RESNET recently announced that over four million homes in the United States have now been rated with a HERS® Index Score, measuring a home’s energy efficiency. That means even more homes in the Appraisal Portal for appraisers to use as comparables, when valuating green homes for appraisal. Click the box to the right for free access to the portal. The HERS® Index was created in 2006 by the Residential Energy Services Network, known as RESNET, and has become the gold standard for rating the energy efficiency of a home. A HERS® rating is based on a scale from 0 to 100+, where a lower number means the home will be more energy efficient. A HERS® Index score of 100 represents a home built in compliance with 2006 energy efficiency standards, while a score of 0 represents a home that produces about as much energy as it consumes on an annual basis. While more MLSs are seeing the HERS® searchable field populated, that is not the only place appraisers, agents or buyers can find the energy rating. RESNET and the Appraisal Institute will be launching an Appraiser Portal, which is a new online portal that will allow AI professionals focused on residential valuation to access important information about the energy efficiency of more than 2 million homes across the U.S. As buyers become more aware of how useful the HERS® rating is to their buying decisions and estimating monthly energy costs, sales data will quickly show why a property sold for more with a low HERS® rating compared to a similar house with a higher HERS® rating.
