Buyers ready to spend on green?

Heating and cooling a home today is not cheap. But neither is purchasing a solar heating system, installing new double-pane windows, or replacing old appliances. For a long time, the high expense associated with "going green" has kept many home owners from embracing energy-efficient features; instead, they've focused on the little things like weather-stripping and using compact fluorescent lightbulbs.
But there are indicators that more and more Americans are seriously considering green construction and adding new energy-efficient upgrades and determining that the cost is worth it.
"Expeditures on energy-efficient home improvements, which have been essentially flat over the last few years, will see a period of strong growth through 2014, reaching about $50.2 billion that year."
says the new Energy Efficient Homes report by Pike Research, a Boulder, Colo., market research and consulting firm focusing on clean technology.

In response to demand, some home builders are rolling out energy labels for new homes which provide estimates of monthly energy costs, triggering a different approach to home-shopping for energy-conscious buyers.

Consumers are "motivated to do the right thing about the environment, but they are also finding they can save money in the long run".

Utility costs may fall by 40% when outfitting a home with features including a solar water heater, Energy Star appliances, a solar oven, R50 insulation in the attic and a water reclamation system.

Over the past year, buyers have expressed concerns about increasing utility costs and some are rejecting homes with two-story great rooms and walls of windows - often costly to heat or cool.

Yes, the cost of going greeen is still an issue for buyers, practitioners say - especially because the upgrades that can cut utility bills by the greatest amounts are also priciest. Solar water heating systems can cost between $1,500 to $3,500 and solar panels can cost $15,000, but when used together, they can drop electricity bills to practically nil.

And that's one reason the price hurdle is getting easier to overcome. With consumer education, more buyers understand the benefit. A recent study by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory shows that home owners who install solar panels on their home likely will recoup that investment, and maybe even more, at resale.

Federal tax credits also are helping sway the buyer mind-set, and energy-efficient mortgages are another option to help home owners pay for costly "green" upgrades.

It's easy for homeowners to get overwhelmed with green ideas because there is so much they can do, but they don't have to to everything at once, they can start by picking one or two things, such as solar cooking or composting, give it a try and then add something again later.

Second Homes Hold Steady

Data from the recently released 2011 NAR Investment and Vacation Home Survey shows vacation-home sales accounted for 10 percent of all transactions last year and investment sales were 17 percent of the overall market.

Those figures are unchanged from the 2010 survey. The median vacation-home price was $150,000 in 2010, while the median investment home price was $94,000. The typical vacation-home buyer was 49 years old with a median household income of $99,500 and purchased a property that was a median distance of 375 miles from their primary residence. Investment-home buyers had a median age of 45, earned $87,600 and bought a home within a median distance of 19 miles

Thirty-four percent of vacation-home buyers said they plan to use the property as a primary residence in the future, as did 10 percent of investment buyers.

I’d Rather Grow Smarter!

A recent NAR study reveals Americans favor walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods over those that require more driving. Such "Smart Growth" communities are characterized by shops, restaurants and local businesses in walking distance from homes.
According to NAR’s Community Prefernce Survey, nearly 80 percent of survey respondents look for neighborhoods with abundant sidewalks and other pedestrian-friendly features when searching for a home.
While space is important to home buyers, many are willing to sacrifice square footage for less driving. Eighty percent of respondents would prefer a single-family detached home and a shorter commute, but if that isn’t an option, 60 percent of that group would chose a smaller home if it meant less driving.