Realtors Pushing Iowa Housing Market to Go Green
Ask Susan Webster what her dream “green” home would be like, and prepare to sit awhile. According to the Des Moines Register, the Iowa real estate agent is focused on promoting healthier, more environmentally friendly living.
Webster rattles off a personal wish list that includes more unusual home features, such as composting toilets and windmills, for collecting electricity. But she is quick to add what she says is one of the most important components of green living:
Comfort.
“It has to be comfortable,” said Webster, 58. “It has to be efficient. It has to have light, so it makes you feel good.”
Webster’s business partner, fellow “Ecobroker” Deb Brannian, said:
“When we talk about green living or green building, we’re not talking about little hovels built in to the side of a hill. We’re talking about smart, educated choices that make any home healthier and more energy efficient.”
The two women, who achieved the national Ecobroker designation in January, haven’t yet sold a new home in the Des Moines housing market that’s considered green.
But they’ve advised clients on installing energy-efficient appliances and making other improvements to existing homes. They’ve also connected with home builders, green experts, architects and Iowa mortgage providers in the Des Moines area to increase awareness.
The certification program involves workshops and classes that are taken to help agents learn more about environmental issues that drive the current market. The agents’ mission is to help clients “live lightly on the Earth.”
“It’s a shift in how we think about real estate,” Brannian said. “It makes me so happy to get up and go to work every day.”
Interest in a greener lifestyle has grown among homeowners in recent years, which some real estate experts attribute to rising energy prices and even to celebrities’ awareness efforts.
Buyers should expect to pay 5-8 percent more for a home with all the green improvements, Webster said, but energy savings could be $100 or more a month, depending on the enhancements.
That’s a considerable amount to save on your home loan payment.
A national homeowners survey by Wells Fargo & Co. last year showed that, given $50,000 for home improvements, more respondents (24 percent) said they would make environmentally friendly additions before anything else, including luxury kitchen remodels, entertainment rooms or landscaping.
Insulation, energy-efficient appliances, double-paned windows and even solar panels topped the list.
“I do think the tide is turning,” said Lynnae Hentzen, executive director of the Center on Sustainable Communities, a Des Moines-based nonprofit group that educates builders and homeowners on green building.
“Homeowners are starting to become more aware and that’s key. Because if you understand it and come at it from all directions, anybody can find value in green building.”
The three primary points of green living are energy efficiency, resource conservation and indoor air quality, according to Hentzen, who said each “carries a different priority for most people.”
Tami Foster, a Re/Max real estate agent with 20 years’ experience as an environmental planner with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, said she tries to present a broader picture to clients when looking at homes - and is willing to advise them to walk away from certain properties.
“When people buy a home, they usually are looking at the things they can see, the pretty things, the aesthetics,” Foster said. “It’s my job to show them what they can’t see about a house, and then give them some suggestions on how to improve it in ways they maybe hadn’t thought of before.”
One of the most common recommendations Foster makes to clients, for example, is to have a radon test performed on the property.
She said she also looks at energy costs associated with the home, and educates buyers on energy-efficiency (green mortgages), which can allow them to qualify for a larger loan because lenders consider the energy savings the buyer will receive as a result.
Foster, who works mostly with first-time buyers and lower-income residents, said she has noticed a growing interest in these home mortgage loan products and also a greater appreciation for ideas on living greener in Des Moines - but she acknowledges there is still a long way to go.
“When gasoline is $3 a gallon, we all want a tiny compact car, but when it’s $1.80 a gallon we all want huge (sport utility vehicles),” she said. “We’re creatures of habit, and it’s hard for us to change. But every little step is one in the right direction.”
SOURCE: Des Moines Register