Green Real Estate
What is green real estate and why should you care if your Realtor is a “Green Realtor?”
The term “Green Real Estate” brings up many different reactions from, what is that to why is it important? At its core, green real estate simply means:
Helping you find or create a home that is energy and water efficient.
Helping you find or create a home that drains your family’s finances less each month and isn’t filled with toxic chemicals that make your family sick.
Now that seems like a tall order because all homes have toxic chemicals in them however, with a little education you can learn to not add new and even more harmful ones in.
Why Green Real Estate?
Because it makes sense…
Going green doesn’t mean a huge investment over and above your initial purchase. Some simple, cheap, everyday things like installing LED light bulbs, weatherstripping and caulking doors and windows, installing power strips to completely cut power to appliances when not in use and installing low flow plumbing fixtures can greatly reduce your cost of ownership and conversely increase your profit on your home buying investment. It also keeps more money in your vacation fund and who doesn’t love that?
Because I care about your health and the health of your family…
Traditional building supplies have been filled with chemicals like formaldehyde in pressed wood products and PDBE fire retardants in carpets that can cause anything from mild allergies and irritations to cancer. Since I started doing this in 2005, low to no VOC paints are common place, strict regulations on formaldehyde use in pressed wood products have been enacted and the healthier building product offerings at your neighborhood big box stores are more plentiful. I have found over 17 years of doing this that most of my clients do some level of remodeling the instant they buy a home. Doing this can introduce a lot of new toxic chemicals into the indoor air environment. If you are concerned about this, you have my free consulting services for life to help you choose healthier and safer building products for your home.
Because I want my real estate business to represent my core values…
As a Realtor who lives and works in Placerville and the surrounding areas, I see my business as a reflection of our community and who I am. I want it to reflect my core values. We live in a beautiful place and people come from all over the world to visit and take in the natural beauty of El Dorado County. Over 75% of the land in our county is in protected open spaces and I want to make sure that my business practices contribute to caretaking and wise stewardship of our natural world.
In 2021 it both makes sense, and is totally possible, to work from home, use virtual appointments to reduce emissions and be more time effective and use almost no paper in your transaction.
This simple green ethos of stewardship for our community, our clients and our planet drives everything I do at Rich Curtis real estate.