The Bend Residential Home Energy Score is a program implemented by the City that requires all residential properties to have an energy score as part of the real estate transaction process. The HES is a rating system that assesses the energy efficiency of a home on scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most efficient. The HES assessment includes an analysis of the home's building envelope, heating and cooling systems and hot water systems. The assessment is performed by a certified Home Energy Assessor, who will conduct an on-site evaluation of the property.
The program requires that all residential properties within Bend city limits (so those in the county are excluded), including single-family homes, townhouses, and condominiums, must obtain a Home Energy Score prior to listing the property for sale starting this July 1. The score must be provided to potential buyers like various disclosures that accompany a property for sale. If anyone is on the fence about listing their property, if it goes live in the MLS on Friday, June 30, 2023, this score and disclosure will not be required. Just my shameless attempt to help ease our extremely low inventory of homes for sale (as well as save you some money!) as we approach the "busy spring selling season."
The score must be provided to potential buyers like various disclosures that accompany a property for sale. A similar program has been in place in Portland since January of 2018, and over the last five years we have seen that this program has not had any major negative impacts, beyond one extra step in the "listing" process. The HES scores the home and over the last five years in Portland we have seen, many, many, homes with very low HES scores. This mostly has to do with the overall temperate climate of Portland, as well as building codes not requiring current levels of efficiency. These scores are meant to be a guide for the "potential new owner(s)" to understand how efficient the home is currently, as well as what can be done to make it more efficient. On average a home energy score costs between $125-$200 for most homes under 3,000 square feet.
To gain a better understanding of this process, a broker in our Windermere office made an appointment to get his personal residence scored. This was a great opportunity for us to see exactly how the process works, and honestly, it was very interesting! We used Quality Measurement, a local company and were very impressed. They measured the floor plan, as well as inspected the major systems, attic/crawlspaces, etc... It is very similar to a home inspection; it takes a couple of hours, and you are later provided with an entire report based on sum of all the elements of the specific home. Our subject property was a four-bedroom property with over 2,700 square feet, built in 1991 with cathedral ceilings. The report not only scores the home as discussed earlier, but also provides a quick list of priority improvements that would likely have the largest impact, along with a host of other recommendations that will improve efficiency as well.
To quickly summarize, the HES process is quick and easy, and provides potential homebuyers with unbiased information about the energy efficiency of a home, and the more information buyers can get, the better the decision they can make!
