Market for a 'green' home is out there
Kim Davis
Special to the Sun
Saturday, October 21, 2006
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Finding a home that meets your needs and desires -- budget, space, amenities -- let alone one that matches your values, can prove challenging.
Most real estate listings do not mention the finer 'green' or healthy attributes of a home, and few real estate professionals are knowledgeable enough about energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and other environmental issues to be of assistance.
James Rodgers, however, a green business consultant and real estate agent with Dexter Associates Realty, is hoping to help change this. This past summer, he and fellow associates began working to connect buyers and sellers of green properties through a Web portal called greenerhomes.ca.
VALUE OF BUYING GREEN
"I was just floored with how many visitors to this year's Home Show were involved in some aspect of green homes," says Rodgers. "I met so many people who had just bought one, are going to do a green renovation, or planning to buy a greener home. The market is out there, but currently grossly under serviced."
While research indicates that more people want to express their values -- from protecting their health to insuring worker safety -- through their purchasing decisions, many consumers are confused about the who, what, where and how of buying green.
When Rodgers decided to pursue real estate to compliment his green business and building background, he sat down with Dexter Associates Realty. David Peerless, its president and owner, who had been quietly greening his own firm's practices over the past several years, was quick to offer support.
Providing all the same services as conventional real estate offices, greenerhomes.ca pays particular attention to features that make homes healthier and greener: the use of reused or renewable building materials, efficient heating and cooling systems, and Energy Star appliances.
The organization does not quantify or rate a home's "greeness," but rather helps buyers find properties that have the green features they are looking for, and/or identify those with green potential. Both buyer and seller clients are also given access to a green team of professionals -- including mortgage brokers and notaries that are associated with ethically-minded institutions, and who understand green consumer values.
Rodgers says the response so far has been both incredible and surprising.
"The best response," he says, "has been from younger, less affluent buyers. They are amazed that not only are they able to purchase something, but that it can also be green."
EDUCATING REALTORS
Realtors meet, greet and interact with hundreds of people each year. As a first point of contact for many prospective homebuyers, and people planning to move to new com-munities, realtors are increasingly facing questions about environmental issues such as air or water quality and energy efficiency. They also have the potential to play an important role in helping people understand how these things impact their family and home.
Research conducted last year by the Light House Sustainable Building Centre suggests, however, that realtors are one of the key groups in need of environmental education. Enter the Green Realty Association for British Columbia (GRA).
To encourage the greening of B.C.'s real estate industry and help realtors meet the growing demands for environmental and social responsibility, GRA plans to create and promote an ongoing training and standardized certification program that will qualify B.C. realtors as experts in the ecology of real estate.
This will include informing real estate professionals about the ecological issues associated with different types of properties, and increasing their familiarity with the variety of organizations working to preserve and restore B.C.'s natural environment.
Rodgers reports that realtors are already expressing interest in the program. "The industry just seems to have been waiting for it," he says.
The association is also already establishing links and looking to work in conjunction with a number of like-minded organizations across the province including Victoria's City Green, Vancouver's One Day (Mayor Sam Sullivan's ecodensity plan), the Canadian Home Builders' Association's Built Green and the Real Estate Foundation of B.C.
For more information about greenerhomes.ca services or free resources, as well information on how using a green realtor could help support your favourite non-profit organization, go to www.greenerhomes.ca.
© The Vancouver Sun 2006