The City of Chicago and Elevate Energy are partnering with Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED), Chicagoland’s multiple listing service (MLS), to bring the city the first-ever Chicago Energy eCompliance Brokerage Challenge.

The Challenge will recognize brokerages in Chicago that adopt MRED’s Energy Cost Disclosure (ECD) tool, a private, secure system in partnership with ComEd and People’s Gas, delivering instant, paperless energy usage data through connectMLS, on any device. The tool removes the need to fax or wait for data for home listings, utilizing an easy and convenient capability in the “Utilities & Energy Efficient Features” section of the MLS.  The Challenge will also automate brokerage’s listing process by preparing an energy cost disclosure report online, with up-to-the-moment data.

Those brokerages that complete the following checklist will be publically recognized in an Earth Day press release.

• Management commitment to require ECD usage by their brokers on Chicago property listings.
• Office staff member oversees training activities on the ECD tool.
• Using ECD fields provided by MRED becomes part of the brokerage’s listing process.

The Chicago Energy eCompliance Brokerage Challenge is an engaging and easy way for brokerages to institutionalize usage of the ECD tool, complying with the ordinance and securing their place as leaders in using this latest technology. A preliminary analysis also shows that Chicago single-family real estate listings that disclosed energy costs spent less time on the market and had a higher closing rate.

To participate, brokerages should complete the three above tasks and return a completed form to pamela.brookstein@elevateenergy.org by March 23, 2015 to ensure recognition. All brokerages that do so will be included in an Earth Day announcement on April 22, 2015. Join early adopters of the challenge, like the Baird & Warner, as well as the Century 21 Affiliated office in Hyde Park.