Improving the value of your home is important for resale and investment purposes. One of the most beneficial ways to do this is to improve your homes energy efficiency. By doing this you will increase the value of your house, save money, and help to save our precious environment all in one swoop.
Value Added Efficiency
If you are considering making changes to your home before you put it on the market, your best bet is to make it more energy efficient. Most everyone will tell you that conserving energy is important to them, but it is hard to know if it really matters when it comes to making choices about actually purchasing a home. The short answer is that yes, it does. Although an increased awareness of the environment and the need to save energy is part of the reason, it really comes down to the all mighty dollar. Everyone knows that if your house is more efficient you will spend less to heat it, cool it, and keep all your appliances and computers running. That savings is the bigger driver of getting an energy efficient home then the idea of conservation.
We should not ignore the ever increasing conservation awareness either. Ever since the former Vice President Gore released his Inconvenient Truth film there has been a move toward greater conservation and awareness of our energy consumption. From installing more efficient windows and appliances to unplugging items around the house, loads of people have cut back on their energy use and seen the reward in their monthly bill.
General Appeal
But, it was hard to know if that awareness translated when it came to the actual value of your home to a buyer. Now there has been some research done that proves that indeed a more energy efficient home is more appealing to most buyers. In a recent poll more then half the people who were asked said that they energy rating of a home played a big part in their decision to purchase it. Just over ten percent said the energy rating of a home had no affect on their choice. However, people tend to talk a big game when it comes to ecology, but they do not always follow through which is why this needed to be further investigated.
As it turns out there was a study done just a few years ago that took a homes energy rating in terms of stars. one star meant that a home was not at all energy efficient and five stars meant it was very efficient. In this study, improving a homes efficiency rating by just one star increased its’ value by three percent. Broken down into money terms that meant you could spend $1200 to improve the insulation in a $360,000 home and see a return on that investment with an increased sales price of around $8,500. That is a big profit for just a small change in your home. Imagine how much value you could add if you made even bigger changes like installing solar panels or changing out windows and furnaces.
You will probably find that homes with a poor energy rating are not as saleable as they once were. Most buyers will not be inclined to consider a home that they know is going to cost them a fortune to run or that they will have to spend a lot of money on to make more efficient. This is especially true in areas of the country that face extreme heat or extreme cold, in those places buyers want to know they will not have to spend a fortune to keep their home at a comfortable temperature.
Before you consider making any improvements to your home you should look at ways to make it more efficient. Not only will this increase your homes value for resale purposes, but it will save you money right now on your monthly electric and gas bills.