Craig Foley
Why should a real estate agent in Massachusetts take a fresh look at the high-performance home market? After all, real estate agents sell homes, not climate change solutions. It has become increasing clear, however, that the residential real estate industry is uniquely positioned to be part of the solution.
Real estate agents, like most other licensed professionals, have required continuing education courses to complete in order to keep their certifications current. It made perfect sense to target the Massachusetts CEU system as a place to start educating agents about high-performance homes and engaging them in the concept that this added expertise can have a significant impact on a global issue.
In the fall of 2013, I participated in an initiative with Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources to fill a hole in the continuing education course offerings for Massachusetts’ real estate agents. In July 2014 the Massachusetts Real Estate Board accepted the high-performance homes course that we created. Since then, I have had the opportunity to teach the class at local real estate boards throughout the commonwealth to over 500 agents and brokers.
There are over 2.5 million green-certified homes in the U.S. right now; in 2001, that number was essentially zero. To say that the high-performance home market is experiencing rapid growth is an understatement. The high-performance home market, traditionally focused in the new home arena, is now expanding into the existing homes with high-performance characteristics as the real opportunity. The demand for specialized knowledge of this market has exponential growth opportunities.
There are clear benefits to the creation and remodeling of energy-efficient homes. Over the last two winters we have seen sharp spikes in power prices putting significant stress on homeowners. Lowering the operating costs of our homes, particularly in a market like ours where the buy-in price can be staggering, is a clear benefit to the consumer. With each dollar saved by energy efficiency improvements also come the added benefits of reducing stress on the environment and on New England’s power grid.
In Massachusetts, the average homeowner uses 109 million BTUs of energy every year to heat, light and cool our homes, and power all of our gadgets and appliances. We now have affordable technologies in place that can drop that number to zero. Net-zero homes produce as much energy as they use on an annual basis.
We are in the midst of a paradigm shift with respect to both how energy is produced and also how it is consumed. Massachusetts homeowners are participating in both. The explosive growth of solar photovoltaics (PV) supported by innovative programs like Solarize MA allows homeowners to generate clean power on their side of the utility meter. At the same time, Massachusetts’ homeowners, through programs like MassSave, can reap the benefits of aggressive incentives for reducing energy consumption.
While we have seen support from the leadership of both real estate and appraisal trade organizations to add contributory value for energy-efficiency improvements, resistance at the ground level is still apparent. Our industry has two options: Either stick our heads in the sand, or participate. I believe that the smart business decision is to participate. Real estate agents will need to rise to meet this new challenge or risk becoming professional dinosaurs.
As a National Association of REALTORS® Green Designee and instructor, I know the value that the designation offers agents. We are the home industry experts sought out by the consumer for help with the most substantial purchases of their lives. The shift to more energy-efficient homes in our state requires a deeper level of expertise about how to properly market a high-performance home. Although we do not function as a home inspector or a home energy advisor, we do need to be comfortable with the emerging jargon of high-performance homes. Solar PV, air source heat pumps, power purchase agreements, SRECs and energy asset ratings are all here to stay – as professionals in the home sales industry we owe it to consumers to be knowledgeable and competent with this specialized product.
