[Greenbuilding] Pricing green/healthy houses?

[Bobbi Chukran]

Hi all,

My name is Bobbi C. and I live in Leander, right outside Austin. 
Some of you might remember about two years ago when we were agonizing 
over septic systems, etc. as we planned to build a very downsized 
house on our acreage next to the larger house.

Turns out, it was going to be way too expensive to build because of 
the septic system, so we backed off and looked for houses in town. 
We finally found a smaller (1700 sf vs. 2700 sf) 10-year old house 
that was NOT built green (that's a whole different story).

Now we're starting to get this house ready to sell, and I'm running 
into some issues with sales price. Basically, the common practice of 
basing a house's price on comps in the area, and market value, no 
matter whether the houses are really "comparable" or not.

Ours is unique, 17,000 gallon rainwater collection system, recycled 
cotton insulation, metal roof, air filtration systems, solid wood 
cabinets, wood flooring, etc. etc.    The other houses were not built 
with any thought to being healthy or green.

So, how do you get around this?    I can't imagine that I'm the only 
one who has run into this situation.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

bobbi c.
http://www.bobbichukran.com