Real estate appraisals play a critical role in the housing market. The appraisal drives what can be financed in the mortgage loan. If the appraisal fails to find market value in a feature of the home, it has to be paid for out of pocket. Traditionally residential appraisers have had a challenge with home energy performance. Many of the features that makes a home energy efficient are hidden when the drywall is installed. In addition, building performance is based on whole house principals that are hard to list in a check list that can be compared to other homes in the market where homes can have the same level of performance but use different products and building practices to achieve. Finally, appraisers are not able to find the data they need to compare similar homes in the market. This is about to change with the new partnership between the Appraisal Institute and RESNET. RESNET has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Appraisal Institute. In the MOU both organizations agree to work together to boost high energy performance homes in the housing market. The following are the elements of the partnership: RESNET and the Appraisal Institute will develop an access to the RESNET Registry so that residential real estate appraisers can search 24/7 in real time the following information: The HERS® Index score of a home The HERS® rating company that rated the home The date the home was HERS® Rated The projected energy savings of the home The two organizations agreed to work together to present educational programs on real estate valuation topics and the HERS® Index to appraisers, builders, developers and other interested individuals. The partnership can be a game changer in terms of real estate appraiser evaluation of the energy performance of a home as part of the appraisal process. Residential real estate appraisers will be able to search for homes with comparable HERS® Index scores in determining the market value of such feature of a home in the market. Appraisal Institute President Scott Robinson stated, “The Appraisal Institute is thrilled and honored to have this opportunity to further its leadership in green and energy efficient valuation by working with such a highly regarded organization as RESNET.” RESNET Executive Director Steve Baden commented, “This agreement can serve to boost high energy performance homes in the market place. Residential real estate professionals will be given tools to better know the energy performance of the home being appraised and find comparable homes in the market.” The Appraisal Institute released a news release on the new partnership. To view the release click on http://www.pressreleasepoint.com/appraisal-institute-resnet-agree-coordinate-energy-efficiency-efforts The Appraisal Institute is a global professional association of real estate appraisers, with nearly 22,000 professionals. Its mission is to advance professionalism and ethics, global standards, methodologies, and practices through the professional development of property economics worldwide. The Appraisal Institute’s Robinson and Sandy Adomatis, SRA, LEED Green Associate, will be presenting at the 2016 RESNET Conference on “Communicating the Home Energy Rating System (HERS) to Appraisers and Real Estate Sales Agents” on March 2.
