Go Green, Team!

Forgive me readers, for I have neglected you! It's been a ...ahem... well, it's been a long time since my last post. If you've been waiting -- sorry!

Remember that busiest I've ever been in my life thing I mentioned in my first post? Just as bad now. I'm done with my courses. What a relief! And they seem to be working because now more and more clients have joined me in searching for homes. My calendar is so full now that the little boxes on my iCal seem to warp and bulge to hold all the appointments. I'm glad for the work! And of course the market's slow, so I have to hoof it a lot to get the paycheck at close. Clients who are seriously looking to buy or sell are always welcome no matter how strained my calendar gets. I've gotten good at juggling by now, even juggling while standing on one foot with one arm behind my back. If I need to learn to fly at the same time then that's what I'll do.

Today I'm motivated to cram in some blogging time cause I have great news! I'm part of a new green focused real estate team! A sign of the times. Someone - not me! - started the ball rolling and now we are 5. (Team name still subject to much debate and still TBD. We are a bunch of independent minded real estate folk after all.) I'm thrilled to be a part of a group who are as excited about the future of green building as I am.

All 5 of us see that green is the future of real estate. Housing is going to have to be green, eco friendly, sustainable, energy and resource conserving -- whatever you want to call it. I imagine in a couple of decades, practically all housing will be green, but for now while everyone learns the ropes, we'll need guidance. That's where my team comes in. We plan to stay at the bleeding edge of green housing. And each of us brings unique talents to the job. We've got Laura who is decisive and fearless about speaking her mind, Bryan, who's got sales ability and confidence that rubs off onto his clients. Dan's the mediator with business and marketing savvy. Mike is the networker who gets things happening and me, I'm the researcher. The combination of skills will make us unstoppable!

We've each got green experience to bring to the mix too. 2 of the team have already completed the EcoBroker courses and stay on top of things through membership there. Eventually all of us will become EcoBrokers. If you've read my posts before, you know I've completed the Chicago Conservation Corps leadership training. What a terrific way of learning the needs specific to the Chicago area and an opportunity to begin helping friends and neighbors go green on the local level. Before that, I remodeled a north side 2 flat using the three Rs - the new ones, that is - reduce, reuse, recycle. Renovation remains the ultimate in reduce and reuse in the real estate world. From the buyer perspective, you can't match the energy efficiency of high quality new construction, but in a carefully remodeled home, you can come close and you can save a whole house full of landfill space. (More developers are taking on the issue of what to do with the building they just tore down and are recycling much of it. The city of Chicago is now requires that construction waste is recycled to some degree. The potential here is great)

Our team wants to walk the walk, not just talk the talk, so on the local level, we've focused on greening our 3 current Chicago offices in Lincoln Square, Roscoe Village and West Loop and our suburban office in Wheaton. A full 50% of the United States per capita CO2 emmissions come from our places of work. Greening our workplaces has a much bigger impact than any of us recycling at home. I'm thrilled to have found the powers that be at the company to be not only cooperative, but enthusiastic. Our managing broker, Glen, has been extremely supportive and encouraging, has met with us several times and has taken decisive action to get things going. He ordered the new recycling bins for all offices this week and they should be in place in no time. Thanks, Glen. We couldn't do it without you.

We're thrilled that our offices are 90% CFL compliant already, so we just have a few bulbs to add. Our next quick easy step is to get rid of the disposable cups in each office and replace them with mugs. In a few weeks our offices will be not be green with envy, but enviably green.

And the best is yet to come - Our team will have a chance to advise Sussex & Reilly in green construction soon, as we're building a new office space. That will be a lot of fun. I let you all know when we're under way, so you can come have a look!