Illustration by Tabi Walters
“I’m so glad you asked about HERD,” Ann Arbor’s Home Energy Rating Disclosure Ordinance, says Julie Roth, energy manager for the city’s Office of Sustainability and Innovations. “It’s safe to say that Ann Arbor has one of the most robust residential consumer protection programs in the country.”
Last fall, city council passed the HERD ordinance as part of its commitment to the A2ZERO plan, which aims to neutralize the city’s carbon emissions by 2030. Currently, housing accounts for 23 percent of those emissions directly through heating, cooling, and electrical usage. The ordinance requires homesellers to schedule a home energy audit through the OSI and publish the score (from one to ten) in real estate listings.
“You wouldn’t buy a car without knowing its MPG rating,” Roth points out. “A house is the biggest purchase many of us will make, and buyers deserve to be made aware of what they’re getting into.”
Between its enactment in September 2024 and November 1, 2025, 1,311 of the homes sold in Ann Arbor—97 percent of the total—have obtained HES scores.
City inspectors evaluate the homes’ envelope (foundation, roof, siding, walls, windows, and insulation), HVAC systems, appliances, and water heaters. Inspectors also include a report with specific (and optional) recommendations with an expected payback of ten years or less. And the city offers significant financial rebates for upgrades to insulation, HVAC, electrical panels, wiring, and replacing of energy-guzzling appliances.
“I fully support the climate action plan and green upgrades of residential homes,” says Sandi Smith, a broker with Trillium Real Estate. “But HERD has not been well received by the Realtor community. Many real estate brokers from outside Ann Arbor represent buyers and sellers here—and they are unaware of the requirements. I haven’t seen any seller take action on the recommendations—and few if any recommendations outlive the costs of doing them. New siding, for instance: the payback is twenty-two years, not ten.”
While she reports that the OSI has been “pretty responsive” in scheduling the inspections and submitting the reports, ultimately she says she’s seen no impact on home sale prices.
She adds: “The deciding factor for most Ann Arbor home buyers is not energy efficiency, but proximity to the downtown or the university or hospital.”