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Comment by KerrAvon | Hacker News Reader

Buyers absolutely care about energy efficiency and insulation from noise, and neither can be addressed fully without upgraded windows. It's one of the first things experienced homebuyers should look at -- if the windows are 1980's single pane, I'd expect to spend least $20k in window replacement parts + labor for a large house on top of the house price.

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My brother bought a house that has triple pane windows and they are really nice. They block almost all sound and feel noticeably less cold in winter.

The thing is, is 20k really that significant when compared to the price of a large house?

For many people yes, because that 20k isn't being added to the mortgage, so it isn't easily financed over a long period of time with low interest. These days, many people are stretched to meet the minimum down payment and won't have 20k extra to throw at a problem like this.

Redraw facilities are available in most countries? Refinancing etc? Genuinely curious.

For example (in Australia), my mate recently spent $40k, drawn out of his mortgage on solar panels, battery, double glaze windows, heat pump heating and cooling, gas stove to induction, gas hot water to heat pump and is currently investigating drawing more to upgrade roof insulation.

How can you refinance when you just bought the house? There is no equity for you to tap into, and if there was, you now even have a highly monthly payment.

Housing prices have to decrease first if you want people to be able make these decisions. That means we need a deflationary economy through increased production, so more people can be able to afford the enhanced productivity.

It is once you've maxed out what you can borrow and are now barely able to pay the mortgage and food.

20k here, 20k there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money. You don’t save much money building a house by cheaping out on any one thing, but it adds up pretty fast.

That said, we have very nice triple-pane German windows in the house we’re currently building, and both the thermal performance and the finish quality are _wildly_ better than American window products. It’s just a whole different category of thing.

It's one of the first things buyers should look at. But they don't. They check out the kitchen cabinets, bathroom fixtures, and lovely floors and wall finishing.

School district.

How to ruin a real estate agent's day: arrive at your showing appointment wearing a tyvek bunny suit and headlamp and immediately demand access to the crawlspace.

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