"Some builders may have a lot of success putting in systems like these, but at the end of the day the proof [of their value] has to come from the marketplace," says Sara Schwartzentraub, a certified appraiser and co-owner of Interstate Appraisal Service in La Mesa, Calif., who notes that builders will sometimes pressure appraisers to make estimates reflect the valuation of the systems based solely on their costs.

"But if the systems cost $50,000 to put in, but area comps show that they're only getting $25,000 out of them, then you have to go with the marketplace," Schwartzentraub says. "The real problem comes when it's the first house in an area to have a lot of technology built into it and you have little to compare it to."

Schwartzentraub and other appraisers say that builders can help them by providing documentation that goes beyond initial product and installation costs, for instance projections of how green technologies not only reduce direct energy costs but also decrease long-term operating costs and mortgage payments (since these systems are rolled into the mortgage).

"If you can show how it improves the efficiency of a home in dollars, or how it improves long-term marketability [retention of future resale value] of the house, and how it improves the safety of the residents of the home, that all contributes to explaining the real value of the systems for the purpose of appraising the house," says Iaccio. Another tack is to show graphically that homes without certain technological amenities will be at a disadvantage for resale in the future.

"There was a point a hundred or so years ago when builders had the choice of running wires indoors to bring electricity into the house," he says. "The buyers of those builders that opted not to had to run wire into the house after it was built."

Builder Jeff Click, who owns Jeff Click Homes in North Oklahoma City, learned long ago that he had to be assertive in educating appraisers about the technology that he routinely installs in his mid-range custom homes, such as the HAI Omni Pro automation systems he uses.

"One of the problems with technology is that it tends to be hidden in the house," he explains-speakers are flush-mounted in walls, electronics are centralized in tech closets in basements and structured cabling is completely invisible. "If it was more prominent in the home, it might be easier to give it its rightful level valuation," he says.