Green real estate-NAR has a new Green Real Estate field for MLS
June 10, 2014
| The National Assn. of Realtors has just published a comprehensive guide for helping multiple list services promote the special features of a green home attributes that, research indicates, buyers covet. Environmental factors have become an increasingly important part of marketing in home sales-solar hot water, grid-tied solar power, super efficient appliances and high insulation values are increasingly getting the attention of home buyers. Heating and cooling costs, for example, were at least "somewhat important" to 85% of buyers; 36% said fuel costs were "very important." Landscaping for water conservation is also beginning to create interest. "The demand for green is growing," says the association's president, Steve Brown, a broker in Dayton, Ohio. "NAR's research consistently shows that today's consumers want homes and communities that are environmentally sustainable and resource-efficient." Still, at last official count in 2010, only 125 of the country's multiple listing services just "a handful," according to the new guide offered specific fields for green or high-performance homes. Now, the real estate association says, 79 of the 100 most populous metropolitan areas have access to an MLS with green fields. The guide is designed to provide a blueprint for MLS staff, or their software vendors, to populate the listing service with green data-entry fields. If the MLS does not yet include these fields, the guide offers a step-by-step method for adding them- and if the MLS already offers such fields, the book will show them how to standardize their entries. The new standardized green fields will also allow for apples-to-apples comparisons when appraising green homes and determining such market trends as time on the market and sales-to-list price ratios. Here's a link to the NAR's Green designation page, which explains how it all works http://www.greenresourcecouncil.org/earning-nars-green-designation/why-earn-nars-green-designation |
