On NAR's Green Designation

I just recieved notice that I am now a Green designee and the very first in my region. The Green instruction course from the National Association of Realtors and in my case the Washington Association of Realtors gives agents valuable insights into what I believe is the future of the real estate industry. I went into the class thinking hmmm this is a good fit for me because I have always been active in protecting the environment in my area. So I thought why not learn more about helping clients that are interested in having eco friendly homes. What a surprise to see how big Green really is, and what a win win it is for all of us.

One of the concepts I really enjoyed was a new 203k loan that is rolled into the Buyers financing to help them rennovate a home they are buying. The lenders can see that by providing truly energy saving rennovations, the Buyer will actually save money month to month in utility bills in the long run, thus allowing them to qualify for a higher mortgage amount. The earth wins, the client wins and we win too because this will help stimulate our economy. There is a special process the home must go through to evaluate the upgrades and cost effectiveness. What does that mean, new job opportunities for people interested in becoming certified in many of the new evaluation programs evolving around environmentally friendly real estate projects. For me the concern is that no matter what you build new, it will impact our footprint. I think if we focus on what we have and rennovate it, well that puts a check in the plus column for lowering impact. I was delighted to discover that much of the focus in the course is on rennovating and upgrading what we have wisely, and cost effectively. There are a myriad of resources available to help your existing clients and new clients upgrade their home to lower our footprint on the environment, save money and help stimulate the economy. WIN WIN WIN

It used to be that building green was kinda ugly but no more! GREEN IS BEAUTIFUL. Our exciting field trip to a completely rennovated commercial building in downtown Spokane demonstrated the wonderful ways form and function can be woven together for an absolutely compelling atmosphere.

Our great instructor Grace Chiquette has outstanding credintials in this field and I believe she is offering this course again in Spokane in the fall. I highly recommend it to anyone considering getting this timely information.

The website for more information about NAR's Green is http://www.greenresourcecouncil.org/

Grace's Active Rain Site is http://activerain.com/gracechiquette