Green is Unregulated

I was fortunate enough to be on the Home Energy Solutions ESPN radio show yesterday, and a few points hit home to me:

1. It’s not easy being green. With so much green-washing it’s hard to know what’s green, and what’s green-painted. There’s no Federal standard on the usage of “green” - it’s not like “organic” - it’s unregulated.
2. Consumers don’t know what EcoBrokers are or what they do.
3. Home owners are unaware of the rebates and subsidies they can take advantage of right now. This will allow them to enjoy cost savings, a healthy home and help them differentiate their home when they come to sell.
4. Home owners aren’t sure who to trust when it comes to improving their homes.

I’m going to address these in coming posts, so stay tuned!

I know that most of the attention and marketing that consumers receive is from new green builders, such as those building homes at Mueller. They have great products, and a great story to tell with some builders offering 5 Star AEGBP rated homes (Streetman, Saldana, Muskin, and some custom builders), 4 Star AEGBP rated homes (Standard Pacific) and 3 Star AEGBP rated homes (David Weekley, Meritage).

The builders are ahead of the curve. As more and more highly educated Austin consumers become attuned to green homes, this is going to become more important to people wanting to sell their existing homes.

On the radio show I talked about sellers who had their ECAD audit and chose to fix the problems - 80% duct leakage. The HVAC fixes cost around $700, of which they get almost $450 back as rebates and incentives. Now I can market their home as having excellent duct work - 8% leakage - which is better than the requirement for some new home builders.

The only thing I wonder is, how much would they have saved in their utility bills if they had done this a year before selling, or two years before selling? I’ll bet they would have saved more than the $250 it ended up costing them, and would have given them better air quality.

Garreth Wilcock is an Austin EcoBroker® with Keller Williams Realty.

Specializing in: Green Austin Real Estate and New Green Homes in Austin.

(512) 694 8873