Certified Green Broker: Helping Buyers Find Green Buildings
Many of my recent posts have touched upon the theme that the building industry cannot accomplish major advances in sustainability by itself; first its market must change.
But there is ample evidence that consumers are now driving a change in the market. The USGBC website has printed a report by CoStar Group which has found “that sustainable “green” buildings outperform their peer non-green assets in key areas such as occupancy, sale price and rental rates, sometimes by wide margins…. The results indicate a broader demand by property investors and tenants for buildings that have earned either LEED® certification or the Energy Star® label and strengthen the “business case” for green buildings, which proponents have increasingly cast as financially sound investments.” The report goes on to cite “constricted supply” as one reason for the premium prices associated with sustainable buildings, and many other experts have been making the case lately that consumers either cannot find the kind of sustainable housing that they are looking for, or cannot identify what makes a property sustainable.
Fortunately, The Cascadia Region Green Building Council and the Commercial Brokers Association (CBA) are about to provide a bridge between designers and consumers in the form of a new professional certification, Certified Green Broker®. Jason McLennan, CEO of Cascadia, says, “It is often the brokers and finance professionals, not the architects and builders, who directly interface with the end user: the owner, landlord, and/or tenant. Therefore they have great influence on how owners and users may perceive the affordability and overall value of green buildings.”
- » See also: Are There Any Risks In Building Green?
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The goal of the Certified Green Broker® program is to educate brokers and lenders on how to market — and finance — green buildings. The program will offer continuing education opportunities (through both web-based and live seminars) to professionals in the Seattle, Portland and Vancouver areas.
“Sustainability has become a fundamental issue for the bottom line of commercial real estate, which will impact property values, leasing rates and practices and employee/tenant satisfaction,” says Tricia Deering, president and CEO of CBA. “A commercial broker who is familiar with green issues will provide the best service to their clients.”
The unveiling of this initiative will take place on May 22 in Portland, Oregon at the Green Broker 2008 Conference. The conference will cover green issues as they impact the commercial brokerage industry. (To learn more about the conference, or to register, visit: www.cascadiagbc.org/green-broker.)
Photo Credit: Cascadia Region Green Building Council and the Commercial Brokers Association
Other posts on green building Programs and Standards:
http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/02/15/green-home-requirement-in-san-mateo-county/
http://greenbuildingelements.com/2007/07/30/real-renewable-energy-vs-renewable-energy-credits/
I think the certification could prove useful for brokers. As a Realtor in Phoenix, I’m receiving an increasing amount of inquiries about LEED-certified properties. It seems to be the only segment of our city’s declining housing market where there is demand.
Hopefully the Certified Green Broker program will be noticed by the rest of the U.S., and similar programs will be adopted elsewhere!
lets get this straight the green expert told nahb more than 8 yrs ago to build green. and the nahb and its 240k members continue to built 7 million homes that fall in value every day.now the nahb wants a tax credit after the biggest 5 yrs in the housing industry.
the nahb has hurt america,continues to lower the bar
as leed is the accepted international standard.
and every major homebuilder in the usa is an asshole
as not one national builder builds green. not to mention the republicans blocked the green incentives in the senate.
what you are seeing is the entire failue of an industry just like the automobile industry that
does not know its customer.
it did not take a genius to figure out that energy prices would esculate 8 yrs ago.
this is just one of the many reasons why america is no longer a world leader….china,korea, and uae build entire green cities while america falls behind
and its consumers garner more debt and get fat….
and there was always demand for green building calpers more than 2 yrs ago started selling its 100 billion dollar non green portfolio to hold only green assets.
and as for the costar report you now cite more than 4 yrs ago one lonely appraiser….just like the green expert released a green appraisal showing that green homes are worth more.not one idiot in the entire us
would listen to this appraiser….
What this certification is doing is wonderful, and I’m sure will always be a work in progress as more and more developments in the industry emerge.
LEED is not the be-all, end-all of rating programs. LEED has done a lot to change perceptions in the market, and has certainly driven the market in the right direction. But it’s a work in progress, and there are plenty of great rating programs, assessments tools, and standards that all work together to enhance our built environment.
I see this certification as a great way of training today’s Realtors to become environmental cheerleaders with respect to homes and buildings, and of course, this will always pay off in big dividends to both themselves and the sustainability cause.
Bravo!
Bashar
http://www.solarphile.com
Where do I get training as a green broker?
GREEN BROKER CERTIFICATION IS POINTLESS WHEN THE BROKER DRIVE A (IF NOT 2) NON EFFICIENT CAR THE ALL DAY (RANGE ROVER FOR EXAMPLE) MOST OF PEOPLE I TALK TO ABOUT THE ECO BROKER CERTIFICATION LAUGH IMMEDIATELY THINKING OF THE CAR THEY DRIVE. REAL ESTATE SALE PERSONS, BROKERS MAY HAVE AN OVERALL KNOWLEDGE OF THE MOST LATEST GREEN TECHNOLOGY AVAILABLE, BUT LET’S NOT BE BLIND HERE, THE BUILDERS AND THE ARCHITECTS ARE THE MOST KNOWLEDGEABLE WHEN IT COME TO ENERGY EFFICIENCY CALCULATION. THEY DO LONG SEARCH ABOUT THE SUBJECT AND DISCUSS LONG HOURS BEFORE TO INTEGRATE THE GREEN TECHNOLOGY IN THEIR BUILDING. DESIGNING AND BUILDING GREEN HAS BECOME MORE A SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FIELD THAT A FEW PAGES READ ON NATURAL HOME MAGAZINE. YOU HAVE TO READ A LOT OF TECHNICAL STUFF ON DWELL MAGAZINE, METROPOLITAIN AND CONSULT WITH ENGINEER TO FIGURE OUT WHAT IS THE MOST APPROPRIATE GREEN ELEMENTS YOU WANT TO PUT IN YOUR HOUSE. BUT MY PRIOR COMMENT IS THAT AN ECO BROKER SHOULD GET A CERTIFICATION AT LEAST IF HE DRIVES A FUEL EFFICIENT CAR LIKE A PRIUS (IF YOU ALLOW ME TO BE RADICAL OR A FORD HYBRID SUV) NOBODY BELIEVE WHAT A BROKER HAS TO SAY ABOUT A GREEN HOME WHEN LOOKING OVER THEY SHOULDERS THEY SEE A NON EFFICIENT CAR, UNLESS THEY ARE NAIVE. THAT’S IRONIC ISN’T IT. MOST OF BROKER DON’T BELIEVE IN BEING GREEN BUT BELIEVE THAT THE GREEN CERTIFICATE ON THEY BUSINESS CARD OR WEB SITE WILL INCREASE THE CLIENT AND CUSTOMER FLOW…ARE WE TRYING TO SAVE THE PLANET HERE OR TRYING TO MAKE MORE MONEY IN OUR POCKET?. MAKE A FUEL EFFICIENT CAR OBLIGATION OR A STRONG REQUEST IN YOUR REQUIREMENT TO BE AN ECO BROKER AND I THING THAT WILL BE A GOOD STEP FORWARD. (AND LET THE PROFESSIONALS TALKING ABOUT GREEN HOME) THANKS FOR READING ME.
Green homes need to give thought to the health of the occupants as well. I recently tested the air in a new home that was marketed as “green”. The home had 4 times more formaldehyde than the averge Katrina FEMA trailer. The formaldehyde level was high enough that a worker in the home should wear a respirator. The listing agent provided no disclosure concerning the hazard.