August 28, 2018 – Oceanside, CA and Vienna, VA – The Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) and Pearl Certification announced today that they are collaborating to ensure that the Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Index and Pearl Certification Reports complement each other in the new and existing homes markets.
“The HERS Index and Pearl Certification provide different, but complementary, information about a home’s relative energy efficiency and efficient features,” said Steve Baden, Executive Director of RESNET. “RESNET and Pearl will work together to ensure that home builders and owners can use both systems to give buyers a complete understanding of how the home performs.”
“RESNET and Pearl will work together to create technology and products that put data about energy-efficient home features into multiple listing services (MLS) and in front of homebuyers,” Baden said. “Through this partnership, Pearl will showcase the two million homes with HERS ratings in its National Registry when they’re sold, creating new visibility for the HERS system in the existing homes market, as well as greatly increasing the number of Pearl Certified homes. This collaboration will present certified RESNET HERS Raters with new business development opportunities.”
Last year, more than 22% of all new homes received a HERS rating through RESNET’s standards. Pearl has established its certification on the East Coast and in California and recently expanded into the Wisconsin, Michigan, and Arizona markets. By increasing the quantity and accessibility of information about efficient homes, the partnership will increase consumer interest in home certification, creating new opportunities for both organizations.
“By coordinating their approaches, RESNET and Pearl will take a major step forward toward ensuring that energy-efficient homes are properly valued,” said Cynthia Adams, CEO of Pearl Certification. “We know that Pearl Certified homes can already command a 5% sales price premium when marketed properly. Together, RESNET and Pearl can enhance the visibility of for-sale, energy-efficient homes in ways that will increase this premium over time.”
“As part of this partnership, RESNET will add a field for Pearl Certification in its industry-leading appraisal portal,” said Pearl President and COO Robin LeBaron. “This represents a major step forward for centralizing energy-efficiency information by providing appraisers with a single source to access both HERS ratings and Pearl Certifications. Appraisers who want more detailed data about a home’s efficient features will also be able to consult an Appraisal Institute’s Green and Energy Efficient Addendum that Pearl populates with data.”
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The Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) was founded in 1995 as an independent, nonprofit organization committed to helping homeowners reduce the cost of their utility bills by making their homes more energy efficient. RESNET is responsible for creating the national training and certification standards for HERS Raters, which is recognized by federal government agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. mortgage industry. For more information, visit http://www.resnet.us.
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, and energy- and water-efficient. Pearl Certification was accepted into the prestigious National Association of Realtors REach Accelerator program in 2017.
