AMERICA'S HOMES ARE GOING GREEN: HOW REALTORS CAN TAKE PART
A 'green' home revolution has begun.
The media is saturated with reports on the relationship between energy consumption and climate change and homebuyers are taking notice. The National Association of Home Builders recently published a report stating that the residential green-building market place is expected to boost its market share upwards of $30 billion by 2010, up from $7.4 billion in 2005. As one of the earliest points of contact in the home buying process, residential realtors are strongly positioned to assist homebuyers wanting to 'go green' in their home purchases. But first Realtors need to prepare with company wide education on sustainable building practices and also commit to a 'green makeover' of their building and operations
Why should a Realtor 'go green'? U.S. consumers are responding positively to eco-friendly products and companies that observe the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit. These are a new breed of consumer: the 'Guppy'- green urban professional. Guppys know that buildings consume 48% of the US's energy and create higher green house gas emissions than cars. Residential energy consumption is a significant part of this statistic. Guppys want to buy 'green' homes. But desire for conservationism is not limited to urban dwellers. All homebuyers, of whatever age, whether in cities, suburbia, exurbia, or our smallest towns, given the option will choose to cut down on energy costs if not also consider benefits to the health of the planet.
So how does a Realty owner get started? It's easy! First the basics: Look around your office...Get rid of incandescent light bulbs and change to compact fluorescent bulbs. They use significantly less energy and give off less heat, which cuts down on summer cooling costs.
How is your office recycling program doing? A typical Realty office uses loads of paper. Walk through your building and peek in trashcans to see how much paper should have been in the recycling bin. Source paper with recycled content for your copy machines, printers and printed advertising. Initiate a company commitment to reducing paper use and recycling.
Next, consider power consumption of building occupants. Are computers left running even when not in use? Are office lights on during lunch hour or property viewings? What about copy machines? Is someone responsible for turning them off at night?
Ask your cleaning service to source environmentally friendly fluids to reduce indoor air pollution.
Become familiar with Energy Star, the EPA non profit promoting energy efficiency, www.energystar.gov. Find an Energy Star certified auditor to rate your building for energy loss and make recommendations for renovations that will help you cut down on energy loss through the building envelope. By using building information modeling, the auditor illustrates how many years it will take to pay back such improvements through lower energy bills. Many States as well as Uncle Sam offer tax deductions to help both resdientail and commercial building owners to offset energy efficient renovation costs. Find an Energy Star rated building auditor by using the www.energystar.gov website, or ask your local heating and ventilation companies for referrals. Share the results from your audit with your staff and sales associates; make sure they are aware of the remedial action you choose to take for your building so they can talk about the process with prospective home buyers.
Consider becoming an Energy Star small business partner and speak to local home builders you work with to find out who is an Energy Star certified homebuilder. Encourage them to get involved. Tell them you will be creating a green home building resource data base to share with clients. Ask all company members to commit to reading the concise and excellent educational PDF files on green homes on the Energy Star website. This will become a wonderful source of knowledge to share with clients. If you find a staff member who wants to become green champion in your office, ask them to commit to also studying the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System... at www.usgbc.org . Perhaps they will be motivated to become LEED certified.
Lastly, make sure you send a press release to the local paper about what you are doing. Through the press release, reach out to sustainable home builders, architects, and interior designers and ask them to make themselves known to your company for your sustainable home resource list.
With a little effort and small capital investment, a residential realty agency can call itself 'green.' But don't cut any corners! You would not want your company accused of 'green washing,' that is, when a company superficially embraces sustainability to attract eco friendly consumers!
The author, Holley Chant is currently studying Environmental Management at Harvard University Extension. She recently implemented a "Realtor green make-over" pilot program at her father's company,
Davis R. Chant Realtors which is one of the largest privately owned Realty companies in North-eastern PA.
