Ideally, a person considering the purchase of a new home in Missouri would hire a trained specialist in every system in the home to evaluate and report on that system’s condition. 

You would have a roofing contractor inspect the condition of the roof, a structural engineer to inspect and evaluate the integrity of the building, a licensed plumber to examine and report on the condition of the plumbing system, a heating and cooling expert to operate, observe and report the air conditioning and heating system … and so on, until an expert had looked at each individual system and provided you a series of reports for you to read and understand.

     This would cost several thousands of dollars and would take about three to four weeks to collect and report the data and would result in information that the average layman home buyer might have to have interpreted for them.

Most Missouri home buyers, however, do not have that amount of time or money to devote to the process.

The most practical option is to hire an expert who has been trained and certified in building construction and building science and who can evaluate and report on the same systems — but provide a report that explains not only their condition but how they work together in the home as one single system in providing comfort, health and sustainability in a report that anyone can understand and make informed decisions from … and to provide it fast.

If you choose to hire me, the home performance analysis that I perform can provide you with not only information about the home’s present condition but will provide a scope of work and estimates for improvement in areas of comfort and health so that you will know how it can be improved and what those improvements might cost.

In Missouri, experts who provide these services (such as myself) are regulated by the State of Missouri, Department of Natural Resources and must meet and maintain specific educational, testing and insurance requirements.  This specialized service not a “home inspection” like the service typically provided by an untrained and unregulated handyman or “home inspector” usually referred by most real estate agents.

Instead, it is a comprehensive and unbiased evaluation of the home’s systems and performance by a nationally certified and State regulated Building Analyst.  I am such a person and have been in business since 2004 helping home owners and home buyers learn more about the homes they live in or plan to live in.

I invite you to learn more about how you can benefit from a home performance analysis by calling me, with no obligation, for more information at 314-803-2167.

Okay, you're selling your house in an area of Missouri with no building codes or a city code. 

The deck you had built last year fails to meet the new statewide code proposed for building inspectors to apply at the point of sale --- and the buyer changes his mind or demands a lower price. 

How do you recover your damages?

http://www.appraisalinstitute.org/education/downloads/AI_82003_ReslGreenEnergyEffAddendum.pdf

A recent client informed me that his monthly utility bills were more than his monthly mortgage payments. This is a "surprise" that a new home buyer would certainly want to avoid. 

With every new home inspection, I will provide a FREE home energy score and energy report when requested at the time you schedule your home inspection. 

This rating and report will provide you important information regarding the existing conditions that will affect the costs associated with heating and cooling your new home. 

(The house energy score is from 1 to 100 with 100 being the highest possible score.) 

The energy score/report is a simple and economical tool. 

This is type of service is NOT a diagnostic energy efficiency audit and is NOT sufficient to use as an information source from which to perform upgrades to a home, however it will provide you with information regarding what you can expect in the home’s use of energy under its present conditions before you decide to purchase it. 

This is a service valued at $75 or more and will be available for FREE with every home inspection performed, beginning in November 2011, when requested at the time the inspection is scheduled.

(To answer email inquiries about this service, it is a service that has been available to home owners for quite some time but one that home buyers may have difficulty using to evaluate a home purchase since they may not have sufficient information about the home.  You can learn more about it, here.)

    I just participated in a webinar with the Department of Energy that blew my mind.  I can see why the NAR is so dead set against this new U.S. Department of Energy "Home Energy Score" rating program that is coming out this Fall.

    These "Home Energy Scores" are to be provided by inexpensive "raters" who are to spend one hour (or less) at the home taking measurements and inputting data into an online database that provides the seller a quick "Home Energy Score" that rates their home in comparison to other homes in their area.

    Imagine representing a home seller who gets a Department of Energy "Home Energy Score" of '5' as did the average person in one of the test cities that was mentioned.  On a scale of 1 to 10 ... the seller only gets a 5.  Since this was the city's average, we know that many of them received much lower scores ... but we will stick with the average, here. 

    On the third page of his official DOE "Home Energy Score" rating certificate, he is provided a list of "improvements" that he can make which ... if he spends the money to do them all ... will get him to his highest achievable Home Energy Score of 7.  According to the official rating certificate, a two to three point improvement was the average in which a seller could ever achieve no matter how much money he spent, nationwide.

    This is not a "Home Energy Score".  It is a Home Energy "Stigma", in my opinion.  Even in the best possible market (which this is definitely NOT) how does he expect to get his full asking price for a home that has been officially rated to be inferior to others in the same area... with no chance of ever getting the highest "Home Energy Score" no matter what he spends to improve it ... while competing against similar homes with no Home Energy Score at all?

    Prudent home owners (as advised by their professional real estate advisors) will stay away from the stigmatization of "Home Energy Scores" and will, instead, seek a professional home energy assessment that does not "score" the house, but simply provides information as to how to get it to its highest level of efficiency. 

    Stay away from the Department of Energy "Home Energy Score".  It is a deal killer and serves no useful purpose.

I am often asked by my clients why their power companies are so actively involved in getting people to use less of their product.  Isn’t the money that they are spending toward the promotion of energy efficiency actually hurting their own bottom line?

An editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch last winter equated the power company encouraging less energy use as being on the same plane as Anheuser-Busch encouraging people to drink less beer.

Here are a few facts that will help put this into perspective.

There are government incentives provided to power companies to encourage their promotion of energy efficiency measures among their customers.  If you are carefully watching, you will note that utility fees have been steadily increasing at higher than usual levels within the last two years and will continue while these energy efficiency incentives are being promoted.

In the end, the consumer of energy in just a few more years will be using considerably less energy than today but still paying the same price (or more) to his provider.

The unfortunate consumer who fails to keep up with energy efficient improvements and adjustments, however, can expect to be paying as high as three times his current rate.  Perhaps even more.

Ultimately, the energy providers win.

Prudent home owners will begin NOW to fine tune their homes to be more energy efficient before more of their spendable incomes are consumed by their energy bills.

The energy efficiency of a home is already being considered … and will soon be increasing in its emphasis … to be an important feature of a home in the eyes of a prospective buyer.

Appraisers are now learning in schools and through their continuing education how to calculate the home’s energy efficiency into its monetary value.  It won’t be the mortgage, as much as the utility bill, that will influence a buyer’s decision as to whether or not he can afford to live in a particular house.

Now is the time to begin to take the necessary steps toward improving the energy efficiency of your home.

That first step should be to consult with a professional certified Building Analyst, using “the house as one system” approach, to determine what measures would result in the greatest return on your investment while preserving air quality, sustainability and comfort.

The following ancillary services are available ... FREE of charge ... when scheduled with a Diagnostic Home Energy Audit in Missouri:

     1. Full Residential home inspectionsfor prospective buyers or sellers of home properties. 

     In addition to my certifications and experience as a certified Building Analyst and Energy Auditor, I am also an experienced and board certified home inspector and I will provide a complete inspection and report for home buyers and sellers describing the condition of the home and its systems (with photographs). 

     All inspections are conducted according to the industry standard of practice and all reports are available on-line within 24-hours of the inspection.

     2. Licensed termite inspections for home owners and lenders with reports provided on NPMA 33 within 36 hours of the inspection. 

     I am licensed to inspect for wood destroying insects in the State of Missouri.

     

     Learn more about these free services, here.

The idea behind the Energy Efficiency Mortgage (EEM) is to allow home buyers to borrow a certain amount of money to be applied toward upgrading the energy efficiency of their home and repay the loan, with reduced interest, from the cash savings anticipated from lower utility bills.

On the surface, it sounds like a great plan; however, prudent home buyers and home owners will look beyond the obvious and consider the practical matters concerning this concept.

Utility rates are not static.  In some areas of the United States they are regularly increasing by various (and, typically, considerably large) amounts.

In one part of Missouri, a certain energy provider has averaged 11.5%  (in the years of 2009, 2010 and 2011) per year increases in their energy rate.  Using that number as an example, a home owner who borrowed money to achieve a 30% reduction in their energy use in 2009 would actually be paying more for energy in 2011 than they did prior to their decrease in use.

In other words, the idea of having "extra money" to repay the increased indebtedness does not include rate increases in the equation --- as it obviously should.

Consumers who reduce their energy use by making their homes more energy efficient will certainly benefit by paying less than they would otherwise pay while also enjoying increased comfort with a healthier indoor environment.  Increased energy efficiency will also increase the value of the home when consideration is made for its resale value according to recent appraisal methods.

Increased efficiency in terms of dollar savings, however, can be offset by increased rates as the power companies continue to protect their "bottom line" and these increases must be taken into account by anyone planning on using energy savings as a means for repaying a loan.

There are many varieties of incentives to encourage home owners to improve the energy efficiency of their homes.  Some come in the form of tax credits and deductions while others are rebates and low cost loans.

Borrowers who increase their indebtedness to achieve energy efficiency are doing so with the intended result of less costs for heating and cooling and increased comfort.  When they borrow money, even at low interest rates, and fail to achieve the intended results --- they now suffer from increased indebtedness, increased expenses and increased levels of frustration.

Prudent real estate professionals who do not want to add to the financial and comfort burdens of their clients will ensure that they know and use a professional Building Analyst certified by the Building Performance Institute (BPI) to perform the analysis upon which the client will direct their improvement efforts so that actual beneifts result from their investment.