Monolithic Domes and Property Value
... if you build a dome home to at least the quality standards of the neighborhood,
and with attention to its design and detailing, your home can only have a positive effect.
by Jim Kaslik
photos by Jim Kaslik
August 28, 2002
Shortly after we started building our dome home in Asheville, NC, a local realtor began sending real estate updates throughout the neighborhood. They arrived about four times a year along with a gentle solicitation for calling him should we ever want to buy or sell. They included pricing information on all the houses listed in our development, plus those with a pending sale and those sold.
For the first 2 1/2 years I followed the list, the numbers were static. Houses in the older section of the development listed for about $90 per square foot, depending on features and condition. Houses in the newer area where we were building had slightly larger spaces, much better views, and were listing for about $100 per square foot. All the houses eventually sold for about $10K less than the listed price. The market didn't change much in that time. Houses were regularly listed and sold, with about 20% of the houses in the development being on the market at any time.
A neighboring house to the west of ours is owned by a retired oral surgeon and good friend of ours. A neighboring house to the south is owned by a real estate agent. These were the first two houses to be listed for sale after the completion of Cloud Hidden. (There's no cause and effect to read into this--each couple is downsizing heading into their golden years).
I had occasion to speak with the Surgeon's wife one day, and she brought up the listing. By her words, they chose to increase the price largely because of our dome home. "How so?," I asked. She said that its size and quality, plus her guestimate of its value, meant that hers was no longer the highest valued house in the development, so she felt comfortable setting a price just under what she thought ours might list for. This was a 25% premium over the prior asking price. One learns to take flattering comments with a grain of salt, but there's no confusing the implications when serious amounts of money are involved.
The domino-effect began immediately. Her realtor happened to be the neighbor to my south. After putting that first house on the market at the premium price, the realtor listed her own house at the same relative price. A third one has done so since, validating the trend. The irony is that the owner is one of those few who argued against our building a dome, though she has yet to offer us a share of the $90,000 her house has appreciated since then.
Undoubtedly housing prices would have appreciated by some amount even if our lot had remained empty. And it's impossible to know how much of the appreciation we've seen was from exactly what factor. Some was due to the size of our house establishing a new benchmark. Some was due to the quality. Some may have even been because we're great neighbors. OK, maybe not. But the conclusion I draw is that if you build a dome home to at least the quality standards of the neighborhood, and with attention to its design and detailing, your home can only have a positive effect.
One last bit of empirical evidence in support of this came from a neighbor who recently bought their house near ours. We met them while taking a stroll one evening. They offered that when they were driving around looking for a house, they worried that houses in our neighborhood were a little too stuffy and conservative for them. They worried that the same might apply to the people who lived in the houses. Then they drove up our road and spotted the dome, and in their words, "We knew that if you were allowed to build something that dramatic and artistic here, then we'd fit in just fine."
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