Realtors recognize the importance of working closely with professional assessors to obtain Home Energy Scores for their clients.
Prior to publicly listing any* property in Portland, sellers are required to obtain a Home Energy Score.
*Some special circumstances may allow for a home to be listed for sale without a score, call for details
What is the Home Energy Score, and what does it mean to Real Estate Professionals?
City Council unanimously adopted the home energy score ordinance Portland City Code Chapter 17.108 on December 14, 2016. The City of Portland Home Energy Score program will begin on January 1, 2018. The ordinance requires sellers of single-family homes to:
- Obtain a home energy report, including a home energy score, from a licensed home energy assessor.
- Disclose the score and the report prior to listing a home publicly for sale in Portland on or after January 1, 2018.
The following paragraph comes from the Administrative Rules Residential Energy Performance Rating and Disclosure as created by the City of Portland.
Listed publicly for sale or publicly listed means the act of listing the covered building for sale on the real estate market whether publicly by printed advertisement, internet posting, displayed sign, or through a private database intended for use by realtors or buyers with the purpose to identify and compare real properties for purchase.
–Page 4, Item 3.1 H…under Definitions.
In 2010, the U.S. Department of Energy recognized the need of a reliable method for homebuyers, and homeowners to understand a home’s’’ energy efficiency. From this need the DOE created a nationally-applicable home energy scoring and labeling system. After 2 years of consumer research, pilot studies, focus groups, and software development, the Department of Energy officially launched the Home Energy Score campaign in 2012.
Since 2012 Home Energy Score Assessors have scored nearly 70,000 homes nationwide.
We at Home Energy Score.com envision the program becoming a nationally recognized and used in Real Estate transactions. This tool will lead to improved U.S. housing updates and supply, with lower costs in utilities, better energy performance, resulting in more efficient use of our natural resources. The DOE’s goal is towards building market value through energy efficient homes (and home sales) which will eventually improve the quality of our lives. The Home Energy Score accomplishes this by the following:
- Providing to homeowners, and buyers, insight and knowledge of household energy efficiency and possible improvements towards reduced energy use and lower costs.
- Encouraging reliable, consistent household energy efficiency information by way of real estate transactions.
- Incorporating energy information into financing sources and products/discounts, to help drive the market for energy efficient homes.
Protect Your Buyer's, and Seller’s,Interests with a Home Energy Score
Sellers like to feature the “green” aspects of their house. However for the prospective buyers, the improvements tend to be hidden behind the walls, with the benefits only
becoming obvious after living in the home for an extended period of time. Most buyers enter into the largest investment of their lives not knowing how efficient, or lack of efficiency, the new purchase just might be. This can have residents choosing between living comfortably in their homes, or paying utility bills beyond what they might have expected to pay when they purchased the house.
The U.S.DOE (Department of Energy) and its Member Partners are working towards providing this information to the potential homeowner with the Home Energy Score. You, the professional, are in a position which brings valuable information to your clients. The Home Energy Score is an estimate of a home’s energy efficiency, the associated utility costs, and provides energy related solutions to improve the home’s energy consumption. Each Home Energy Score is based on a simple to read one-to-ten scale, as ten represents the most efficient homes in the region.
How to Use the Home Energy Score
Showing off the home’s energy score in your listing: Of Realtors® polled, over half reported that their clients have stated that they are interested in sustainability. While Seventy-one percent of those polled also stated that promoting energy efficiency in their listings was found to be either very, or somewhat, valuable in the homes description.
Disclose energy usage information that prospective buyers want: One study by Elevate Energy (2015) shows that homes which disclosed energy costs, even when costs were high, closed at a greater percentage near, or above, the asking price spending less time on the market than those which did not disclose energy usage costs. We live in the information age, a time in history where Homebuyers are searching for as much information as possible when it comes to purchasing a home. Energy Scores and labels do help provide the information Homebuyers are after.
Be sure to email your clients a link to our Homeowners tab on our website, allowing us to explain the score to them, and answer any questions they might have.
