Real Estate Service To Index Property Listings By Green Features
by John Laumer, Philadelphia 
on 09.28.06
Residents of the US States of Oregon and Washington will, by Spring of 2007, be able to shop online for homes based on a select list of “green” criteria. “Oregon’s Regional Multiple Listing Service (RMLS™) Board of Directors recently agreed to expand its database by spring 2007 to include information on energy efficient and green home features, making this region one of the few in the nation where this is possible”. There’s a good news bad news element to this story. RMLS™ access is proprietary, which means you’ll need an agent to access the listing fields. The good news is that green design has become so important to consumers that the real estate industry is organizing to meet demand. Translation: green design is showing one more sign of mainstreaming, starting (no surprise) in the Pacific Northwest. Hopefully, multiple listing services in cities like Austin, Berkeley, Boulder, Chicago, Denver, Eugene, Honolulu, Huntsville, Madison, Oakland, and St Paul will soon add these features. If the result is to concentrate demand and elevate the market value of green properties, nationally, the tipping point comes ever-closer.
Per the detailed story at the following link: the new RMLS™ earch fields will include:
· Home performance and green home certifications such as ENERGY STAR®, LEED® for Homes, Earth Advantage® and others
· High efficiency 90 AFUE furnaces
· ENERGY STAR qualified appliances
· Source of electrical power, including specific utility service and solar features
· Additional home modifications, including sustainable materials, water filters, rain collectors & solar tubes
Footnote: The RMLS™ Board of Directors approval came in response to a proposal led by this person .
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I personally like this site Listed Green
It only costs $20 per month to list green, energy efficient homes for sale. Good Stuff.
I'm proud to share that St. Louis has adopted green in its MLS as well. You can search by green features such as geothermal heating or by certification (LEED, Energy Star or HBA-GBI). Since the certification is the only way to have some third party evidence that the home is actually green, it's reassuring that this is a searchable feature.
I would like to comment on the greening of the MLS systems. The reason that I spearheaded the grreening of the MLS systems and continue to do so is that there is not a concensus about whatv the value of it is yet. If you have the data and it is accessible by both Realtors and appraisers then it might eventually translate into a loan in which the propoerty is taken into account as well.