The last member poll asked you how you think we should celebrate our 75th Anniversary. With only 30 responses (so few??), hosting a BIG party is in the lead. We’re going to leave that poll open while we add our new inquiry… Would you be interested in obtaining your Green Designation?
As our 2016 trends show, going green is not part of a fad. Green real estate is altering market dynamics. Heating and cooling costs were at least “somewhat” important to 85% of home buyers in 2013. A whopping 73% of home buyers considered commuting costs at least “somewhat” important in the same study. The course prepares real estate professionals to provide advice and sources of information to help homeowners improve the resource efficiency of their homes from low-cost fixes and DIY projects to retrofitting and replacing systems on a big scale. Marketing energy efficiency can also improve a seller’s net proceeds.
We can offer live lecture or online courses to help you learn about this new market. Here are the learning objectives for those that like the details:
Course Objective
Resource-Efficient Home: Retrofits, Remodels, Renovations, and New Home Construction covers the distinguishing characteristics that make a home resource thrifty. The course looks at why consumer demand for these homes is increasing and how both the homes and consumer expectations impact the market. The course prepares real estate professionals to provide advice and sources of information to help homeowners improve the resource efficiency of their homes from low-cost fixes and DIY projects to retrofitting and replacing systems to big -budget remodeling projects. The course also looks at constructing a new, resource-efficient home and the value that real estate professionals can bring to the design and build team.
Learning Objectives
Chapter 1: The Resource-Efficient Home
What is a resource-efficient home and why is consumer demand for these homes increasing?
- Observe the influence of principles of sustainability on consumer attitudes and choices and home values.
- Distinguish between homes with resource-efficient features, smart homes, and certified homes.
- Help clients and customers evaluate the cost-benefit balance of retrofitting, remodeling, or renovating.
Chapter 2: DIY Projects for Improving Resource Efficiency
What can homeowners do on their own to improve the resource efficiency of their homes?
- Help home buyers see the potential in an existing home for resource-efficiency improvements.
- Suggest to homeowners DIY steps and easy upgrades to improve the resource-efficiency of a home.
- Help consumers understand energy-efficiency ratings of appliances.
Chapter 3: Smart Home Technologies
What makes homes smart and what is their impact on the market?
- Describe characteristics of smart home technologies.
- Help homeowners understand the benefits and implementation of smart home technologies.
- Explain how smart home technologies help achieve resource-efficiency goals.
Chapter 4: Retrofitting and Replacing Systems
What are some of the opportunities for improving the resource-efficiency of an existing home?
- Describe choices for resource-efficient home systems such as a HVAC Direct mini split ac and water managementand the significance of ratings for home systems and materials.
- Suggest improvements to enhance the resource-efficiency of a home as well as the quality of the indoor environment.
- Show the linkage between high-performance homes and value.
Chapter 5: Remodeling: Big Budget Projects and the Bottom Line
What are some of the possibilities, including alternative energy, when a homeowner can invest more time and money in upgrading a home?
- Advise clients and customers on the potential of various home renovations to increase the value of a home.
- Refer consumers to information sources for planning a remodeling or renovation project.
- Discuss the technologies and methods for alternative energy resources including wind and solar power generation.
Chapter 6: From the Ground Up: New and Custom Construction
What are the steps, opportunities, and choices involved in constructing a new home and how can the real estate professional add value?
- Help consumers evaluate the pros and cons of purchasing a new home with green features versus purchasing and upgrading an existing home.
- Describe the design and construction phases as well as components of resource-efficient new and custom homes.
- Observe the market impact of new, resource-efficient spec homes.
Day 2:
Course Objective
Why All Clients Are Green and How to Represent Them, the second course in the designation program sequence, focuses on applying your knowledge of resource-efficient, smart, and certified homes and adapting your core real estate skills to build business success in the niche market for resource-efficient homes.
Learning Objectives
Chapter 1: The New Normal – Understanding Consumer Motivations and Priorities
How has the sum of many small environmentally conscious changes in our daily lives resulted in a big shift in behavior and attitude.
- Respond to consumer perceptions of what green means in relation to home features.
- Differentiate characteristics and motivations of consumers: cost savings, health, sustainability, and lifestyle.
- Match home features to specific benefits that consumers want.
Chapter 2: The New Market Drivers – Walkability, Transportation, Affordability
How do affordability, walkability, and transportation interrelate to impact homes values and create attractive communities?
- Recognize the interrelationships between green lifestyles and home values, particularly affordability, in urban, suburban, and rural settings.
- Describe the correlation between home values and public transportation that offers access to services and employment.
- Match home buyers’ priorities for walkability with communities and homes.
Chapter 3: Greening the MLS and Home Valuation
What are the challenges to valuation of resource-efficient homes and how can these challenges be addressed?
- Describe the benefits for consumers and appraisers of searchable green fields in the MLS.
- Help clients and customers understand the appraisal and pricing of resource-efficient homes with green features.
- Provide appraisers with information about the green features of a home to assist in the valuation process.
Chapter 4: Listing and Marketing the Resource-Efficient Home
What is the best approach for winning the listing and selling a high-performance, energy-efficient home?
- Present the green features of sellers’ homes to best advantage in marketing efforts.
- Use energy-usage data appropriately in marketing a home.
- Comply with NAR’s Code of Ethics when presenting information about a resource-efficient home.
Chapter 5: Finding and Buying the Resource-Efficient Home
If there are multiple nuances to what green means, how is a real estate professional supposed to pin down what buyers want?
- Match properties to buyers needs, wants, and priorities in a home with green features.
- Help buyers see the potential for retrofitting existing homes to improve energy efficiency and enhance value.
- Provide home buyers to information about incentives energy-efficiency retrofits and mortgage financing.
Chapter 6: How to Build Your Team of Resource-Efficiency Professionals
What is the best way to assemble a team of experts who know how to service and maintain resource-efficient homes and to build business success in this niche market?
- Find community involvement opportunities to raise awareness of sustainability and set an example through business practices.
- Identify a team of professionals who can build, rate, and maintain resource-efficient homes in order to connect green-minded home sellers and buyers with the service resources they need.
- Identify business planning action steps to establish a strong market position as a Green designee.