PDF version

Green MLS Tool Kit

Posted on Apr 27, 2010 in Real Estate by nwilkes

Frederick County Appraiser Don Briggs and Builder Steve Seawright recently participated in a national collaboration, spearheaded by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), to “green” the Nation’s Real Estate Multiple Listing Services (MLS). The work product of this effort is a document now on the NAR web-site titled, “The Green MLS Tool Kit” at www.GreentheMLS.org.

The broad-based effort to create “The Green MLS Took Kit” came about in response to widespread recognition that there is an immense need for information facilitating identification and valuation of “green home features”. NAR recognized that the MLS systems existing nationwide were the best place to start in gathering and organizing such information.

There are numerous issues associated with defining, identifying and valuing “green” home features. This effort to provide a road map for “greening the MLS” necessarily came to include representatives of the many parties having an important stake in insuring that green features of new and existing homes are readily identified and appropriately valued. The tool kit was a collaborative effort by a team of individuals, associations and organizations that either have had direct experience with MLS system management or with implementing a green MLS initiative. NAR worked with the Appraisal Institute; Council of Multiple Listing Services; EcoBroker International; Enterprise Community Partners, Inc.; Metropolitan Regional Information; Multi-Regional Multiple Listing Service System; National Association of Home Builders; NeighborWorks® America; Traverse Area Association of REALTORS®; and the U.S. Green Building Council to develop the tool kit.

A significant Tool Kit benefit is that MLS systems which are coming to recognize the necessity and value of being “green” do not have to re-invent the wheel. They can start with the best practices of the several MLS systems that successfully have preceded them. Those best practices and information formats have been synthesized and spelled out in the Tool Kit.

Information already available through “green pioneer” MLS systems in areas as geographically diverse as Seattle and Atlanta demonstrates the benefits of homes containing certified green features. In Seattle, a sample of green-certified homes sold at a 9.6% premium over their non-certified counterparts and stayed on the market 18 fewer days, and comparable price and “time on market” advantages for “green” homes have been documented from the Atlanta, GA and Portland, OR MLS systems.

The tool kit provides a snapshot of the green home industry, outlines why adopting a green initiative for MLSs is important, and offers strategies for effective changes. It contains myriad resources to help NAR members plan the process of greening their MLS. For example, it features case studies of several MLS systems that have completed a green initiative and examples of forms and strategies from several MLSs that have gone green.

Related Tags: