The "Slow Home" Movement

Posted at 12:59 PM, Aug. 14, 2008

Here is a new,  fairly good idea with a somewhat misleading name. When I think of slow homes, the first things that come to mind are overpriced, under staged listings that have languished unsold, for far too long. But that's not what  the founder of this movement, a registered architect and real estate broker named John Brown, has in mind. He wants to create a counter movement to "the sprawl of of cookie cutter housing that surrounds us like fast food- standardized and wasteful."

Mr Brown calls for "an end to poor construction, bad design, misleading marketing......and environmental neglect in the housing industry."  He puts a high priority on use of organic materials, much more energy efficient heating and cooling, and "sustainability issues. Somehow, I don't think Mr Brown is a big fan of those ostentatious, 4,000+ square foot "McMansions" that were erected a few years ago to accommodate the egos of  the dot.com "instant rich."  You can explore more of his ideas at www.theslowhome.com

I think this is an idea whose time has "almost" arrived. Just like our cars have become safer,  more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly, our housing can too. Although Mr Brown doesn't directly say it, I suspect he might like slow homes to occupy much smaller chunks of real estate. Here's hoping he can figure out some brilliant way to offset the lessened quality of life which frequently is a byproduct of increased population density.

The "slow home" movement is clearly about higher quality (not bigger,) homes. This higher quality and environmentally friendly construction will inevitably lead to higher prices per square foot. Slow home builders may have a challenging time launching this product in the midst of an economic recession and slumping housing market. The first thing the Marketing Director for "Slow Home" builders should do is find a NEW NAME for this product.

*SPECIAL ALERT*  Be sure to check my blog entry on Monday.  I  just received some info that is so surprising and aggravating that I want to carefully confirm it before posting. It's not pretty.