The federal government encourages green housing construction and many agree that using sustainable, resource-efficient materials and construction methods is important, but actually getting a house built with green technology can be difficult. The mortgage crisis has made many lenders risk averse and before making any mortgage loans, they insist on credible, accurate appraisals with comparable sales numbers. Comparable sales numbers particularly interest lenders because they help verify a property’s value. But because green technology is so new, and because of the dearth of property sales in general, appraisers have difficulty finding comparable properties on which to base a report. The result is that potential homeowners interested in sustainable building have trouble making their dreams a reality.
The Journal Sentinel’s article, “Especially for Green Technology, Finding Comparable Sales Is Difficult,” describes a couple with perfect credit and a 20% down payment that was affected by this issue. Normally well-qualified borrowers, this couple had to contact four mortgage companies and increase their down payment to 30% before securing a loan.
