Let Victoria sellers choose to market "Green" or not!

Went to the Victoria Fall Home Expo today.  The event seemed well attended though it didn't feel crowded.  While there were a lot of typical exhibitors there I noticed a couple of things.  

First, there weren't any real estate companies there.  There was one builder, G.E. Miller, who does excellent work, and one FSBO company that shall remain nameless.  But that was it.  It could be a sign of the times or it could be that these events are simply not fruitful for real estate agents.  I don't know, I've never done one myself, if anyone reading this has any input I'd appreciate it.

The other thing was the obvious emphasis on "green" building trends.  From hugely efficient heat pumps, (neat), to mops of the future being touted as green because they use less refills than a swiffer, (not so neat).  Everything was green.  Hotubs were being pitched as green somehow, window replacements for energy savings, (in this climate doesn't make sense on that level), efficient flooring products and on and on.  

One of the exhibitors was City Green Solutions.  This type of company has been popping up recently specializing in energy efficiency assessments.  This is due in large part to legislation that has been passed but not proclaimed that will require all properties that are being offered for sale have an energy audit conducted on them in order to establish their energuide number.  100 being perfectly efficient and 0 being not so much.  This audit currently costs around $400.00  It is essentially an air escape test.  In order to become an energy efficiency assessor you must undergo 2 rigorous training sessions of 2 days each and conduct some assessments in the field with an experienced assessor until you are deemed capable of doing it yourself.  Draw your own conclusions.  

I am opposed to this.  Not the tests themselves, but to the idea that they are going to be mandatory.  I suppose an argument can be made for new construction, but for existing stock this should be left to the homeowner to decide whether they want to market this particular aspect of their property or not.  In the 10 years I've been selling homes I can count on one hand the number of people who factored in energy efficiency in any meaningful way into their buying decision tree.  I'm not saying its not important or that it's not something that more people may be interested in as we go forward.  What I'm saying is that this is an area where the government should not be sticking their noses in.  If someone wants to market their property as energy efficient, and someone else wants to market their property being in a great neighbourhood, let them. I can just imagine the bureaucracy of energy efficiency we have coming our way.

Victoria has actually been the site of a pilot project the past year or so for this program.  The real estate board supports it. (Of course they do, I suppose they have to find somewhere else to spend our money instead of just sticking into our reserves, but that's another article.)  My question to the committee and to the ministry running the project, more than once, was how can I quantify the difference between say a 59 and a 75?  What is the dollar figure?  Just saying 75 is better than 59 is stupid.  Is it a linear scale, geometric, some sort of undisclosed algorithm?  No one called me back. My sellers have all declined to participate.

I wonder why?