 Quote:
Originally Posted by Nords
People are not willing to pay 5-10% more up front for a home that's more termite resistant and, with insulation/stucco, a lot cooler to boot. But they'll happily pay for decades of air conditioning bills, Sentricon contracts, and higher hurricane insurance premiums. These are the same people who won't pay $5000 for solar water heaters even if they get back $3500 in tax credits and lifetime free hot water.
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Not specific to Hawaii, but this is an interesting topic in general. Now I can understand that the average home buyer probably isn't too focused on payback analysis on this stuff, but I would think builders (and sellers) could use this as a competitive advantage. And do it in a way that is simple to grasp:
1) House w/o these features: Mortgage payment = $X; service contracts, ins, typical utility bill brings this to $Y out-of-pocket each month.
2) House WITH these features: Mortgage payment = $X; minus service contracts, ins savings, typical utility bill savings brings this to $Y out-of-pocket each month.
$X will be higher for the features, but if you compare the $Y monthly bill for the same 30 year mortgage (or whatever), it should be an easy decision. If it's not, then maybe those features really are not so great (from an economic view)?
-ERD50
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