Cap and Trade: A License Required for your Home

[Frank M. Carrio, CMI]

ENERGY SCORES / ENERGY RATINGS!

For all of you “Nay Sayers” who got hysterical by my Cap & Trade article and said that ”It will never affect us”…..or….”We will NEVER need a License / Rating / Score for our homes”….
Guess what?

{If it will make you feel better, you can substitute the word “License” for ‘ENERGY SCORE” aka ENERGY RATING!}

The day has arrived…..Don’t believe it?... Check out the following OFFICIAL DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY website and see the videos for yourselves!

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/homeenergyscore/home_energy_score.html

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/homeenergyscore/index.html

PS:
This summer my son spent $8,000.00 to make his home “Energy Efficient” so he could put his house on the market.


Plus… The “Energy Assessor” and his company were the same people who installed the insulation to bring the home up to “2010 Standards”.

• Talk about a conflict of interest!

{The "Standards" are going to get tougher every year! The "Average" American will be hard pressed to "Repair" his home in order to sell it.}

I urge all of you to call your senators and tell them to VOTE NO on this bill and to VOTE NO on the latest PORK BARREL amendments!


All US Senator Phone numbers are listed here (area code 202):
All telephone numbers are preceded by a 22-prefex!

http://www.senate.gov/general/resources/pdf/senators phone_list.pdf

[Gary Farnsworth]

I believe most lawmakers own homes. You would think, if they are smart enough, that they would look at these laws for themselves, and wake up to the fact that they, themselves, would have to bring up their own homes to standards, and have to spend thousands of dollars themselves in order to ever sell their own homes.

I guess they are not too smart.

By passing these laws, they will also empty out most all homes over the age of 50, since most are all not worth much anyway, and people cannot afford to fix them up to sell, so most will just walk away from them. Talk about a major storm coming, all thanks to clue-less politicians.

[James H. Bushart]

I have done 21 energy efficiency evaluations in the last 20 calendar days and I use an architectural computer program that models an existing structure against recommended energy efficiency upgrades to determine their projected effects in reductions of energy use (and dollars).

In every single case of each of the 21 energy efficiency evaluations (aka "energy audits") I was able to project no less than 10.5% and up to 43% reductions in energy use by reducing air infiltration by 50% using less than $150 in materials (caulk and foam) and additional insulation.

Who would NOT...if they had this information....prefer to spend the pennies to reduce the dollars they are throwing away in utility bills? Most people simply don't know and almost all of them have shared with me their regret for not having acted sooner and kept more of their own heat, cool air, and money inside their own homes....instead of throwing them away.

[Gary Farnsworth]

Contractors will be in it for the money.

"Sorry sir. You need all new windows, insulation in the attic and walls, new efficient doors, and a whole new HVAC system. I can do all of this for you for $......."

Every home I inspect needs caulking here an there, windows locked, and storm windows shut. All of this stuff gets stated in my home inspection reports. I give a one page energy saving tip sheet to all of my clients, some of which are on my web site. Sounds more like a maintenance check up more than an energy audit, IMHO. I realize that older homes need more work than newer ones to bring them up to "standards", but most older homes are owned by lower-income people. Where will their money come from?

[Frank M. Carrio, CMI]

UPDATE!

Hi folks!

I'm sorry I've been away for so long but I have had some "life threatening" health issues to attend to. Even though I do not like to say "I told you so" I thought you might like to enjoy reading this article that pertains to what I and many, many others have predicted!

If this passes, the "Value Energy Act" is going to place such a financial burden on the average homeowner that home sales in this "sluggish economy" are going to come to a screeching halt!

Read it and weep!

http://www.builderonline.com/legislation/new-bill-factors-efficiency-into-home-values.aspx?rssLink=New+Bill+Factors+Efficiency+in to+Home+Values
New Bill Factors Efficiency into Home Values
The Sensible Accounting to Value Energy Act, to be introduced tomorrow, would include a home's energy savings in loans and appraisals.
By: John McManus

Imagine, adding "energy" to the long-standing formula of key expenses— principal, interest, taxes, and insurance—to calculate how much money someone could potentially borrow from a bank to buy a home.

Imagine, a home's ability to capture savings in heating and cooling and electricity costs factoring into that house's relative value—including location, square footage, and other comps—in an appraisal for resale.

These two principles are what's driving Congress to consider changing laws around housing finance that could cause people, home builders, remodelers, and the real estate industry to change the way they think about "green" and "sustainable" home building.

Tomorrow, the conversation around the economics of affordable, green residential real estate construction changes:

Wednesday, October 19, at 2:00 PM ET,U.S. Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Johnny Isakson (R-GA) will announce the introduction of a bill that would enable better mortgage underwriting, encourage investments in residential energy improvements, and reduce home energy bills.

The Senators will be joined by Ross Eisenberg, Counsel on Environment and Energy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Philip Henderson, Senior Financial Policy Specialist at the Natural Resources Defense Council; and a representative from the Appraisal Institute.

• Under the Sensible Accounting to Value Energy (SAVE) Act, federal mortgage loan agencies would consider a homeowner’s expected energy costs when determining the homeowner’s ability to make monthly mortgage payments.

The average homeowner spends more than $2,000 each year on energy costs – more than on either real estate taxes or home insurance, both of which are regularly accounted for in mortgage underwriting.

The SAVE Act would address this blind spot, giving a more complete picture of the costs of homeownership and borrowers’ capacity to service debt.

It would also enable homeowners to finance cost-effective home energy upgrades as part of their traditional mortgage, lowering their utility bills and creating consumer demand for energy-efficient homes and home improvements. The SAVE Act is predicted to create 83,000 new jobs in construction, renovation and manufacturing.
The bill has support from a broad and diverse coalition of real estate, business, building trade and conservation groups that will also attend the announcement. Groups in support of the SAVE Act range from the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Alliance to Save Energy.

The Leading Builders of America, which has backed this initiative for more than 18 months, has started up a site called ProtectHousing.com, aimed at "defending policies that encourage responsible homeownership."