to 2010 and found that, on average, installing solar panels costs owners $35,967 in a sample of homes in the $500,000 range. But with federal and state subsidies, the net average cost came down to $20,892. This net expenditure, in turn, yielded an increase in appraised value of $20,194, a 97 percent rate of recovery on the investment.”:

97 per cent! That’s a much higher recovery than you can expect from a Kitchen remodel or the  bathroom, heck it’s more than any other home improvements for that matter.

However, the fact still remains that we have a ways to go. “The case needs to be made [to lenders] that, hey, these [highly efficient] houses will cost less to operate, so they should be worth more,” Morrow said in the article.

Appraisers are part of the problem if they don’t have the training to recognize and credit extra value to houses that have money-saving solar installations, geothermal heating and cooling, Energy Star appliances throughout, water-conservation features and other green improvements.

But  The Appraisal Institute has been sponsoring “green” appraisal courses during the past two years and is a strong supporter of the effort. And Banks are getting more and more co-operative with EEM”s or Energy Efficient Mortgages if you happen to know who to call.

One group that is dedicated to helping homeowners create, buy and sell green homes, is Ecobroker.

There are about 6000 EcoBrokers across the country. you can find one near you at  Ecobroker.com. And while you are there, in the bottom left hand corner is a white paper called “Unlocking the Full Value of Green Homes”.  Learn more about going green for the planet and your wallet.

Full Washington Post Article at http://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/is-green-good-for-home-resale-value/2011/08/19/gIQAMUGzfJ_story.html