GREEN HOME VALUE
We are starting to see data that supports how green
homes are being both under-listed and undervalued.
SUPPORT FOR MY CLAIM
Ken Harney, the real estate columnist for The
Washington Post, wrote a piece last fall about
high-performance homes and why it is important
to work with experienced green professionals.
He wrote:
“Adomatis (an appraiser specializing in green
appraising who interviewed real estate agents
on the topic), told me that in interviews, some
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California admitted they ‘had no clue what they
were selling.’ A few even said, ‘I don’t know
what makes a house green.’ That’s a direct
violation of the code of ethics of the National
Association of Realtors (NAR), which prohibits
members from marketing types of property
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courses on green-home marketing and has
urged MLS’s across the country to include
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At the 2019 Builders Show in Las Vegas, panelists
said, “Some green homes may be mis-valued, a
costly mistake to homeowners who may be leaving
thousands of dollars behind.” This was reported by
REALTOR ® Magazine in February of 2019. The article
went on to state:
48 | APPRAISAL BUZZ FALL 2019
“The panelists at Tuesday’s session said real estate
professionals should provide supporting
information—such as the addendum and MLS
marketing information—to the lender when an
appraisal is to be done. The additional information
can help justify to the lender that you need an
appraiser trained in green features to value the
property.”
In 2017, I was part of a team of experts, led by Sandra
Adomatis, SRA, that did a study on the Pearl home
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number in some cases, and one that requires some
marketing to achieve. We found that in some cases,
agents were not marketing homes that had the
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unaware of the features. We noted in the study that
listings that conspicuously placed the green
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marketing the features, saw the best return.
From the study:
“This is a potentially big oversight if missed. I
would think that many agents would want to
cover all their bases and inquire when taking on
a listing if the home has any green
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available databases that will tell you. Resnet
has a database where agents and appraisers
can locate Home Energy Rating System (HERS)
rated homes.”