Pearl Certification, MassEnergize, and LAER Realty Partners Empower Massachusetts Homeowners

April 3, 2019 – Boston, MA – Pearl Certification, with MassEnergize and LAER Realty Partners, announce a major new initiative to help Massachusetts homeowners make their homes more energy efficient, save on their utility bills, improve the environment – and capture the value of the home’s high-performing features when they sell.

“Studies from across the U.S. show that high-performing, energy efficient homes sell faster and for more money – but only if the buyers know these homes have special features,” said Robin LeBaron, COO and co-founder of Pearl Certification. “Therefore, it is vital that homeowners who already have efficient homes get a fair price for the energy investments they’ve made and homeowners needing energy improvements find qualified contractors to make those investments.”

This new partnership will make the process easy and free for Wayland and Concord, Massachusetts homeowners. Agents from LAER, New England’s leading residential real estate brokerage, will help Wayland and Concord residents certify homes with energy efficient and renewable features through Pearl Certification, a national firm with a certification system that helps homeowners make their homes more efficient and showcase these improvements when the home is sold.

“Before a home is sold, Pearl Certification sends an expert to the home to take an inventory of special features that make the home more comfortable, energy efficient, and improve indoor air quality,” said Pearl Certification CEO and Co-founder, Cynthia Adams. “This information is presented in an easy-to-read report that provides the necessary documentation to help sellers get fair market value for these high performing features.”

A 2017 report by an independent team of nationally recognized appraisers found that Pearl Certified homes in Virginia sold for prices that were on average 5 percent more than the prices of comparable, non-certified homes.

“In our efforts to encourage homeowners to take action on climate change by investing in home energy upgrades, we see a need for a program to help homeowners recoup their investment at the time of sale or refinance,” said Ellen Tohn, President of MassEnergize, a non profit based in MetroWest Boston. “Pearl fills this gap between energy upgrades and recouped costs and will also help residents in our communities find well qualified Pearl Network contractors and realtors,” added Brad Hubbard-Nelson, Treasurer of MassEnergize.

“We’re excited to support this initiative,” said Steve Cowell, president of E4TheFuture. “Efficient homes tend to be healthier, more comfortable, and cost less to own and operate. Studies suggest these homes sell for more as a result. We believe this initiative will improve quality of life–one home, one community, one city at a time.”

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Pearl Certification is a national firm that provides third-party certification of high-performing homes: homes with “performance assets” that make them healthy, safe, comfortable, energy and water efficient. For more information, visit https://pearlcertification.com/.

MassEnergize provides Massachusetts communities with the tools and resources to motivate and support their residents, businesses and non-profits in a wide array of actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for a changing climate. www.massEnergize.com

LAER Realty Partners is the fastest-growing real estate brokerage firm in New England for good reason: their agents are passionate about helping clients achieve their goals. In 2018 LAER agents participated in $985 million in real estate sales and over 3000 transactions. For more information on LAER Realty Partners, visit https://www.laerrealty.com/.

E4TheFuture works as a nonprofit to advance clean, efficient energy solutions in the United States. In collaboration with industry stakeholders and others, E4TheFuture is building a vibrant energy efficiency and clean energy sector. “E4” represents: promoting clean, efficient Energy; growing a low-carbon Economy; ensuring low-income residents can access clean, efficient, affordable energy (Equity); restoring a healthy Environment for people, prosperity and the planet. For more information, visit https://e4thefuture.org/.