Energy Efficiency Tops Home Buyers’ Wish Lists

During the chilly winter months, many homeowners’ thoughts turn to staying warm -- and the cost attached to keeping their home at a comfortable temperature. With home utility bills consuming an ever-greater share of the family budget, more home buyers are putting energy efficiency at the top of their new-home wish list. And a 2013 report by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) confirms it. 

According to NAHB's What Home Buyers Really Want:

• - 94% say Energy Star-rated appliances are a “must have” or “desirable” in their new home
• - 91% want an Energy Star rating for the entire home
• - 89% want Energy Star-rated windows
• - 73% say utility costs would influence their decision to purchase a home

Planned for Efficiency

Perhaps that’s why more and more energy-conscious home buyers are considering homes in master-planned communities, which typically feature new homes that incorporate the latest advances in home building science. That’s true even in master-planned communities located in the South, where air conditioning and electricity bills are as much a concern for homeowners as heating bills are for northern residents.

“Our builders are some of the industry leaders in building energy-efficient homes,” says Roger O’Steen, founding partner of The PARC Group, master developer of Nocatee in Ponte Vedra, Fla. “They pride themselves on constructing homes using techniques that will save homeowners money on their utility bills.”

 

For example, David Weekley Homes -- one of more than a dozen Nocatee builders -- estimates that new building techniques make its new “Energy Saver” homes 35 percent more energy efficient than a home built in 2006.

Toll Brothers, another Nocatee builder, shares energy-efficient details with its Coastal Oaks at Nocatee home-buyers, noting that its new homes feature “high-efficiency Carrier® 14 SEER heat pump system, R-38 ceiling insulation, single-hung vinyl Lo-E insulated windows with screens, and 2" x 6" exterior walls with R-19 insulation.” Providence Homes, meanwhile, is one of several Nocatee builders that has received the government’s Energy Star builder rating.

In addition, Nocatee’s Tidewater, Siena at Town Center and newest Daniel Park at Town Center communities offer energy-efficient homes designed with sustainability in mind.

“All Town Center residents can walk or bike to many of Nocatee’s amenities,” O’Steen notes, “including the Splash Water Park and the shops and restaurants at neighboring Nocatee Town Center.”

For more information on Nocatee’s energy-efficient homes, visit the Nocatee Welcome Center or call 1-800-NOCATEE.