A home is more than a collection of features. It’s a system that works together to provide a comfortable, safe living space. That was the core message from the Chicago REALTORS® Sustainability Committee’s latest webinar, hosted by Ri Prasad, Managing Director of AR2 Homes, featuring guest speaker Sandra Adomatis, SRA Designated Appraiser for Adomatis Appraisal Services.
Watch the webinar recording below, and keep reading for the top takeaways you can start applying to your business today!
What Is Home Performance? A System, Not a Checklist
Adomatis compared home performance to the human body: when one part is sick, it affects the whole body. A home works the same way.
If you tighten up insulation without accounting for ventilation, for example, and moisture gets trapped instead of escaping, you create the exact problem a “high-performance” upgrade was supposed to prevent. That’s why a single feature, like a furnace’s efficiency rating or a premium window brand, can’t tell the whole story on its own.
“A high performance home is one where the pieces really do work together,” Sandra explained.
A home’s walls, roof, windows and foundation all have to work together with the mechanicals of the space, including heating, cooling, ventilation and moisture control. Agents who understand how those pieces interact are the ones buyers and sellers trust to explain what they’re actually looking at.
why does home performance matter in real estate transactions?
- Buyers already ask about it. Utility bills, comfort, air quality and storm resilience come up regardless of budget.
- It touches the transaction. Inspections, marketing, appraisals and financing are all affected, especially under the new UAD 3.6 appraisal report.
- It’s a liability issue. Taking a seller’s word for “energy efficient” without documentation can leave money on the table and create exposure for both agent and appraiser.
2 Myths About Energy-Efficient Homes, Debunked
- “[Home performance] only matters for high-end homes.” Not true. Older housing stock, which makes up most of Chicagoland, often sees the biggest returns. Air sealing and insulation in a century-old bungalow can outperform a brand-new solar system dollar for dollar.
- “A feature automatically adds value.” Also not true. It has to be documented and comparable, or an appraiser has nothing to work with.
What is the HERS index? a quick reference guide
HERS stands for Home Energy Rating System, and the HERS Index is essentially a report card for how efficiently a home uses energy.
A licensed HERS rater assigns the score during an on-site visit. They run tests, including a blower door test to measure air leakage, and inspect the insulation, HVAC system and other components before calculating a final rating. That’s what makes the number useful to agents: it’s a verified figure a buyer, lender or appraiser can actually check, not a claim from a listing description.
Here’s how to read the scale:
- Lower is better. The lower the score, the less energy that home needs to run.
- 100 is the baseline. A home built exactly to 2006 building code sets the standard, and every HERS score gets measured against it.
- 50 means roughly half the energy. New construction in the Chicago area now typically scores in the low 50s.
- Below zero means the home gives back. A negative score means the home produces as much or more energy than it uses, usually thanks to solar panels or a geothermal system.
- Older, untouched homes can score well above 100, which is exactly why retrofits matter so much in a city with housing stock as old as Chicago’s.
You can look up any property’s HERS rating, if it has one, at resnet.us, and starting with the new UAD 3.6 appraisal report, appraisers will be required to document a home’s HERS rating directly. That makes this a number agents will want to get comfortable explaining sooner rather than later.
How to Document Energy-Efficient Features for Appraisal Value
“A feature that lives only in the listing description is a marketing claim, not a comparable.”
- Get the home rated. A HERS rating through ResNet or a Pearl energy score turns a feature into a verified number instead of a marketing adjective.
- Attach the Appraisal Institute’s Residential Green and Energy Efficient Addendum to both the MLS listing and the sales contract. It runs several pages, and agents only need to use the pages that apply to the property.
- Check the Earth Advantage Green Building Registry before starting from scratch. If the property is already listed there, the green addendum may already be filled out.
- Flag the file for the lender early. Attaching the addendum to the sales contract signals that the lender should bring in an appraiser with the right experience before the appraisal is even scheduled.
Documentation protects you, too
Documentation protects more than the seller’s bottom line. It’s a liability issue for everyone in the transaction.
A third-party certification means the agent isn’t the one vouching for the claim, since the rating agency already verified it. It also hands the appraiser a clean, standardized document instead of a pile of receipts and guesswork pieced together after the fact. That protects the agent, the appraiser and the lender relying on the appraisal.
How to Market Energy-Efficient Homes Without Greenwashing
Lead listing remarks with comfort, health, resilience and documented savings. Save HERS numbers and technical terms for the paperwork.
- Say this: “This home stays comfortable through Chicago winters and keeps utility bills predictable.”
- Not this: “This home has a high-performance building envelope.”
Do Energy-Efficient Homes Sell for More? The ROI Data
- HERS-rated homes marketed as such sold for 2.6% more than comparable unrated homes (2019 Freddie Mac regression analysis)
- A strong rating pushed that up to 5% more
- Homes with solar or geothermal reached up to 10% more in some markets
- None of this shows up if the feature was never documented in the MLS
How to Talk to Sellers About Energy Upgrades
Ask specific questions instead of general ones:
- Has insulation been added in the attic?
- Has the HVAC system been replaced? Is it high-performing?
- Any air sealing done?
- Is the water heater upgraded or high-efficiency?
- Have light fixtures been replaced?
Sellers tend to remember the granite counters and forget the upgrades behind the walls, which are often what buyers care about most.
your top three takeaways
- Your home is a system, not a checklist.
- Documentation is what turns a feature into a value.
- Talk comfort, health, cost and resilience, not jargon.