Realtors® may pose the biggest stumbling block to helping consumers purchase green homes. Yes I am not afraid to say it. While many Realtors® see the benefit to green homes, few are taking the time to understand the specific components that make a green home a better investment for their client. With home builders increasingly building to green and energy efficient standards, Realtors® are just now acknowledging that their may be a benefit. The numbers don't lie on that point with over 60% of builders' nationwide building to green and energy efficient standards, and less than 20% of Realtors® nationwide with any form of a green designation. While the National Association of Realtors® looks to establish a green designation, often MLS committees are rejecting greening their associations multiple listing systems. Mean while green and energy efficient features have emerged as some of the most important and sought-after by buyers. Yet I hear Realtors® telling me no one is actively looking for green. I often hear I am pushing green down the throats of consumers and professionals, "It's all you ever talk about and it turns people off." Yet again every day I hear from businesses and consumers in the community how great green and energy efficient products and services are. The excuses by Realtors® not to promote green homes, seems to be as many as the reasons why consumers are looking for green homes.
What can't be ignored is the fact that we are stewards of our communities and as such we have a duty to our community to provide a service that promotes the well being and comfort of those in our community as Realtors®. We have a fiduciary duty to provide our client with information on homes that doesn't just make them feel good but serves them as a sustainable shelter. We need to stop diluting ourselves and own up to the fact that a homes lay out and location are only a small part of what makes a house a home. Call it by any other name, what buyers are really looking to us Realtors® for is a home, not a house with four walls. That is the biggest obstacle to going green by the way. It's not that it creates more work or is confusing; it requires us to think in a different, in a new way; a way that takes into account how affordable the home will be twenty years from now. This doesn't mean how much the mortgage will cost, or how much the taxes will go up. We need to start thinking in terms of sustainability. How much will the energy costs rise on the home, how much will the upkeep cost, will my client's be able to stay in the home when they retire or will they have to move when they get older because they can't get around the home: these are all questions we should be asking ourselves when representing the home to a prospective client. We have seen first hand how many repossessed homes are on the market, but did you ever stop to think this may be because the homes were not affordable from the start? I can already hear the mumbling, "It's their fault for taking out additional loans." I would submit that in over half the cases this was the direct result of a slowing economy where the cost of the home was well in excess of the family's income. When was the last time you heard your client say their child had severe asthma? I overheard a Realtor® talking with a prospective client and the response to their concern about their child sent shivers down my spine. "Well, Mr. and Mrs. X, that shouldn't be a problem here in the north, we have clean air."
If this isn't enough to create a stumbling block that fact remains 78% of Americans who have bought property say nobody talked to them about energy efficiency. The other fact that is daunting to me is that Realtors® can effect green change faster than any other profession. This saddens me deeply as I look at the Profession I have chosen and realize even well intentioned Realtors® may be the very stumbling block to green consumerism.
Being a good steward of the environment and the community is good for real estate and future development. We have multiple prime examples of communities and countries being revitalize from sluggish and depressed economies through green initiatives and green building. Switzerland (The very origin of Green and Sustainable), Brazil, Canadian providences, and many US cities have seen a dramatic incline and stability to their economy through sustainable initiatives like green building. How long can we afford to turn our heads away and ignore the needs of our clients?
Schools, media, and non-profits are working diligently to insure future generations will have an improved life, a greener life, and a healthier and more comfortable life. Realtors®, it's time you take action! Talk to your clients about green homes. If you don't know yourself, ask! In reality pick up a Realtor® magazine, turn on the TV, listen to the radio, walk down town, green is being promoted every where every place; so let it start with you!
No I am not going to include more statistics, or fancy graphs. This is not rocket science folks. It is simply doing what we all should be doing, so insert your picture here and ask yourself, "What can I do?"
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