The Multiple Listing Services (MLS) is an important tool for the real estate industry in the marketing and selling of homes. Real estate agents use the MLS to locate properties in the market that meet the homebuyers needs and appraisers use the service to find comparables to developing the appraised market value of the home. If a feature does not appear in the MLS it is pretty much hidden from the real estate market. The MLS is owned and operated by the market’s Realtor Association. The Gainesville, Florida MLS now includes a listing for a home’s HERS® Index Score prominently in its report. Below is the section of the Gainesville MLS listing that includes the information on the HERS® Rating Score: The Gainesville newspaper, the Gaineville Sun on May 30, 2012 published a front page story “More Homebuyers Willing to Pay for Green Features”. The article finds that, “Real estate professionals say their experience anecdotally is that green- and budget-conscious buyers are willing to pay more for a house with energy-efficient features. But determining what those features are worth to a home’s value has proven difficult for appraisers armed with limited data on the sales of green homes.” The paper reports that the Gainesville MLS now gives “more ammunition to the push to add energy-efficient amenities to the value of homes.” It quotes Dave Gibbs of Coldwell Banker M.M. Parrish Realtors as saying the HERS® Index information in the MLS will “help Realtors more easily find homes with the green features that buyers are interested in and help appraisers compare sales data.” The artice can be viewed at http://www.gainesville.com/article/20120530/ARTICLES/120539942?tc=ar This action should serve as a model to other MLS listing services to start including easily understood information on the energy performance of a home. the HERS® Index Score. It also demonstrates that the market penetration of homes with a HERS® Index is allowing this to be in the mainstream of the housing market. In Gainesville a great deal of credit most go to the local rater Ken Fonorow of Florida HERO who has tirelessly advocated the use of the HERS® Index to the housing industry.
