Houze Zero Energy Homes
We recently discovered a technology company who is using the concept of Zero Energy Homes to transform some of the worst neighborhoods of Huston Texas. The company is called HOUZE and they are building energy-efficient homes that generate so much power that the home owners can sell the exceeds energy to the grid! The other neat part of their strategy is to focus on the cost which has been the traditional mistake of New Category products that cost twice as much when they are introduced.
HOUZE started as a collaboration of a private technology company with the City of Huston to develop affordable housing solution for the masses that are cheap to develop and operate. HOUZE is targeting the sweet spot of Median Home Values in USA which is about $250,000-$300,000. So, they are branding themselves as the GREEN Affordable Housing solution for the masses.
This is refreshing departure from other technology companies which produced Green product for the Housing industry, but the prices were 10 times higher. When we acted as Angel Investors with Vetrazzo which was producing Surface Material for home remodeling using Recycled Glass, the prices for 4 to 5 times Granite! The price alone was a huge inhibitor for large home developers to consider such new technology. So, the HOUZE folks might be on to something here by keeping the price of complete home well within reach of most Americans who don’t want to pay by the nose to be “Green”!
The process of buying a HOUZE home is explained on their website which consists of 3 main steps.
1) Choose your Plan: The company offers 12 floor plan to choose from.
2) Choose your Lot: We are assuming if anyone has a lot, they are set to go.
3) Pre-approval: This is a step is the process of funding the purchase. We have contacted the company to see if they would offer discount to cash buyers.
4) Close of Escrow: The close of escrow is projected to be in 90 days.
In future posts we will review the piece of technology that HOUZE is using to develop their ZERO Energy home, but suffice it to say that this is a great start at this price point and we applaud any effort in developing more affordable housing which is in huge demand.
What do you think?
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