Big Brother once again thinks it knows better than the public what is best for us.  Austin Mayor Will Winn and several City Council members want to force improvements to Austin houses before they can be sold.  What these people want to do is make certain "green" retrofits mandatory in order to save on energy use.  If this thing passes, seller will not be able to close a sale without a Certificate of Compliance.  This is part of Mayor Winn's Climate Protection Plan.

What this will entail I am not entirely sure of, but it will probably be things like bringing water heaters up to new standards, replacing toilets with ones that use less water, installing lower flowing shower heads.  I haven't seen guidelines yet, but it has been estimated by the Austin Board of REALTORS that the cost to retrofit homes could be from $1,500 to $10,000.  It is absolutely absurd that Mayor Winn and City Council members want to do this.

The effects could really hurt an already slowing real estate market.  Inspectors will need to go out to all homes before they are sold and tell the owners what they will need to do.  Then after the fixes are made, another inspection will be done to get the Certificate of Compliance.  The inspections alone will slow the selling process.  What now typically takes 30 to 45 days to close a sale may take an extra few weeks.  A longer time to sell will have buyers thinking that the market has slowed even more and they will make more low-ball offers.  Some will rent rather than buy while they wait for the market to hit bottom.  Fewer buyers means more inventory and fewer sales, leading to a larger decrease in prices.

Lets move on to what owners will have to fork out to make these repairs.  Some people whoare trying to sell need every dollar they can get and may not be able to make the necessary improvements.  What is the answer for them - foreclosure?  Isn't that just what we need!  How about people who are looking for equity from the sale of a home to use for a down payment for another home?  They will come up short if this insane legislation passes.

OK, Mr. Mayor, so you want Austin to be greener.  Won't it be nice having all of these energy efficient houses in town?  Won't it be nice to see all of what is being removed fill up our landfills?  What is green about that?

As you can see, I'm not at all a fan of this.  A much better answer is to require new homes to have certain energy standards.  That too will raise home costs, but these improvements can be made a wholesale prices rather than retail.  Home warranty companies can be required to replace toilets, etc. with more energy efficients ones when doing repairs.

Come on Austin politicians, serve us, protect us, but don't tell us how to live our lives.