Working with a Green Real Estate Agent

Not too long ago people who wanted to have green homes needed to either build the homes themselves or hire a green builder to do the renovations for them. This is no longer the case. There are now green homes on the market that you can buy ready to go with their eco-friendly attributes. There are many ways that you can get involved in the purchase of a green home. However, your best bet is to find a green real estate agent. This is a real estate agent who specializes in helping people to find green homes that meet all of the other non-eco needs. Someone like this can be a tremendous asset when searching for a new home.

A green real estate agent can assist you with the following methods of finding a green home:

·      Locate a home that is green and ready to go. Green real estate agents work closely with green builders. They know which homes are on the market that were already built to be green. If there’s a green home for sale in your area, a green real estate agent is likely to know about it. It can be really tough to find these homes on your own when searching for a new house. Getting hooked up with a real estate agent who has the inside scoop and who really knows if a home for sale is a green home for sale is a really smart move.

·      Locate an affordable home that can easily be made green. Real estate agents are also in the business of knowing which homes on the market are available at a good price and can also be easily renovated to include green features. Tell the real estate agent what you are looking for in a home and the agent can find you one that meets your needs. The agent will look specifically at homes that can easily be altered to improve indoor air quality, energy efficiency, water use and other green features. This may not be a totally green home but it can be altered into one easier than some of the other homes on the market might be.

·      Help you determine your green needs. Maybe you have a basic idea that you want to have an eco-friendly home but you aren’t quite sure yet what this means to you. Working so closely in the field every day, green real estate agents gain a solid understanding of what the different options are for green homes. A good green real estate agent can help you to assess and identify what you are really looking for in a new green home.

·      Connect you with other green people. Green real estate agents that are truly concerned about being green will naturally work with other green people. They can connect you to green lenders, green inspectors and other green professionals in the industry to make your home-buying purchase as green as can be.

Green real estate agents do more than just sell you a home. They work to ensure that both buyers and sellers are aware of the green services and green products that can be used to improve the homes on the market today.

So how do you find a good green real estate agent? There are agencies out there that specialize in this type of thing so a simple Google search or browsing through the Yellow Pages will get you started. Things you will want to look for when selecting a green real estate agent include:

• Education and experience. Some people are just beginning to enter this market, and they do not actually yet know what they are talking about. This could lead to you getting bad advice about buying or remodeling a home in a green manner. Make sure you ask about the education and experience the person has that is specific to alternative home building. You want to choose a green real estate agent who actually has solid educational experience in both real estate and sustainable home building practices. This is especially true if you yourself are still a novice when it comes to green building and green homes since you need someone that you can rely on to assist you in making the greenest decisions.
• Background of the agency. Some green real estate agents work at green agencies and others work within standard agencies but specialize in green home buying. You want to work as much as possible with a green real estate agent who uses green practices in the office. Offices that recycle their paper, use energy efficient heating and cooling, and adopt green building techniques during remodeling are going to be able to truly support what you are doing when buying, selling, or remodeling a green home. If you really want to make a green impact then this is the way to go.
• An agent who buys green. This is an industry in which one should really practice what they preach. It is perfectly appropriate to ask your potential real estate agent what kind of green building they have done for their own home. A good alternative home building real estate agent will have a lot to say on the topic and will be happy to share.
• Someone you trust. Don’t throw out any of the normal criteria that you would use when choosing a real estate agent just because you’re focused on finding someone who is green. This is a popular enough area these days that you can find someone who knows their green homes and still meets your needs in terms of great communication, honesty in the business and providing a general sense that you can trust this person with a task as important as buying your home.

Going green starts at home; a green real estate agent can help you get there.