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Stukel Receives Green Recognition From NAR

by Chicago Agent

Laura-Stukel-green-industry-advocate-award

Realtor Laura Stukel has been awarded with the Green REsource Council’s Green Industry Advocate Award. She is the very first recipient of the award, which she received during NAR’s Evergreen Awards Nov. 11.

By Carlo Calma

Laura Stukel, an agent with L.W. Reedy Real Estate in Elmhurst, was awarded the Green REsource Council’s inaugural Green Industry Advocate Award during the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) EverGreen Awards on Sunday.

Stukel was recognized for her work in helping multiple listing services (MLS) across the U.S. implement searchable fields for houses with green building features, as well as certifications from third party-verified environmental agencies. 

Stukel’s Green Efforts

Recipients of the Green REsource Council’s EverGreen Award are typically based on their participation in GreenREsource Council programs, activities and overall general contributions to green real estate. Each recipient comes from three distinct categories: educator, association and practitioner.

Amanda Stinton, manager for NAR’s Green Designation & e-PRO Certifications, explained that recipients from all three categories have contributed to a common goal of the association.

“We award instructors, Realtors and state or local Realtor associations who have helped increase the level of understanding about sustainability in their area,” said Stinton.

“[Stukel] is someone who always has many projects brewing at once, but she’s always someone we can count,” explained Stinton on why they chose to award Stukel’s efforts. “This is a very special category that the Green REsource Council felt was warranted based on our work with [Stukel] over the past few years.”

In addition to creating an awareness for the need of searchable fields for green homes in MLS’s, part of Stukel’s work with NAR was also helping in the creation of the association’s GreenMLS Toolkit. In her part, Stukel created the “fair value at resale” framework.

“Part of the problem [with green home listings] is that there are so many ways to call a home ‘green,'” said Stukel. Her main intention in promoting searchable fields for green homes in MLS’s was that she was “trying to get the infrastructure [to] work better nationally.”

In fact, the GreenMLS Toolkit stresses that documentation is key when it comes to selling a green home.

“It is critical that when work is complete, the home owner receives some sort of documentation about the [green] work done and any performance results expected,” according to the GreenMLS site. “A certificate issued by a third-party, like the local utility or a green building standards organization is that much better.”

Through the efforts of the GreenMLS Toolkit team, Realtors will have a better knowledge, and better way of communicating to buyers, the green features of a home that they be showing or listing online.

RESO Supports GreenMLS

One industry organization that supports NAR’s GreenMLS Toolkit is the Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO). In a recent press release, RESO announced their support, and also explained that their Data Dictionary 1.0 now includes specific terms for Realtors to display in selling a green home.

“As homes become more energy-efficient and are built to green certification standards, Realtors need the ability to properly describe those attributes in their property listings,” said Rebecca Jensen, RESO chair and CEO at UtahRealEstate.com. “RESO has embraced the Green Initiative by incorporating new terms into the Data Dictionary.”

According to RESO, their Data Dictionary standardizes data terms and values that define descriptions of property attributes in the U.S. as used by brokers, MLS’s and software developers who create applications for consumers and Realtors.

“RESO supports MLS’s that wish to include ‘green fields’ and energy-related attributes to their property descriptions,” according to the press release. Terms like GreenBuildingCertification, GreenEnergyEfficient and GreenSustainablity are now included in RESO’s Data Dictionary 1.0.

 

 

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