Think your E&O insurance is expensive? Wait till the U.S. Senate passes the "Cap and Trade" (aka Crap and Tax) bill which has already been pushed through the U.S. House of Representatives.

Can you imagine getting sued by a homeowner because you appraised a house which some bureaucrat determined (after-the-fact) did not meet arbitrary EPA guidelines for "energy efficiency"?

That's right folks, it's time to learn a new term: REEP - Retrofit for Energy and Environmental Performance.

Just think: California's repressive environmentalist policies aimed at houses and businesses being implemented all over the country.

In short - You can't sell your house or business unless it has been properly "retrofitted". i.e. Anything and everything the environmentalist wackos can think up to make your house more "green". The cost to retrofit? Well that's the homeowner's problem.

Well maybe not just the homeowner's problem. Why? Because homeowners will want to do whatever they can to keep expenses down before they sell. They will cut corners. Someone will sign off that the work has been completed. They will have all the appropriate documents. They will sell the house, and an appraisal will be performed. Then, when the bureaucrats finally come to check up on us, the blame will be spread all around, and the appraisers will not have an easy out. It may be years later, when some "expert" determines the house sold or resold, not having appropriate modifications or credible documentation. Then you get a letter in the mail.

You will be party to law suits just because you were the appraiser. It does not matter that we are not energy experts. It does not matter that we are not knowledgeable of green retrofitting. It will not matter that some "expert" signed off on the retrofitting as having been completed.

Is REEP really in the Cap and Trade bill? Yes it is. It was one of those minor details (300+ pages) slipped into the bill at three in the morning (before the vote) so members of Congress would not have time to read them. Those members who asked to read the additions were denied the right to see them before the vote was taken. Denied, and laughed at on the floor of the Congress. So much for "transparency" in the Democrat controlled Congress.

Is there anything that can be done? We can certainly call and email our U.S. Senators and ask them to oppose the Cap and Trade legislation. Not just for our own sakes. But because the one issue I have mentioned is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of how REEP will further devastate the housing market. And REEP is the only a small portion of the the overall Cap and Trade legislation which most economists predict will devastate the already crippled economy via excessive taxation on energy production and manufacturing.

Read the article below for details on REEP.

Democrats’ Cap-and-Trade Bill Creates ‘Retrofit’ Policy for Homes and Businesses

Scott A. Austin, IFA

Certified Residential Appraiser

Birmingham, AL