sneaking up

In a little over a week, the Home Energy Rating event will unfold--how it will unfold is still pretty much up in the air. Another meeting in a couple days and then serendipity will take over--we hope.

I've been pondering how to summarize and pull the information together without excessively irritating the Kool Aid Krowd--there will probably be a few devout state association ladder climbers there. Sorta leaning toward just ignoring the state association--they've ignored energy rating of houses because of their persistent point of sale paranoia, so that's kinda logical.

The challenge is to stress to the public and agents that if helpful tools are available to assist in choosing the best possible home to buy, they should be used. Sounds simple, but the real estate industry doesn't like change and it doesn't like complications. New tools inevitably bring change and complications. The industry would rather just continue to do business like it does now (or even better-- like it did 25 years ago--BHI (before home inspections)).

State association leans in the direction of the Sellers (as always) and infers that information from home energy rating could decrease the value of their house if it's older and not upgraded. That's true, but continuing along that path you reach an end point suggesting that its OK for Sellers to transfer ownership to Buyers minus important information about the cost of ownership and potential future appreciation. That opens up the fair and honest dealing vs fiduciary duty threshold. Buyers agents certainly have the fiduciary duty going on. Sellers agents owe fair and honest dealing to Buyers and their agents. Where does Seller's agent fiduciary duty end and fair and honest dealing begin? Is there a gap just the right size for home energy ratings? I think not.

Home energy ratings provide potentially important information about houses, information that many Buyers would consider to represent material facts about the house. Home Energy Ratings are very seldom ordered, even though they've been available for years. There's a disconnect somewhere in this system of representation. The optimistic view is that home energy ratings are relatively new and most agents really don't understand the what, why and how just yet. The cynical view is rather darker.

It will be interesting to see how the event turns out next week---what the vibe is from the public and the agents--if anyone shows up at all.

I've got the beginnings of a slide show and will flesh it out later in the week.