[Greenbuilding] Green real estate market

[Chris Green]

Steve Tripp wrote:
> (I) am wondering what kind of
> uphill battle I may have with the bank if I cannot show that we are adding
> more to the value of the home.
>   
Explain to the loans officer that because you will be spending less 
money on heating and cooling, you will have more 'discretionary capital' 
to pay the mortgage with. Of course you will have to have some $  
figures on paper to back this statement up.
 Lenders are in the business of lending money and earning a return on 
it. If your credit history merits a loan for something like a new car or 
a snowmobile, there's no reason they would refuse you one for home 
improvements of any kind, especially if you have some equity in the 
house and will be adding more via the 'sweat equity' route.. If you can 
show that the improvements will be the equivalent of getting a salary 
raise ("A penny saved is a penny earned". said Old Ben ) they should be 
less hesitant to fork over the $.
If not, the next step is: find a new bank or mortgage broker.

Regular home construction starts in the US have dropped by something 
like 13%, and today's Province newspaper, it appears the expectation is 
that they will drop off a further 11%.
The article was talking about this as a sign thee will be a drop in the 
market for softwood lumber, but the unwritten "other part" of that 
market change is that there will be more mortgage money floating around 
looking for some place to go to work.

You asked: Do green homes sell?

Almost any home will sell eventually, but local market conditions 
determine when and at what price. However, with the internet changing 
the world into one big market which individuals can play in, the selling 
of a green house might best be done on line to reach a market more 
interested in such things.

Here is a link to the archetypal site featuring Green Homes For Sale.
http://www.greenhomesforsale.com/

In closing, the more of the work on the renovation that you can do 
yourself, the less money you will need to borrow. That's not always 
possible, but even just doing the site clean-up and doing things like 
sorting, de-nailing and cleaning up lumber so it can be used again or 
recycled elsewhere, and perhaps part of the landscaping work, will save 
you some money.

Cheers,

Chris Green.