Vermont Realtors® (VR), the state’s Realtor® association, announced the creation of a statewide Energy Efficient Professionals Qualifications Registry (EEPQR) in a news release June 24.
“VR is creating EEPQR to address the significant hurdles facing the development of more energy-efficient homes in the marketplace,” said Isaac Chavez, CEO for Vermont Realtors®. “There exists general consensus within the real estate, construction, and banking industries that a variety of obstacles hamper the proliferation of energy-efficient homes,” he said.
VR has identified three significant obstacles:
The lack of qualified real estate appraisers available to complete credible valuation assignments on energy-efficient homes.
The lack of qualified real estate sales professionals who are capable of identifying and relaying to customers the intrinsic greater value in an energy-efficient home. Relating directly to this, information that is easy to obtain, retain, and disseminate is not available in a compelling enough way for Realtors® to capture and share.
Lending institutions, especially underwriters, lack the requisite knowledge to review an appraisal on energy-efficient homes. Further, they don’t know how to find an appraiser that possesses both technical competency and geographic competency.
Real estate and appraisal professionals in Vermont must complete a minimum of seven hours of continuing education courses to be considered for the registry. These courses are being designed to meet or exceed national and state standards for core competencies in appraising and selling “green” or high performance homes. Once the coursework is completed, an application will be submitted for review by an EEPQR committee, which will be comprised of five of the state’s leading real estate, building and appraisal professionals.
“The registry will be designed to provide a valuable resource to consumers in search of qualified professionals who can assist with the purchase, sale and appraisal of this new class of homes,” according to Helen Hossley, VR’s education director.
VR is currently working with Calypso Education and the Appraisal Institute to develop the course curriculum.
