 So you are interested in... - healthy living
- sustainable development
- energy efficiency
- conserving natural resources
...and you either live in Western North Carolina or want to move there. Now, suppose you want to build or buy a house, or a whole development. You're going to want to do something in harmony with your interests. And Asheville is the perfect place to do it! No longer just a sleepy little mountain town, Asheville has become a progressive center for all kinds of things and one is green building. Whether you want to build, buy or sell, having a REALTOR® who is a certified Environmental Consultant -- or ECO Consultant -- will make all the difference in the world. An ECO Consultant is a REALTOR® with an interest in healthy, sustainable design, building and development who has completed the Asheville Board of REALTORS® certification program to become an ECO Consultant. Thirty-six hours of training in all the major issues of green building is required. The combination of core required courses and a choice of many electives allows each certified ECO Consultant to complete the training with a good understanding of both the issues and local resources. This makes certified ECO Consultant uniquely qualified to serve clients who share eco-values. |
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The Environmental Consultants committee, a division of the Asheville Board of REALTORS®, is comprised of REALTORS® from various companies who are working together to advance the sustainability of real estate in Western North Carolina. Environmental Consultants division members are either certified ECO Consultants or agents who are in the process of becoming ECO Certified. The ECO Consultant certification is a 36-hour program that educates REALTORS® about a variety of green building a development issues from indoor air quality to sustainable site design. |
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To unite buyers and sellers of sustainable real estate and connect our clients with green building and development experts for technical assistance in the real estate transaction.  |
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Green building is a vague term that has no real definition but has gained widespread attention in the last couple of years. Marketing firms are branding the green concept in order to capitalize on consumers' desires to live in a environmentally and socially sustainable manner. "Green buildings" encompass a wide variety of real estate from conservation based subdivisions with homes that are off the grid to mixed-use buildings that have residential condos above ground floor retail. Your ECO Consultant can help you determine the type of green real estate that best fits your needs and she or he can also help you distinguish between true green real estate and real estate that is being Green Washed (e.g. homes that are not environmentally and socially sustainable but are being marketed as such.) With the many newspaper headlines these days on global warming and rising fuel and food costs, it's becoming more common knowledge that we need to make changes in the way we live. Not as many people are buying cars that use a lot of gas. They want fuel economy. Hybrid sales are rising and SUV sales are dropping. Both fuel economy and a concern for emissions and our environment need to influence our decisions. That's the trend and I don't think it's a fad. The same needs to become true of the homes we live in. If we're shopping for a new house, we need to think of energy efficiency. But that's just one aspect of "green." We also need to think of many other things. The following list is adapted from the U.S. Green Building Council checklist: |
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