Are green homes obstacles to homebuilders or a path out of the current wilderness?
Reported to me from the Pacific Coast Builders Conference a comment by an experienced homebuilder: “Our conventional business model is obsolete.” Is it possible that building green homes could offer homebuilders a pathway to a more financially and ecologically sustainable future?
With home prices far outpacing growth in family income, it’s obvious that the business model of “bigger, faster, more expensive” doesn’t work for single-family housing any more. We’ve had a doubling of home size in the past 30 years and a 10 percent decrease in household members. Do we really need 2,400 sq.ft. for two people (my current home, albeit with a home-based business)? Would we be less happy if we actually were forced to share space with other family members? Would we be any worse off if we weren’t spending 40 to 50 percent of our disposable income on housing? Shouldn’t we be asking for builders to build healthier, more energy-efficient homes? Other countries, especially those in the EU, get by with much smaller homes, serviced by better public transportation, in more compact, walkable neighborhoods. My new book, Choosing Green: The Home Buyer’s Guide to Good Green Homes (Island Press, 2008), shows both builders and home buyers the way out: build better homes that people can afford and you won’t have any trouble selling them. Why not focus instead on the long-term value of a home that’s quiet, comfortable, cheaper to operate and healthier to live in, rather than the quick profits of buying and flipping? The game of musical chairs is over, and a lot of people are left standing, without a home they can afford. A new acquaintance told me of his sister, in southern California, who has successfully traded up to a home ten times the value of her first home, in a little over ten years. Now she has a $5 million home. But I wonder, how will she now afford the $25,000 monthly mortgage, especially if there are no buyers to allow her to trade down to a more affordable home? In my Choosing Green book, I document more than 50 great new home developments all over the US and Canada that show what builders can accomplish, when they marry their business acumen with a new approach to designing and building sustainable homes. So, I ask once again, does green building represent a pathway out of the dark woods in which builders now find themselves?
Posted by on 07/17/2008 at 08:20 PM
