Nov 14 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Steve Brown The Dallas Morning News

At a time when the national housing market is singing the blues, real estate agents are going green.

Homebuilders endorsed the green building concept years ago, and the commercial development industry has even gotten on the bandwagon, but home sales agents haven't been as quick to follow their lead.

Now, with the housing market in a slump, agents all over the country are hoping to boost business by embracing environmentally friendly, energy-efficient homes.

"Green has certainly been getting more and more attention over the last few years," said Hugh Morris of the Washington, D.C.-based Realtors association, which held its annual meeting last weekend in Orlando. "A huge number of Realtors expect green housing to be a much bigger work area."

In Dallas, the MetroTex Association of Realtors is holding a seminar this month to train residential agents to specialize in green home sales. The trade group says it's the first local real estate association in the U.S. to offer the National Association of Realtors' green designation course.

"We have Realtors coming from all over North Texas, the state and the Southwest region," said Rich Thomas, chief executive of the local organization. So far, about 60 agents have signed up for the seminar, and MetroTex Realtors expects that number to grow.

A National Association of Realtors study said that the majority of recent homebuyers consider a home's environmental and energy features important. And about one in three homeowners say they're willing to spend money to increase their green appeal with potential buyers.

More than half of potential sellers said they thought it was important to work with a green-certified real estate agent. More than 10,000 recent homebuyers were polled over 12 months ending in June, the national association said.

Until recently, green agents have held only a small niche in the housing market.

Washington, D.C., agent Michael Kiefer said he chose to develop his green housing expertise when he got into the business two years ago as a way to differentiate himself from the pack.

"The green building market was something that was virtually untapped in the real estate industry," Mr. Kiefer told agents at the Florida meeting. "Everything we see today has some sort of great brand association.

"It's important for a Realtor to build the green brand as part of your market."

Mr. Kiefer accomplished this by becoming a specialist in promoting green building features and analyzing properties for energy and environmental friendliness. He also promotes the concept on the Internet and in local communities.

"We are in a down market, and it's a perfect opportunity," he said. "You need to build it and be the first in your market."

Dallas real estate agent Beth Johnson saw the trend coming more than five years ago, when she and her husband decided to buy land and build a green house.

"We had great difficulty finding a Realtor that was able to help," Ms. Johnson said. "We had Realtors who didn't know what we meant when we said a green home. They thought we wanted to paint it green."

Ms. Johnson began to take classes and was certified as an "EcoBroker" in 2005 and earned a LEED AP designation by the U.S. Green Building Council. "I've been specializing pretty much in green properties since then," she said.

Since more than three-quarters of U.S. homes and condos were built before 1977, the green initiative can't be limited to new construction, said North Carolina green housing consultant Victoria Schomer.

Real estate agents can help sellers and buyers in that effort, she said.

"We need to green up all of our residential stock," Ms. Schomer said. "The greenest building in the world is the one you don't build but retrofit and remodel."

Ms. Johnson says she welcomes the prospect of more green agents. "That's fine --the pie is going to get bigger," she said. "The goal is to help every green buyer and seller. There is far more interest now, and consumers are getting educated."

THE COURSE: The MetroTex Association of Realtors' two-day course on Tuesday and Wednesday is designed to help real estate agents earn a "green" designation from the National Association of Realtors. Topics:

-- Green building concepts, principles and practices

-- Marketing to the green consumer

-- The financial advantages of eco-friendly and energy-efficient properties

-- The significance of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, Energy Star and other rating systems

-- Energy efficiency and air quality

-- Regulatory issues, zoning and building codes as they relate to sustainability

-- Sustainable communities and land planning

SOURCE: MetroTex Association of Realtors

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