Point of Sale Energy Efficiency Requirement

This will be a mess. I like incentives to help homeowners become energy efficient. But this plan seems a little bizarre. We are dealing with a homeowner now that is selling their home because they can no longer make payments. If this plan was in place these people would almost certainly face foreclosure. Its sad because in the past Austin’s green programs were always positive and based on incentives.

But, this would be considered a taking because government cannot prohibt the sale of private property or limit it in this manner. What I mean to say is, you can sell a contaminated piece of land if you have a buyer. I get the intent and that’s great, but you cannot require it to be able to sell a property.
Also, historical designtations could be lost if one is required to put in double-pane windows into a historical home or other upgrades that diminish the historical value of the property. I’m sure there will be ways around the ordinance or at a minimum it would be overturned by a court.

What I am not hearing anything about is how much stuff that is being replaced for the upgrades will go into landfills. This is just one more thing to show the mayor’s and the council’s idiocy.

Great thought Sam, I am all for the green projects, but there needs to be limits, not laws. It is not right to ask people who are barely scrapping by to upgrade their home. There needs to be an incentive for doing so, whether it is in taxes or some other form.

While I am a big fan of going green, this sounds like a way to make $ on us all. With 25k homes sold, and the price varying from 1.5 to 10k, this will create a huge market for “eco inspectors”. Just wait till they require those inspectors to pass a new and unique course that will make them certified – and not for free, that’s for sure. I know it might be pessimistic, but it seems that once again several big companies backed up by city officials will get 95% of the market. A market created only for them to earn $.
Ethics in this country has gone down the drain a long time ago, yet I am constantly amazed how low some people will go…

Agreed Rachel! green projects are almost ‘always’ something that will benefit ‘all’ sides…. but with the economic situation right now, a lot can no longer afford what they usually can…

This is being discussed statewide in Califronia as well. There is a bill in the legislature to do something similar. I am not sure how much support there is for this statewide. I do understand that there may be some lenders that are considering lowering interest rates or offering other incentives if a home is very energy efficient.

I think a POS requirement will be very costly and slow the home buying process down. Offer incentives and other ways to help make homes more efficient.

Here in the UK all domestic properties marketed for sale need a Home Information Pack.

As part of that you require anEPC
– energy performance certificate. This is certainly a worthwhile exercise and is getting people to look at the energy performance of their properties. In europe 27% of energy consumption is through domestic properties.

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I am all for energy efficiency but I believe that individuals need to make the move themselves to become ‘green’ otherwise it would be difficult to sustain long term. Government incentives could help this attitude change but laws would only make people resentful towards it.

It will take some type of major crisis for people to realize that their current actions are negatively affecting the environment.

This might seem like a way for them to make money off going green, but what alternative do we have? Something like China’s environmental policy where everything can be purchase for the right amount. You still recall the US Olympic team wearing facing masks as they arriving in China.

Thanks for share and info

Green housing is taking off in the east valley of Phoenix. Several new home builders build nothing else

So far in Southern California we have not seen any new Green requirements on resales which have substantially affected our sale practices. The new homes have many more of these regulations.