GOING GREEN - 12

GOING GREEN
What are REALTORS Doing about Sustainability?

By Steve Wright

GREEN REAL ESTATE RESOURCES:

www.patternlanguage.com

www.placemakers.com

www.thewatersal.com

www.cbmove.com/candace.lightner

www.greendcrealty.com

www.greenkeyrealestate.com

www.interorealestate.com

www.TexasHorseAndHome.com

WWW.ECOBROKER.COM

Wright frequently writes about smart growth and sustainable communities. He and his wife live in a restored historic home in the heart of Miami’s Little Havana. Contact him at: stevewright64@yahoo.com

GOING GREEN - 11

GOING GREEN
What are REALTORS Doing about Sustainability?

By Steve Wright

To delve deeply into holistic sustainability, Jumonville suggests architect Christopher Alexander's A Pattern Language. The groundbreaking 1977 book, in its own words, deals with “the large-scale structure of the environment: the growth of town and country, the layout of roads and paths, the relationship between work and family, the formation of suitable public institutions for a neighborhood, the kinds of public space required to support these institutions.”

Jumonville, whose email includes a picture of herself with her horse, notes that sustainability reaches far beyond the urban core and suburbs.

“I'm working not only on urban issues but rural issues -- how to make your horse property more environmentally sustainable. For example, it's just as important to site the barn correctly on the property as it is the house. Rainwater harvesting for livestock watering is a no-brainer and using soil biology versus fertilizer/weedkiller is more sustainable long term,” she said. “I'm constantly looking for rebates and other benefits that the utility companies and city, state and federal government offer for clients interested in upgrading their new or existing home to more sustainable standards.”

TOMORROW: GREEN REAL ESTATE RESOURCES

Wright frequently writes about smart growth and sustainable communities. He and his wife live in a restored historic home in the heart of Miami’s Little Havana. Contact him at: stevewright64@yahoo.com

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GOING GREEN
What are REALTORS Doing about Sustainability?

By Steve Wright

For Realtor Tricia Jumonville, a self described “old hippie,” sustainability has been woven into her life a far back as she can remember.

“An astute Realtor can always help a buyer or seller find affordable ways to add to the sustainability factor of more traditional construction. You can't change the way an existing building is placed on the lot, for example, but you can add rainwater harvesting systems, solar attributes, screening that helps with the energy demands for cooling landscaping to decrease energy usage and quite a few other affordable aftermarket tweaks that will increase sustainability of even traditional construction,” said Jumonville, who works for ERA Colonial Real Estate in rural Texas about a long hour’s drive out of progressive Austin.

“Clearly, energy auditors are going to be an important partner in the Realtor's life in future. As will lenders familiar with the energy-efficient loans that are available that make sustainability more affordable for the average person,” she added. “I'm currently looking for one of each locally to add to my team of home inspectors, mortgage lenders, contractors, and others to serve clients.”

TOMORROW: Christopher Alexander's A Pattern Language

Wright frequently writes about smart growth and sustainable communities. He and his wife live in a restored historic home in the heart of Miami’s Little Havana. Contact him at: stevewright64@yahoo.com

GOING GREEN - 9

GOING GREEN
What are REALTORS Doing about Sustainability?

By Steve Wright

Janet Rosenberg, a Realtor with Intero Real Estate Services in Santa Cruz California, lists her EcoBroker certification right under her name on her emails – before the essential office, mobile and fax numbers.

“Realtors are in the perfect position to educate people, and entire communities for that matter, in ways to make homes more energy efficient,” she said. “The reason for this is that in our profession we are talking to home buyers and home sellers every day, and we're also touring homes regularly. With our background as Certified EcoBrokers, Intero Real Estate can offer not only suggestions on areas to improve a home's efficiency, but ways to reduce utility bills.”

Rosenberg implemented into her two offices is by forming a Green business network called Green Performance Network (GPN). The network includes appraisers, builders, inspectors, landscapers, material suppliers, lenders and other professionals who have gone Green.

“I found that I wanted to refer my clients to local businesses that offered Green products and services, and I needed to know who those folks were,” she said. By forming the GPN, I now offer all members a free half page ad in our directory, which is distributed to our clients and in businesses throughout town. This makes my company very visible in the "Green" front, and it builds a referral network back to us.”

Every six weeks, Rosenberg hosts public events that invite community members to introduce themselves and tell about their product or service. Everyone passes out business cards.

“Obviously, I hope that when people are making a decision about Real Estate, they will come to Intero Real Estate Services for help,” she said. “Additionally, we teach Intero Community Classes in my office -- taught by EcoBrokers and are open to the public. The classes are topics such as `Sustainable Building Showcase’ and `Green Living Seminar.’”

TOMORROW: Realtor Tricia Jumonville

Wright frequently writes about smart growth and sustainable communities. He and his wife live in a restored historic home in the heart of Miami’s Little Havana. Contact him at: stevewright64@yahoo.com

GOING GREEN - 8

GOING GREEN
What are REALTORS Doing about Sustainability?

By Steve Wright

Bartle’s brokerage recruits highly educated people from a diverse background and makes sure all of them get EcoBroker training. EcoBroker is an on-line training course that allows Realtors to attain Green certification.

“We’re certified Green building specialists -- we want our agents to be Greenest of the Green. We’re in classes learning from architects and builders,’’ he said. ”We’d rather sell a not Green home to a Green buyer and teach them to Green it. We look at Green as being equivalent to high end property.”

“Realtors have great influence on the spending patterns of their clients. The Greening of houses has only been going on a few years. To introduce best practices to our buyers, we need more data,” said Bartle, whose firm gives buyers a certificate for a home energy efficiency and air quality analysis worth $250.

Bartle, whose mission is to make San Francisco the most sustainable city in the world, will soon open branches of Green Key Real Estate in other parts of Northern California plus Seattle, Portland and Boulder, Colorado. The ultimate goal is to sell Green Key franchises to like-minded brokers across the United States.

TOMORROW: Janet Rosenberg, a Realtor with Intero Real Estate Services in Santa Cruz California

Wright frequently writes about smart growth and sustainable communities. He and his wife live in a restored historic home in the heart of Miami’s Little Havana. Contact him at: stevewright64@yahoo.com

GOING GREEN - 7

GOING GREEN
What are REALTORS Doing about Sustainability?

By Steve Wright

San Francisco, known as a hotbed of progressive thinking and acting for nearly a half century, actually has a fairly small inventory of Green houses.

Realtor Chris Bartle, president and broker of Green Key Real Estate, aims to boost the number of Green homes in the City by the Bay as well as nationwide.

“We’re a mission-driven company. Of course we’re about selling houses and making money, but we’re also about also increasing the inventory of Green homes,” he said.

Bartle’s firm works with Build It Green, a California nonprofit, to promote Green building and Green remodeling. He also notes that the California Association of Realtors has a Green Task Force working to create Green ratings for a statewide Multiple Listing Service.

“In an old home, if the client is concerned about energy efficiency, the solution includes double paned windows and energy efficient appliances. That’s not a hard sell – you make a $10K investment now and make it back in five or 10 years,” Bartle explained.

Bartle said sustainable housing goes far beyond a capital investment in energy efficiency.

“People are thinking about indoor air quality, people are thinking of their families,” he said. “A lot of building materials, finish materials, paints, varnish, sealers and cabinetry with particle board held together with formaldehyde -- have toxic elements. That’s not just a horrible paint smell, it’s a chemical that isn’t good for you. We get calls from buyers who have an allergy to formaldehyde or a certain pesticide. Now there are a lot of new products that don’t give off any harmful emissions.”

TOMORROW: EcoBroker

Wright frequently writes about smart growth and sustainable communities. He and his wife live in a restored historic home in the heart of Miami’s Little Havana. Contact him at: stevewright64@yahoo.com

GOING GREEN - 6

GOING GREEN
What are REALTORS Doing about Sustainability?

By Steve Wright

“Even though utility bills are a reflection of lifestyle use, I think it would ultimately be useful for consumers/home buyers to be able to review utility bills before placing an offer on a home," Realtor Michael Keifer said. It is very important for consumers, when working with a Realtor, to ask about such matters and request copies. As you can imagine, when that first month rolls around and the gas/electric /water bills start rolling in -- you begin to realize that owning a home is so much more than PITI.”

To reduce automobile dependency, Green DC Realty gives its clients a Zipcar membership and mileage voucher. Zipcar members can rent automobiles by the day or hour from several urban locations. Zipcar supplements public transit with individual automobiles available for a fraction of the cost of car payment, maintenance, insurance and fuel.

“I look at efficiency as being more than just the home. It’s about evaluating the consumer’s current life and seeing where cost effective, efficient improvements can be made,” he said. In the Metro area, we have ride sharing firms that take the hassle out of owning a car. I continually look at ways of providing home ownership through the removal of inefficient expenditures and proving incentives to the consumer through drive time vouchers as part of the purchase.”

TOMORROW: Realtor Chris Bartle, president and broker of Green Key Real Estate

Wright frequently writes about smart growth and sustainable communities. He and his wife live in a restored historic home in the heart of Miami’s Little Havana. Contact him at: stevewright64@yahoo.com