Baltimore's first "EcoBroker" looks beyond square footage

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Jul 25, 2007 by Steven Overly

If the grass really is greener on the other side of the fence, then Amanda Lee Lopez might be your neighbor's real estate agent.

As Baltimore's first "EcoBroker," Lopez is trained to look beyond a home's square footage, number of bathrooms and surrounding community when determining if it will suit her clients. She also checks the indoor air quality, the cost of utilities and how the owners, both current and new, can make green improvements.

Now two other agents in her City Life Realty office on West 36th Street have earned the EcoBroker title, and the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors is lining up others to follow suit.

As rising energy costs push living green into the mainstream, the real estate industry is ogling emerald, too, but in the form of dollar bills. Terms such as "energy-efficient improvements" or "green financing" have worked themselves into the vernacular of agents itching to attract eco-conscious clients.

Baltimore's proximity to the Chesapeake Bay and the expanding size of its walkable, downtown communities heightens residents' awareness of their environmental impact, said Brad Rogers, a City Life broker who is not "EcoBroker" certified.

Joseph T. "Jody" Landers, executive vice president of the GBBR, said there has been a lot of interest in "green" development, especially on the commercial side, over the last few years.

"It's only now beginning to take hold on the residential side," he said.

GBBR sent EcoBroker information to all of its members, Landers said, encouraging them to join the 1,500 agents in the U.S., Canada and Caribbean who John Beldock, chief executive officer of Colorado- based EcoBroker International, said have enrolled in his program.

"We saw a blatant gap across which we really needed to build a bridge between the green industry and the real estate industry," said Beldock, a former U.S. Department of Energy official who started EcoBroker more than four years ago. Issues such as poor indoor air quality and pricey utility bills often go undisclosed in home sale transactions, he said, leaving some new owners with post- sale buyer's remorse.

"It's really the real estate professional who really, in ideal situations, watches the consumer's back," Beldock said.

Lopez said she can now spot these issues when evaluating a property. And before buyers or sellers pursue lengthy, costly renovations to raise a home's value, she offers advice on everything from appliances that save energy, to windows that capture heat, to paints that emit few toxic fumes.

"Baltimore is still starting to develop more green homes," Lopez said. "At this point it's really educating buyers and sellers."

But educators must be taught before they can teach, so GBBR is offering seminars of its own aimed at informing Realtors in Baltimore and surrounding areas about the demands of the growing green real estate market, Landers said.

The organization's first seminar on green real estate had 36 student Realtors, when first-time classes ordinarily bring between five and 10, said Rogers, who teaches the class. The hour-and-a- half class has since doubled in length and additional seminars are being scheduled.

"[There's a] growing trend of not just being gatekeepers, but really providing real added value to clients so they can understand and make thoughtful, informed choices," said Rogers, who is also an owner of Baltimore Green Construction, which specializes in environmentally-friendly development.

Rogers will also sit on a GBBR task force to discuss what role the board can play in promoting ecologically smart real estate, and form a checklist so Realtors can determine whether a home meets green standards.

"What form that's going to take I can't tell you," Rogers said. "The idea is really not to be caught flat-footed, but marching proactively as the market changes."