It will be easier for homebuyers and realtors in Louisville, Kentucky, to find high energy performance homes by seeing the HERS® Index Scores of homes for sale. The Greater Louisville Association of Multiple Listing Service (MLS) now includes HERS® Index Scores in its listings. In addition to HERS® Index Scores, the MLS has added seven new green building fields to its listings. These include ENERGY STAR Home, LEED for Homes and National Green Building Standard certifications. The other four fields indicate construction features: solar panels, geothermal heating and cooling, tankless water heaters and spray foam insulation. Proudgreenhome.com reported that, “After an informative presentation, the MLS Improvement Committee unanimously agreed that our MLS needed fields to help those searching for homes with green features,” says Ton Ali, a broker with Cornerstone Group Realtors, who is also Eco Broker Certified and sits on the MLS Improvement Committee. He added, “Now Louisville sits with other progressive and sustainability-minded cities providing tools for those involved in the real estate transaction, from buyers, sellers and their agents to lenders and appraisers who need to see the value added by these features.” Louisville has joined MLS in the states of Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Vermont, Virginia and Washington that allows for the inclusion of a HERS® Index Score in its property listings. Steve Baden, RESNET’s Executive Director commented that, “Including the HERS® Index Score in the MLS is a significant push to the mainstreaming of the HERS® Index Score in the housing market in Louisville. REALTORS® rely on the MLS to guide potential homebuyers and appraisers use the service to locate comparable properties. Having this information will make it easier for builders to market their HERS® Index Scores and appraisers to calculate the market value of rated homes.”
