It almost sounds like the big bad wolf story, but there really are homes built from straw. Literally. Today I want to mention a few things about this type of construction, share some photos of a local straw-bale house, and then talk briefly about how I approached appraising this one.
What’s a straw-bale house? It’s a type of construction that uses stacked bales of straw for the exterior walls. I know, it sounds really cheap, but check out the pictures. The exterior usually has stucco or plaster, so unless you knew where to look, you probably wouldn’t even know about the bales. Read more here.
Thank you Realtor Steve Evans for permission to share these photos.
Truth window: This is a truth window on the inside of the house. It’s basically a way for the builder to prove the house was indeed made from bales of straw. Of course the walls are also two feet thick, which is also a clue.
Energy efficiency: These types of homes are incredibly energy-efficient, so beyond their aesthetic we have to consider the savings in energy here too. By the way, I’m not aware of any other straw-bale homes in Sacramento County, so speak up if you know of something.
I loved seeing this house in person. I hope you enjoyed the photos.
How the “hay” do we value something like this? (sorry)
Here’s some things I kept in mind during my appraisal. By the way, my appraisal was done for the owner prior to the property listing on the market.
1) Three model match straw-bale comps: In an ideal world we’d have other straw-bale homes for comparison. That might be more realistic in outlying rural areas where this type of construction is a little more common, but not so much for the ‘burbs. In short, I studied some other sales in outlying areas, but they really weren’t similar enough to justify using them as comps.
2) Too unique or not: One of the things I like to keep in mind is whether there is a market or not for a unique home. In this case the house had vibe and there was a good chance the market was going to respond positively to the Southwestern feel. In my mind this property really just felt more like a custom home rather than something a particular owner built that nobody else would want. By the way, here’s a local house called “The Shipwreck House.” Is there a huge market for something like this?
3) Location, location, location: I gave strong weight to the actual location of the house in the 95841 zip code. I asked myself what would be a reasonable price for a custom and unique home of this size for the location (it was on 0.55 acres too, which helped).
4) Other unique homes: I didn’t have other straw-bale comps in the local market, but I did consider other interesting properties. In fact, some Realtor friends on Facebook definitely came through in pointing me toward adobe homes and ICF block homes. One of the strongest comps in my mind was this house below that was located three miles away in a different zip code.
5) Price position in the market: When something is unique I consider all neighborhood sales, anything that is remotely comparable, and definitely where the top and bottom of the price market is. Then I ask a big question. Where does the subject property fit in the context of the price market?
I hope that was helpful or interesting.
Questions: What do you think of this house? Any other tips? Any stories about when you valued (or listed) a unique home?
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Interesting post. I appraised a bale house in Zamora years ago. Great design. Little need for AC.
Very cool. So I’m guessing you found three model match sales then, right? 🙂 Definitely a cool design. I can’t wait until the next one. It’s like a puzzle with these ones. We assemble lots of different pieces from the market…
Great stuff Ryan. If this straw-bale home had been performance tested, you could have compared it to other similar performance green homes in the area. I wouldn’t be surprised if the ICF home was also green and/or had been performance tested. I’m sure the green home market in Sacramento is strong and straw-bale homes are typically green. Hopefully, the subject was also performance tested and had a green certification, otherwise the builder or owner is missing out on the ability to prove the performance and give appraisers a tool for comparison.
Thanks Gary. I love that idea. Sacramento is definitely behind Portland in this regard, but in some ways you guys are like an older sibling, so I suspect we will see more green testing at some point. I’d love to have it as a metric in MLS as a tool for comparison as you say.
I loved this article Ryan! Nice work! I’ve never appraised this type of home before. I do love the look. I always appreciate something different, but different in an appealing way. Thanks for a great article!
Thank you Jamie. This house would not be for everyone (no house is), but I personally dig the look. I love the beams on the ceilings. There was actually an article in 2003 about this house in a local paper too (for any onlookers). https://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/house-of-straw/content?oid=26199
I will check out the article. Thanks for the link!
Ryan,
I always enjoy and appreciate your posts and even though my market area is not real similar to yours I do get a lot from them. This one on straw-bale homes was particularly interesting. I am in northern AZ in a rather rural market area. I have been appraising here for almost 20 years and have only seen 2 of these in all that time. One is a couple of lots down from my own home and I watched it being built. It was an interesting process to watch. I noticed that the owner/builder covered the straw bales with tarps when it was raining. I finally figured out he was protecting the straw bales so they would not turn moldy.
Several years ago I was asked to appraise the only other straw bale house I know about in the area. It was for a private party purchase. No lender involved. The 2 foot walls were an immediate tip off. As I was measuring I had to ask myself should I include the 2 ft walls or measure interior GLA floor space only. I decided to measure interior GLA floor space only because my long ago mentor once told me to only include floor space I could actually walk on. I am curious about what you and other appraisers would include in GLA on straw bale construction.
As I was roaming around inside I noticed a very strong mildew smell but could not find any visual evidence of mold. I went back outside and carefully examined the top of the walls. This property had a flat roof that did not extend over the straw bales. The bales were capped with stucco. The roof and wall caps were not easily observed from the ground. After climbing in the bed of my pickup I could see there were several places where the stucco cap on the top of the straw bale walls had failed. There were large cracks (2″-3″ wide) and large chunks of stucco were missing from the caps. Rain could actually drench those hay bales. Straw that gets wet turns moldy. This explained the mildew smell inside. I called the buyer/client and told him what I found and explained that I didn’t know of any way to cure mold in the straw bale walls short of tear down/replacement. I suggested he consult a contractor and get a professional opinion on that before he went forward. I asked if he wanted me to continue the appraisal and he said no way. Stop and just bill him for the time I had into the report. I found it interesting that this house was torn down a year or so later.
So, a major warning to appraisers dealing with straw bale construction. Unless the bales were protected from moisture during construction and the roof extends over the straw bales this can be a major structural and health problem with straw bale construction that should be considered by appraisers when dealing with this type of property. If I ever have to do another one I will include a recommendation for inspection by a mold expert. AND an extraordinary assumption that there are no mold issues which could have a severe negative impact on the livability and value of the home.
The other issue with appraising a straw bale house is finding similar comps. Since there were no listings or sales of straw bale houses, I had decided to use rammed earth construction homes. My reasoning was a typical buyer for straw bale construction would also consider rammed earth construction as a similar substitute and vice versus. I also had a couple of rock wall and log construction homes (not rock or log siding) I was considering for the same reason. Since the buyer canceled the appraisal I didn’t actually have to complete it. But I knew what I would have used.
I am curious to see if you or other appraisers have anything to add to the GLA measurement and mold issue of straw bale construction.
Thank you. I appreciate your commentary, and thanks for the kind words too.
I’ve talked with several appraisers about straw-bale homes and they’ve used the effective GLA of what the home would be without such thick walls. I actually didn’t make any substantial GLA adjustments, so it wasn’t much of a factor in my appraisal. There are likely different ways to approach this, but a few peers who have done these homes more regularly have seemed to adopt that practice.
That’s interesting to hear about the mold. Good catch for your client. You served them very well. Did the house end up selling at some point down the road?
I concur about comp selection. We might not find the exact same unique design, but if we find something that’s competitive, it’s all good in my book.
Just an additional comment. The one I was working on looked very similar to your pictures. Lovely to look at. Upgraded and upscale interior finishes. Would have been a lovely home if not for the mold.
Very cool. Thanks again Starlyn.
It was actually torn down about a year later. The vacant land did sell after that.
Earthquakes?
One story only, ever?
Roof systems accommodate?
Same ques if anybody familiar w/ICF const.
Thanks Merv.
I am located in southeastern Arizona and have appraised two straw bale homes. I did measure the exterior of the home. In my sketch I used the free form (non-calculating) to draw the exterior walls. The bales were twenty four inches wide plus the extra thick stucco on the exterior and the extra thick plaster on the inside. Then went 18″ inward to start drawing the livable area. That way the calculations for the livable area were similar to a typical stucco frame home in my area. The home owners didn’t have a hay bale view window but did have an opening in the interior plaster so that the straw bale could be observed, then had used lariat rope glued around it for a frame. Lariat rope is used in roping competitions at rodeos. It is wrapped around the horn of the saddle which gives it a variated color and popular in this area for decorative items. I used highly insulated homes as comparables. And wrote a very detailed report. Didn’t have any questions back from either lender. A straw bale building that is constructed correctly so it never gets wet will last many, many years. There are straw built structures constructed in the 1800s in the midwest that are still standing and usable. One is a church in western Nebraska. By the way, one of the home owners said their utility bill for heating and cooling the home was about $85 per year. Many years ago I appraised a rammed earth home northwest of Wickenburg. The walls were also two feet thick and they had a similar heating and cooling bill. All three of those energy efficient homes were over 2,000 GLA.
This is great. Thank you Jo Ann. I loved hearing about your experience and lariat rope of course. 🙂 I’d love to have a bill at $85 per year. Heck, I’d love to have $85 per month…. Thank you again.
Hi, I think Jo Ann did a great job of explaining straw bale homes. I to have appraised 3 straw bale homes in the Auburn/Nevada City, Ca. The last one was appraised at about $1,500,000, in Nevada City. Lots of detail about the construction materials and how they are constructed. First there are no comps, so how do I demonstrate market acceptance?. I live in California, so I tried to document all of the straw bale home sales in my state. As of 2018, there were 1000+ documented sales. On there web site, there are 168 registered straw bale homes in California. In my appraisal addendum, I documented 3 – 4 straw bale homes sales. I listed the date of sale, sales price, and current Zillow estimated value.. Comps. The subject of the appraisal has a Q2 quality rating. I then searched for comps with a similar quality rating, site area, and location appeal. This house was really nice. I can forward photos, if asked..
Thanks so much. Where did you get data from? I’d love to see that website you are talking about that lists the number of homes. I like your methodology of looking for something of similar quality.
Hi Ryan, I jumped on the web and found Greenhomesforsale. com., Ca. Strawbuilding Association, and Strawbale.com. My best data came from a local contractor I found on the web that builds straw bale homes. He pointed me to a private sale of a straw bale home. I used this sale as a comp. Check it out, I obviously listed all the details of the current sale and past foreclosure. The address is 20615 Montclaire Ct. Grass Valley. The past mls shows it “as” a green house, the builder states he used straw bale. Look at the photos.. Very hard to find data…. Lots of work and time.
Right on. Thank you very much. I’ll check that out. I encountered the same struggle as you. Very little data. I’m excited to at least know about this other one even though it sold at a much higher price point.
Good article — thank you!
Stupid question from somebody outside the industry: Does having that type of house increase the cost of getting an appraisal, or is that all on the appraiser to deal with (the owner/buyer never knows)?
I’d assume you charge more for the extra work, but I don’t know the mechanics (if there’s a quick-and-easy way of saying “yeah, it costs more because it’s more complicated”) of how that affects the buyer.
Thanks JJ. That’s a great question (not stupid at all). Typically a more complicated valuation will cost more because it simply takes more time. Anyone running a business has to consider the amount of time it’s going to take to do a good job. It would be like working on a Ferrari vs a VW Bug. They are two different vehicles and one might take more skill and time, so the fees could be different. This comes down to both time, what the market will reasonably pay, and whether the appraiser wnats to incur the liability of doing the appraisal. Keep in mind just because a property is high-dollar doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be a complicated appraisal. If data is ample, for instance, it might not be that hard. But if data is sparse at any price range, that’s where it becomes challenging. I happen to have something on my desk right now and I’ve gone back to the client once already for more money. I may go back again. This is simply turning out to be a monstrous valuation. This appraisal isn’t for a loan, by the way.
This is such a great piece to come across.
We are building a straw bale home, actually it might be called a detached duplex. Two homes under one large roof with a carport between them. We are building out in Western Amador County so not too far from Sacramento. There are a few straw bale builds out here, two at a winery and I know of at least three more homes in the county. I don’t know of any others in Sacramento, but I would be surprised if there are not a few more…
Now that the IBC/IRBC has Straw bale code hopefully we will see even more of these great builds.
My wife and I have been with CASBA for over 20 years, and watching the growth has been enlightening. The building technology has nicely matured, many lessons have been learned and well shared in the community. Straw building is much more often a community endeavor than stick built. There is a wonderful open learning atmosphere with most of the people wanting to share the interest. much more of a barn raising feel than most construction. this is partly due to the hands on labor that goes into the builds.
On a few of the points mentioned above, Moisture is the biggest threat to this building technique, and it is a huge focus. To show what I mean, our build will be built proud of natural grade almost 3 ft. and our wrap around roof will for the most part extend over 7 ft outside the walls. In the earlier days, Portland cement based plasters, and stucco was often used, but that does not breathe as well as clay based and lime based plasters. Walls were built with steel frames in contact with the straw, and the temperature differential would cause condensation, and as mentioned above, that would invite mold. These issues are forefront in design these days.
The fire testing has been done and this tech passed with outstanding findings, that have been well supported in California’s mega-fires over the last few years. a number of straw bales homes did much much better that their stick-built neighbors.
Seismic testing has also been done and is very good.
There are load baring straw bale buildings (I don’t know of any permitted for residential in CA, I think all of ours here are framed with something, mostly post and beam wood) in Nebraska that are doing fine after over a hundred years of use.
I would be very very happy to have any interested people stay in touch and come see for themselves how it all goes together. Especially Real Estate professionals. We are at the drawing stages and the build is planned to start this summer…
Thanks again for sharing! Good stuff!
Mike, I’m so excited to hear what you are doing. This sounds fascinating and it sounds really interesting to value also. Please stay in touch. If you think of it I would love to see any progress photos. Or when you finish it up and want to share, I’d love to possibly share some finished photos. I hope building goes well. Keep that moisture out. 🙂
I have appraised a straw bale house here in southeastern Arizona. In the process of researching I discovered there are homes and a church of straw bale construction still standing and in use that were built in the 1890s in western Nebraska. Very energy efficient. The owner of another straw bale home in my area, summer temperatures can reach 112-115, told me their utility bill was about $70 per month year around. A triplex was also constructed in this area. The big problem during construction was that it took about twice as much stucco on the exterior and drywall compound on the interior due to the uneven surface of the bales. The triplex backs railroad tracks and that keeps the noise down. Due to the additional stucco and compound they built the next of Rasta block, foam like is used in coffee cups, ice chests, etc with concrete centers. Good insulation, but not as good as the straw bales. In my report, I measured the exterior, used the free form line for the exterior dimension, then 18′ in I had a line that was used for calculation of the square footage of the livable area. The only thing available for comparables were standard built stucco frame homes with high insulation factors. That way I was comparable similar livable area to similar livable area based on the stucco frame calculations. Interesting project. I also used a similar process for a rammed earth home. Both the straw bale and rammed earth had exterior walls that were 2′ thick.
A little side note: As I understand it Maraposa County has actually enacted some valuation rules as to how the County Assessor will measure extremely thick walled buildings. Basically inside plus what the outer wall exterior would be if it were built with 2×6 construction…
I think this is a good starting point for square footage. But the other aspects of these buildings are harder to quantify.
We just purchased a straw bale home in Wilton, CA. I am excited to live in it and experience it’s uniqueness.
Kathy, thank you so much for letting me know. I had no idea there was a bale house in Wilton. Any chance you can share the address? I definitely would love to keep tabs on local properties. I’m at lundquistcompany @ gmail dot com. No pressure, but if it sold on MLS especially I’d love to look it up. Congrats to you. How exciting!! Wilton is such a great community also.
Kathy,
I just saw your comment, I would really love to see your place!
Any chance for a visit? We are almost neighbors. We are right there in North Camanche…