Buyer Beware

This past month 2 of our children have purchased homes, one in Ann Arbor and one in Northville. We counseled both to ask to see utility bills for a year, just to get a sense of the costs they will be facing. This past Sunday, as we were going through the Northville home, Tom asked the realtor about these bills, and she replied that she can ask the family, but under Michigan law they are not obligated to produce them. In fact, our future son-in-law, Brad, asked for the bills for the Ann Arbor home repeatedly but never did receive them.

Tom and I were pretty surprised by this law. Tom likens it to buying a car without knowing the mileage. The Northville realtor tried to explain the situation by stating that since everyone sets their thermostats at different levels, it would be hard to know what the true cost for another family would be. Keeping with the car analogy, that would mean that since we all drive differently, there is no point in giving out mileage ratings. So right now we have a situation where new homeowners are buying a home without any understanding of the amount of energy they will use and the associated costs. I think that information would be helpful.

Perhaps this was a moot issue a number of years ago when energy costs were not as exorbitant as they are today. I never remember thinking about the affordability of heating and cooling my homes as I bought them. But energy costs are rising rapidly, and it's foolish to think they will ever go down. We know people with large homes and multiple furnaces who have racked up heating bills of $900 per month in the winter. That's a bucket-load of money, folks.

At our GLGI meeting yesterday, we all decided that this is an issue we'd like to take on. Every once in a while you discover something that makes absolutely no sense, seems like a slam dunk, and so you have to go for it. Our first conclusion was that this is a matter for the Michigan legislature. So first, we're going to do a bit of research and see if other states allow prospective buyers to review utility bills. Then Tom Bradley has volunteered to contact his representative in Royal Oak to discuss the matter.

The implications of an overturn of this legislation are quite significant. If people were required to show their utility bills, they would be more inclined to weatherize their homes, and this would eventually make quite a dent in overall energy usage. After all, would you be willing to pay $900 a month for utilities if this were known to you up front?