A growing number of home buyers are no longer just asking about bedrooms, bathrooms, and updated kitchens. They want to know what it will actually cost to live in a home, how comfortable it will be day to day, and whether it can hold up to changing weather. That shift has a name: home performance. And it is starting to change what buyers expect from their real estate agent.
According to Tim Stanislaus, SVP of Business Development at Pearl, a national ratings and standards company for home performance, buyer interest in this area has grown sharply as the cost of owning a home has climbed. “Electricity costs are up over six percent year over year on a national basis. Natural gas or heating gas is up almost 10 percent year over year,” Stanislaus said. “These non-escrow costs are rapidly rising, and they’re starting to take up a larger percentage of a home buyer’s budget on a monthly basis.”
Buyers Want More Than a Listing Can Tell Them
A standard listing covers square footage, finishes, and layout, but says very little about what it actually costs to run a home month to month or how it will feel to live in day to day. That gap between what a listing shows and what a buyer actually experiences after moving in is a growing source of frustration, and buyers are increasingly aware of it before they ever make an offer. Pearl has written about this disconnect in detail, including what listings don’t tell buyers about quality of life.
Part of the reason this matters so much right now is the age of the housing stock itself. The average home in the country is over 40 years old, built well before many of today’s energy and comfort standards existed. Pearl has covered how that plays out for buyers in America’s 40-year-old problem, which looks at what an aging housing stock means for the homes currently on the market.
Agents Don’t Need to Be Building Scientists, But They Do Need to Know the Basics
To be clear, no one expects a real estate agent to become a building science expert. That is not realistic, and it is not the point. What buyers increasingly want is an agent who understands that home performance is a real factor in the decision, who can explain what it means in plain terms, and who knows where to point a buyer for more detail when it matters.
That’s where the Pearl Recognized Professional program comes in. It’s a training and badging program that teaches agents the fundamentals of home performance and how to talk about it with clients, giving them a credential they can use to signal that expertise.
“A Pearl Recognized Professional is going to understand the concept of home performance, why it’s important, and how to concisely communicate that to their clients,” Stanislaus said. “That’s really going to help them stand apart as a trusted advisor.” The goal is not deep technical expertise. It is basic fluency, enough for an agent to raise the topic, answer a buyer’s initial questions, and know when to bring in more detailed data.
What This Looks Like in Practice
A buyer does not need an agent who can diagnose a duct leak or calculate a home’s energy load. What helps is an agent who can talk through general questions like what year a home was built and what that might mean for its systems, why two similar-looking homes could cost very different amounts to run, and where a buyer can go to get a clearer picture of a home’s overall performance before making an offer.
As more buyers start asking these questions on their own, agents who are prepared for the conversation, even at a basic level, are likely to stand out. Home performance does not have to be a specialty. It just needs to be part of the conversation.
Agents interested in building this fluency can learn more about the Pearl Recognized Professional program and join at https://pearlscore.com/industries/real-estate-agents-brokers.
Pearl is a ratings and standards company that built the national standard for home performance. Pearl SCORE™ rates every single-family home in the U.S. on a 1-to-1,000 point scale across five key pillars: Safety, Comfort, Operations, Resilience, and Energy, so buyers, sellers, and real estate professionals can understand how a home performs in daily life.
Disclaimer: This article is based on information provided by the expert source cited above. It is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or real estate advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals before making any real estate or financial decisions.
