By Melissa Baldridge
Special to InsideRealEstateNews
Melissa Baldridge
Metrolist, the largest real estate multiple listing service serving Colorado real estate agents, recently unveiled “Energy/Green fields,” a far-reaching initiative that integrates ‘energy/green’ data into the MLS search process, officials say.
By adding key attributes such as searchable fields, Colorado’s largest MLS will provide the industry with much-needed energy and green data through home sales listings, a key component of quantifying market value and identifying comparison data for real estate professionals, homebuyers, and for appraisers that are valuating energy-efficient homes, officials say.
Governor’s Energy Office
Metrolist’s new green-field initiative is the result of work the company began with the Governor’s Energy Office in 2010.
“We identified two major reasons why we should move forward with searchable green fields,” said James T. Wanzeck, Metrolist chairman. “The first is social responsibility. Buildings, after all, consume 39 percent of the nation’s energy use. The second is Realtor differentiation. Anything Realtors can do to differentiate themselves is good.”
Metrolist, which represents approximately 50 percent of Colorado’s Realtors and almost 70 percent of the state’s real estate transactions, designed its implementation of green fields to correlate with the recommendations of the GEO’s Appraisal Committee and has made available to its 15,000 members the state supplied Energy/Green Feature Addendum. An open and voluntary group, the Committee worked with key stakeholders in developing recommended searchable fields for integration into Colorado’s multiple listings services.
Green features in this home at 3404 Tejon St. will be easy to search in Metrolist's new green fields.
“Adding searchable green fields to Metrolist is very exciting” said Pete Rusin, a GEO residential program associate. “This effort will not only increase the coverage of energy efficiency fields in Colorado, it will help home owners and buyers find homes that can save them money on their utility costs.”
Consistent with the appraisal committee’s recommendations, Metrolist’s searchable fields are split into two categories, “Certifications” and “Features.” Sellers can also showcase additional common features of an energy‐efficient/“green” home.
According to Wanzeck, compiling this data in Colorado is critical because green-building advocates say it will mirror what has been happening in other parts of the country.
“We know that green homes sell faster and for more money than conventional, code-built comparables,” said Wanzeck. “I believe all of our re-tooling and data capture will help nearly everyone in Colorado see green.”
Melissa Baldridge is co-founder of of eGreenContractors, which offers more than 120 service categories for residential and commercial repairs, renovations and additions. She also blogs about green building, living and design. Contact her at Melissa@eGreenContractors.com
