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Point of Sale Energy Audits

As point of sale energy audits become more and more common, the more the situation changes for the average energy audit. The suggestion is that some of the pitfalls of having any evalution done on a home that is in the process of being sold, apply to energy audits just as they do to home inspections, appraisals, etc. Here is a program that reveals some of the "underbelly" of pitfalls that can occur with home inspections when done as part of a point of sale transaction of a home. Certainly it is fair to say that some of the same concerns will arise when energy audits are done as part of a point of sale. In fact, in the few cases where energy audits have been done as part of a home sale, these problems have already arisen.

 

Here is what then HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo said he would do to help protect against this phenomena:

Unfortunately, while the HUD program he described was set up, under another administration it was abandoned.

The point here is that energy auditors have also been, and will continue to be pressured when they conduct energy audits at the point of sale. Thus, it is an important to either place the energy audit far enough outside of the point of sale time frame, or protect the energy auditors from having to face this kind of exposure by insulating the real estate agents from them (e.g. prohibiting real estate agent from referrals to sellers or buyers for energy auditors). The independence of the auditor is very important.