MLS Listings Going Green
November 23rd, 2007 | Posted in Housing
A little good news in an otherwise gloom and doom real estate market - the local Multiple Listing Service (MLS) that’s used by realtors to list and search for houses, is going green.
“Before this there was no way to specifically search for a green home at all,” said Jason Stone, a principal in Creve Coeur-based Sage Home Builders, which exclusively builds green houses. “There is a small but definite audience of people who know what green is and are out there looking for green homes.”
The number of buyers asking for green features is growing, said Jay Swoboda, principal in EcoUrban Homes, based in St. Louis.
Swoboda, whose company builds modular, certified green houses, was a key force behind the change.
Under the system, the listing for each house has a series of categories, such as number of rooms, heating and cooling systems, flooring, available appliances and type of construction. Within each category are 15 to 20 specific features.
Getting green homes listed seemed to be a concerted effort, led by Mid America Regional Information Systems Inc., the company that administers the MLS system in the St. Louis area. Also, involved was the U.S. Green Building Council’s St. Louis Chapter, which certifies homes and other builds under their Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) system. The MLS system will not only allow you to search for LEED-certified homes, but those certified by other rating agencies as well.
Worst come to worst, if you don’t care about the environment and just your pocketbook, know this: “Green houses generally appraise higher than comparable traditionally built ones, said Stone, but the lack of a green designation in the Multiple Listing Service means there are no definitive records.”
And St. Louis, which isn’t always a bastion of progressive action, is among the leaders in this area. Already hosting a disproportionately large share of the country’s LEED-certified buildings, the City is only the third in the nation to incorporate “green” into its MLS system.
Both Sage Homebuilders and EcoUrban Homes are listed in green | rising’s Green Directory.
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