How to Sell High-Performance Homes

The National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) green home series highlights the benefits of high-performance homes and how builders can effectively communicate those benefits to buyers. Benefits such as utility bill savings can be easier to sell than high-performance homes’ hidden features, such as indoor air quality and efficient heating and cooling systems. NAHB’s series, The Home Performance Counts: Virtual Green Home Tour, hosted by a broker and home builder suggests illustrating a home’s benefits through visuals. A graphic on the home’s HERS index score, for example, can act as a helpful conversation starter.

Realizing the Added Value of Green for the Sale

Just saying something is “green” doesn’t necessarily mean prospective buyers understand what that entails. Positioning key features of your home and working with other professionals can help boost a home’s appeal. For example:

Illustrate with visuals. This prompts prospective buyers to ask ‘what is this, and what does it mean?’ For example, a graphic of the home’s HERS index score starts a conversation about the products used to make the homes more energy efficient. You can then use that conversation to emphasize the savings those products will provide for the buyers, which is always a great selling point.
Develop a good working relationship with your local real estate agents. Make sure they understand your property — what’s inside the walls, on top of the house, in the ground, as well as what a potential buyer can see — so they can talk about it.
Provide all the documentation for the house. This will help populate the MLS fields with the high-performance features, and can be used to complete the Residential Green and Energy Efficient Addendum for the appraiser.

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