Just finished my EcoBroker class in Austin today!

I just completed the three day EcoBroker class hosted by Austin Title/Land America. The course was developed by Colorado based EcoBroker International and has been presented to Realtors and Real Estate Agents all over the world. We were told this afternoon that there are approx. 4400 members of which approx. 4000 are in the US, approx 90 of us now in the Austin area.

Each day had a different topic. The first was Environmental Advantage which covered Radon, Lead, Water Quality, Mold, Asbestos, Indoor Air Quality, Historic Contamination, and Green Buildings and Health. Day two was Energy Adavantage and it covered Energy ratings and "Green" Financing Options ( which obviously are in a flux right now due to the current state of the economy and the bail out!), Energy-Efficient Windows, Energy-Efficient Space Heating and Colling, Energy-Efficient Insulation, Energy-Efficient Appliances, Building Orientation, Solar Technologies, and Green Buildings and Energy. Today was a review of materials and group workshop/discussion about marketing and application.

The course was packed full of information that will be invaluable to Clients both Buying and Selling homes that are "energy efficient" or "green builds" or resale homes Buyers want to upgrade to reap the financial benefits of energy efficiency, or Sellers want to upgrade to increase marketability. We learned that in a recent pole approx. 94% of recent Buyers indicated that energy efficiency was VERY important to them.

I have been fortunate to have experienced first hand living a "sustainable lifestyle" in an "eco-friendly"/"green built" home that was off the grid many years ago when we lived in Colorado. My husband built our "earthship"(bermed homes with water catchement and solar power systems built out of recycled tires designed by SSA out of Taos, NM), and others as well as other types of alternative desinged homes such as straw bale and rammed earth. In my Real Estate business I specialized in the resale of mountain home/estate sized and ranch type properties with upscale "alternative" built homes including domes, sips panels, earthships, etc.

Having built, lived in, and specialized in an "earthship" lifesytle I have a great understanding of the transition that one makes from the standard lifestyle when moving into a solar photovoltaic home with a water catchment system, one of the more extreme changes one can make. Of course there are many Eco friendly applications and changes available to Buyers and Sellers that don't involve such drastic changes and I can help demistfy the "green" and help Buyers and Sellers understand what the benefits and values are in different applications.

Having lived that lifestyle sustainable, eco friendly life style, happily and successfully I already had a good understanding of many of the EcoBroker topics, but this course was a great refresher for me. I am very excited to get my EcoBroker certification and am looking forward to helping Buyers and Sellers in and around the Austin area reach thier "Eco" goals using all of the new tools I have learned in combination with the life lessons I have learned over the years.