CAP & TRADE BILL: How this bill will change real estate sales, forever....

CAP & TRADE BILL: If you own a home, or are in the real estate industry you might want to take a look at the Energy Audit & Labeling sectionsof the Cap and Trade bill as it will affect every residential and commercial real estate transaction for the rest of your life. This post is not to start a politcal battle, but to bring awareness, so all are not surprised in the very near future of what is entailed to sell a home under this proposed bill.

Most people have not been educated by the government or media that a major part of the Cap and Trade bill is to have a goal, in time, to convert every real estate (commercial and residential) building up to the US government's green building requirements (at that particular time). Some cities (including Austin, where I live) have, somewhat, a similar structure, but Green improvements/retros are usually negotiated between a buyer and a seller.

This is a very comprehensive and massive energy auditing program that you need to understand. Because the bill is in legal language, it makes for difficult reading, but you will then understand what life will be like forward in the real estate industry. The main parts of the residential energy audit and labeling are in sections 201 to 204. Warning: The file is massive and may take a bit of time to open and to scroll down pages. Happy reading.....

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-2454

If passed, this bill will create a national to state Energy Audit program whereby all homes and commercial buildings will be required to have an energy audit to compare the home in its condition to green building standards as determined by the US Gov't.

There are incentives planned for the homeowner to update their home to such standards. The confusing part of the bill is all the grey matter. There are numurous parts of the bill that gives the government powers to decide what may be required by the government in the future. i.e. it is pretty open ended for interpretation.

This would go into effect in 2014 for residential and 2015 for commercial. The bill is effective through 2050. We have a very similar program in Austin. The question many are pondering is whether the government, in time, will require minimum standards to be changed out prior to a change in owners. That would devastate the lower income families, so I doubt that would be a reality.

When we have an audit, it is quite like an inspection on a home. A buyer may or may not ask for items to be retrofitted, and the seller may or may not decide to retro such items. In 20 years or so, we may look back and say this was a good idea. In the interim, it is a second inspection all have to deal with....and negotiate.