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How “Green” of an agent are you, and are you helping your clients save Energy?

By
Home Inspector with Certified Structure Inspector IOS #1730, EA #30

The Real Estate Agent is the go to person for many buyers. The agent helps line everything up from a lender to the title company. I see more agents using the term Green and more people wanting to be Green. Electronic signing of documents saves paper and ink but is this really all that big of a deal?

One of the best ways to be Green is to save energy. I’m talking about more than just new light bulbs. I’m talking about 10%-30% energy savings. I know this sounds expensive, and it is expensive. Energy improvements are the only home improvement you can make that will actually repay itself and then save you money every month.

As a Real Estate Agent you have the ability to share a great option with your clients when they purchase a home. It’s Green Mortgageor Energy Efficient Mortgage. This FHA loan add on allows a buyer to get an additional 5% of the purchase price up to $11500 in the Reno area with no extra qualifying. This small increase is more than offset in Energy savings per month. It allows people to own a home that is more comfortable and more affordable to live in.

If you’re not sharing this with your clients they are spending more than they need to every month. Most lenders can do this type of mortgage and it’s a pretty seamless process if you use the right people. There are a few lenders in the Reno area that have started to specialize in these and I can share there info with you. With the long heating season we have here and the abundance of expensive fuels like propane and oil we in this area are way behind the times in saving energy.

This process requires the audit to be done prior to closing. There has to be an Energy Audit and a HERS INDEXHERS score assigned to the house. The retrofit work has to be done after the buyer closes. Then the work has to be verified before the contractor is paid out directly by the lender. The Audit takes about 3-5 hours and requires special equipment and training. Since I am a Home Inspector and Energy Auditor in the Reno area I can be hired to do both on the same day. This saves the agent, buyers and sellers the hassle of scheduling two inspections that can’t be done at the same time.

This is a win win option for buyers and agents that want to be Green!

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