{"id":767,"date":"2026-05-20T17:30:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T17:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=767"},"modified":"2026-05-20T17:30:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T17:30:13","slug":"to-sell-a-home-in-this-california-city-it-must-be-climate-friendly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=767","title":{"rendered":"To sell a home in this California city, it must be climate friendly"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The real estate listing for the $1.25 million Mediterranean Revival home in a leafy Berkeley neighborhood touts the property\u2019s electric heat pumps, solar panels, induction range and an updated electrical panel that\u2019s \u201cEV ready.\u201d The sellers aren\u2019t just green-bragging, they\u2019re showing buyers they\u2019ve complied with a new city ordinance requiring such climate-friendly features. <\/p>\n

Read more Irvine startup pulls water out of the air<\/a><\/p>\n

The Bay Area university town of 120,000 is the first in the U.S. to require sellers and buyers of single-family homes to replace fossil-fuel appliances or make other green upgrades as a condition of sale. It\u2019s one of several cities leveraging real estate transactions to achieve carbon-emissions reduction targets as the Trump administration eliminates climate action. Austin, Minneapolis and Portland, Oregon, are among municipalities that require home sellers to obtain and disclose the results of energy audits to encourage voluntary efficiency improvements. <\/p>\n

Berkeley, though, is mandating that such upgrades happen. \u201cWhat Berkeley is doing holds a lot of promise in terms of being a very effective way to increase the rate of retrofits as homes are sold and turn over to new owners,\u201d said David Ribeiro, director of local policy for the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, a nonprofit research organization. <\/p>\n

The city has long pioneered environmental policies that have later been adopted across the country, from curbside recycling in the 1970s to a ban on polystyrene-foam takeout food containers in the 1980s. Berkeley voters in 2006 set a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050 and buildings are the city\u2019s second-largest source of carbon pollution after transportation, according to Ammon Reagan, the sustainability program coordinator for the city\u2019s energy office. <\/p>\n

\u201cNatural gas is the biggest source of building emissions and the biggest emission savings are from heat pumps,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

A 2024 report from RMI found that single-family homes account for 58% of U.S. building emissions. \u201cThe evidence that we have is that just energy disclosure requirements prompt some behavioral change,\u201d said Erin Sherman, a buildings policy expert at nonprofit RMI, which promotes decarbonization. <\/p>\n

Berkeley\u2019s Building Emissions Saving Ordinance took effect in January and gives credits for a home\u2019s low-carbon systems with a minimum score of six credits needed. Home sellers must disclose their score and make any needed changes before a sale or the buyer must do so within two years. <\/p>\n

A heat pump is worth six credits, as is upgrading a home\u2019s electrical system to make it heat-pump ready. Solar panels and batteries achieve three credits a piece if they\u2019ve been installed within five years. An EV charger, induction stove and heat pump clothes dryer score two credits each. Homeowners also must also obtain and disclose an energy audit and a high score from the assessment gets two credits.<\/p>\n

Electric-powered heat pumps don\u2019t burn fuel to warm a home. Instead, they extract heat from the outside air and then circulate it through the home. They cool homes by reversing the process, removing hot air from inside the house and venting it outside. <\/p>\n

While they\u2019re highly efficient, they aren\u2019t cheap. Replacing a gas furnace with a heat pump in the Bay Area can run about $25,000. A heat pump water heater costs around $7,500. And rewiring an older house and upgrading the electrical panel so heat pumps can be installed can set homeowners back more than $40,000. <\/p>\n

Read more Immigrant rights advocates rally for more state healthcare funding, criticize Newsom<\/a><\/p>\n

Sellers can opt to defer such work to the buyer and each party puts $2,500 in a city escrow account to be used by the purchaser to come into compliance. If upgrades aren\u2019t made in two years, the deposit is forfeited.<\/p>\n

Reagan said that since January the city has received 80 escrow deposits, while 57 homeowners certified their prior compliance with the \u201cBESO\u201d ordinance. Only nine applications for certification were for heat pumps installed this year in preparation of a sale.<\/p>\n

Brokers said the emissions mandate is starting to change the dynamics of the market as BESO scores appear on listings. <\/p>\n

\u201cHomes that are already electrified will be perceived as more move-in ready,\u201d Berkeley broker Megan Micco said in an email. \u201cHomes that defer everything effectively carry a hidden cost that informed buyers will factor into their offers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Micco listed the $1.25 million Mediterranean Revival whose upgrades let her highlight the house as \u201cfully BESO compliant.\u201d A mile away, agents recently held an open house at another 1930s Mediterranean bungalow, a smaller dwelling with a low BESO score priced at $898,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cSellers typically aren\u2019t going to do anything on that BESO list unless it\u2019s related to being able to get insurance as they\u2019re thinking about aesthetic improvements,\u201d said broker Jen Wolan as she stood in the foyer of the home. \u201cBESO is well-intentioned, but the people it affects the most are the people with the least amount of money.\u201d<\/p>\n

She noted that potential purchasers of her nearly million-dollar listing would be \u201cone of the more budget buyers in Berkeley\u201d and unlikely to have extra funds to electrify the house. So the sellers are considering spending as much as $9,000 to replace some older wiring to increase the home\u2019s BESO score. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really excited any time we get listings that already have these upgrades because then we do advertise that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Read more Three wrongs don\u2019t make a right in case of election denier and Colorado governor<\/a><\/p>\n

Woody writes for Bloomberg.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The real estate listing for the $1.25 million Mediterranean Revival home in a leafy Berkeley neighborhood touts the property\u2019s electric heat pumps, solar panels, induction range and an updated electrical panel that\u2019s \u201cEV ready.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":766,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate"],"yoast_head":"\nTo sell a home in this California city, it must be climate friendly - California Relocation Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=767\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"To sell a home in this California city, it must be climate friendly - California Relocation Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The real estate listing for the $1.25 million Mediterranean Revival home in a leafy Berkeley neighborhood touts the property\u2019s electric heat pumps, solar panels, induction range and an updated electrical panel that\u2019s \u201cEV ready.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=767\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"California Relocation Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-20T17:30:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=767#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=767\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b85b48ca4c2015dd056e0e9c18912121\"},\"headline\":\"To sell a home in this California city, it must be climate friendly\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-20T17:30:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=767\"},\"wordCount\":920,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=767#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/1bfb2ee382c4594b4eab47d5bb0e7bd7-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Climate\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=767#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=767\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=767\",\"name\":\"To sell a home in this California city, it must be climate friendly - California Relocation Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=767#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=767#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/1bfb2ee382c4594b4eab47d5bb0e7bd7-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-20T17:30:13+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=767#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=767\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=767#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/1bfb2ee382c4594b4eab47d5bb0e7bd7-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/1bfb2ee382c4594b4eab47d5bb0e7bd7-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"A gas-lit flame burns on a natural gas stove on Tuesday, March 26, 2024. 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