By Mark Vanderhoff
Photos By Steve Mann
By now, most people have a fairly good sense of what "green" means. But when you begin to consider the specifics, especially when it comes to home buying, things can get a bit confusing. What, exactly, is passive solar orientation? How about zero-VOC adhesives? And what’s the difference between a LEED certification and a Healthy Built Home certification?
The world of green building has its own jargon and acronyms, as homebuyers who seek environmentally friendly features will quickly learn. So what’s a consumer to do, short of reading half a dozen books before diving into a real estate transaction? For many, the solution is to work with a Realtor who specializes in environmentally conscious listings.
So where do you begin? Here in Western North Carolina, which is at the vanguard of green building, the Asheville Board of Realtors has developed the ECO, or Certified Environmental Consultant, designation. In order to qualify, real estate agents must take 36 hours of green building classes. The ECO Consultant training takes a holistic approach, incorporating seminars on housing-related health topics such as mold, radon, carcinogen-free building materials and indoor air quality.
One of the first of its kind, the local certification program helped influence the National Association of Realtors Green Designation, to be unveiled this month at the Association’s national convention. More importantly, it allows homebuyers to instantly recognize a real estate agent’s knowledge of green building issues, so choosing an agent and finding the right home will be that much easier.
It was useful when Tim Ormond decided to move to Asheville last year, for example. An environmental and water resources engineer, Tim was looking for a specific kind of house. "A green home is consistent with my values," he says. So when he researched real estate agents online, he gravitated toward local ECO Realtors. He chose Pat "Tree" Spaulding of Keller Williams Realty.
Ormond ended up purchasing one of the Hudson Street Cottages, a green development in West Asheville. Although he already knew about different environmentally friendly features, he says Spaulding helped him identify which features were the most important. "You’ve probably heard of ‘greenwashing,’" he says, referring to the disingenuous practice of using the green label to market any kind of product, whether environmentally friendly or not. "ECO Consultants have had enough training that they can identify and understand green features. It’s good to have someone who knows the difference."
Unfortunately, the prices of many new green homes still remain out of reach for the average buyer, Spaulding says. So she often helps buyers identify the characteristics of everyday homes that might be environmentally friendly, even if they are not necessarily marketed in such a way. "How do you make a home green?" Spaulding asks. "What are the criteria? ECO Realtors know what to look for beyond LEED, Healthy Built Home, et cetera."
Spaulding refers to two green designations—the international LEED, or Leadership and Excellence in Environmental Design, certification, and North Carolina’s Healthy Built Homes program, a tiered criteria for evaluating and certifying green homes. The Healthy Built Homes program is yet another example of the state and region’s leadership in the green building movement. In addition to energy efficiency and other green facets, the program also promotes healthy living spaces.
ECO-certified Broker LeNoir Medlock of Preferred Properties recently represented a pregnant client with an autoimmune disease. The woman and her spouse were moving from Atlanta and originally had no intentions of purchasing a green home. When Medlock showed them a certified Healthy Built Home, however, the advantages certainly influenced their decision to purchase the property.
The home included features such as zero- and low-VOC adhesives. Volatile organic compounds are powerful chemicals found in everyday items that have been linked to cancer, nausea and other health problems. Recent headlines about Hurricane Katrina survivors made sick by their trailer homes involved VOCs.
"My philosophy is that anytime you can give your body a leg up when it’s fighting a disease, that’s a huge benefit," Medlock says.
With more and more consumers demanding healthy, environmentally friendly choices, the National Association of Realtors has addressed the need for informed and educated professionals to service the eco-conscious homebuyer by creating a countrywide Green Designation. Mark Gould, vice president of the NAR’s Business Specialty Group, says the national association was impressed by the traction Asheville’s designation was gaining, in light of the size of the local market.
There will be at least one major difference between the two programs. The ECO Consultants designation focuses more on regional topics specific to the local climate and issues, while the Green Designation takes a broader approach to appeal to agents nationwide. Local real estate professionals say the national designation is just one more example of the headway green building is making into mainstream America.
"I think in the not-too-far future, all Realtors are going to be required to know this stuff," Spaulding says. "In the future, it’s not going to be a luxury. It’s going to have to be that way."
