As Americans continue to put an emphasis on creating as green a lifestyle as possible, real estate professionals across the country are doing their part to explore the benefits of building a green home with their clients. While many homeowners have begun to fill their homes with energy-efficient products, building green homes from the ground up is becoming a more prominent trend.
Carl Seville, Owner, Seville Consulting in Atlanta, Georgia believes that the four main precepts behind the process of building green include that homes be energy efficient, healthy for the occupant, durable and resource efficient. “All of these concepts interrelate, as a lot of things that make a home energy efficient will make it healthy and resource efficient as well,” says Seville. “While green building is only going to become more mainstream as the years go on, it is crucial for real estate agents to be aware of the possibilities of green building in order to help their clients understand the ease of reducing their carbon footprint,” he adds.
Green building is a fairly well-established building principle that anyone can employ with the proper training, and almost any home can be made green. “The key thing to remember is that green building is not about products and materials, instead it is a process,” says Seville. “While there are very few materials that can’t be part of a green home, it is crucial that the home is built correctly before green products are implemented,” he adds. While green building is still considered to be in its early stage, agents who take the time now to learn about green features and their advantages will have the upper hand when working with clients who are interested in energy efficient homes. “Being aware of the green features within a home will enable agents to market homes effectively to clients looking for energy efficient features,” adds Seville.

Not only should real estate agents be experienced with marketing green homes, they should also be aware as to the advantages of living in an energy efficient home. “Living in a green home has many advantages over living in a traditional home,” says Seville. Not only are green homes very healthy, they are also comfortable, quiet, cleaner than traditional homes, don’t get hot and cold spots and they use a lot less electricity and gas. “The advantages to living in a green home are quite evident and while most homeowners understand the benefits of being friendly to the environment, it is crucial that real estate agents take this one step further,” says Seville.

“As the environment continues to be on the forefront of everyone’s mind, green building is going to become the way of the future.” As the entire concept becomes more understood, people will realize they don’t have to spend more money in order to take advantage of green features and it will become clear that there is no downside to building green.

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