A few months ago, I met – quite by chance – an eco-broker. According to her business card, this was no ordinary eco-broker. She was Minnesota’s first eco-broker. And she happened to be representing a friend of mine who found himself in a pickle. A property he’d had on the market for a few years was finally getting serious interest from potential buyers. Unfortunately, a death in his family necessitated a lengthy trip to Africa. I found myself agreeing to the role of power of attorney on his behalf and working directly with his eco-broker.
Eco-brokers, as I soon learned, are agents who specialize in energy efficiency, sustainability, and generally all things green. The requisite training and membership for green designation varies somewhat and is relatively inexpensive. One designation in particular, EcoBroker®, costs approximately $400 for course curriculum and a year’s worth of membership fees. This program also provides comprehensive online resources and continuing education. Another green designation program, offered through the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), costs approximately $300 for course curriculum and includes the first year of membership ($99/year thereafter). NAR’s program also provides helpful information about the multifaceted benefits of specializing in green property assets.
Of course, eco-brokers and regular brokers all have the same mountain of paperwork to deal with when finalizing a real estate transaction. But during my conversations with my friend’s agent, I noticed that she had an entirely different style of selling that had to do with marketing green values, personal impact and a larger world view.
There was nothing extravagant about her approach, however. If anything, there was a sweet simplicity to her method. For example, she hosted a clothing swap during another seller’s open house where, atop the modestly sized property, several state-of-the-art solar panels flashed in the midday sun. And at another seller’s property, this smart eco-broker landed a sale by leveraging a soon-to-be-developed community garden a stone’s throw from the property in question. Clearly having a community garden at close reach was important to the buyer—enough of a priority, in fact, to seal the deal.
A chance encounter with Minnesota’s first eco-broker opened my eyes to a green genre I didn’t know existed. Do you have any eco-broker experiences?