NIHAM is building the professional standards, certifications, and policy frameworks needed to change that — for homeowners, practitioners, and policymakers alike.
There are 86 million owner-occupied homes in the United States — the largest single store of household wealth in the country. Unlike every other major asset class, they have no professional management framework, no recognized credential, and no standards body dedicated to their stewardship.
The result is predictable. Most homeowners manage their homes reactively. Something breaks, they call someone. Maintenance gets deferred until it becomes a crisis. The financial consequences are severe and entirely preventable.
To establish professional standards, education, and certification for the management, maintenance, and long-term financial stewardship of residential housing assets.
NIHAM is the institution built to fill that gap — doing for home asset management what the Project Management Institute did for project management, what the CFA Institute did for investment analysis, and what IREM did for commercial real estate.
The data is consistent across every major study of American homeownership. Deferred maintenance is not a minor inconvenience — it is a national financial problem.
The average single-family home costs over $21,000 annually to own and maintain — 26 percent higher than four years ago. Yet the professional infrastructure that would help homeowners plan for and manage these costs does not exist.
Every other major asset class has one. Owner-occupied homes do not. NIHAM exists to change that.
Defining what residential home asset management is, how it should be practiced, and what homeowners should expect from a qualified practitioner.
Developing the Certified Home Asset Manager (CHAM) credential and related certifications that distinguish trained professionals in the field.
Publishing annual data on home maintenance costs, system lifespans, and the financial outcomes of proactive versus reactive homeownership.
Advancing proposals like the Home Asset Savings Account — a tax-advantaged savings vehicle for home maintenance modeled on the HSA.
Training programs for home inspectors, financial advisors, property professionals, and others who serve homeowners in an advisory capacity.
Building homeowner understanding of the home as a managed capital asset — and the professional resources available to help steward it.
NIHAM is in its founding stage — a concept being built into a standards body, one practitioner, one publication, and one policy proposal at a time. We are transparent about where we are: this work is early, and the institution is being constructed deliberately.
The parallel organization is SiegHaus, the residential home asset management practice that serves as NIHAM's founding pilot practitioner — delivering the kind of annual Home Health Reviews that a NIHAM-certified professional would one day provide at scale.
We are actively seeking early advisors, peer reviewers, and collaborators from the inspection, financial planning, real estate, insurance, and policy communities.
Andrew K. Sieg is the founder of NIHAM and the principal of SiegHaus, a residential home asset management practice. He is developing the professional framework, standards, and policy proposals that would establish home asset management as a recognized profession in the United States.
We publish research, policy updates, and developments in the emerging field of residential home asset management. No noise — only substantive updates when there is something worth sharing.