DENVER, NOV. 1, 2012: GreenSpot Real Estate recently launched its “GreenSpot” eco-makeover program for existing-home listings, including a “window sticker” showing the property’s energy-, water-efficient and “green” features. The pilot program netted one of the metro area's highest prices for bungalows.
The 1925 home, a 2,025-square-foot bungalow in Denver’s West City Park neighborhood, sold for $390,000, a 4 – 8 percent increase over what competing brokers thought the property would bring.
Working with the homeowner, GreenSpot tuned the home for greater efficiency, including swapping light bulbs, cleaning and tuning the furnace and air-conditioner, blanketing the hot water tank, adding faucet aerators, and switching basement windows with ENERGY STAR replacements. The company then advertised the upgrades and estimated savings in a “window sticker” similar to a new-car window sticker – 20 percent energy savings and 30 percent water for the house.
“As building codes for new construction continue to advance, we want to help our older-home listings compete,” says GreenSpot Real Estate co-owner Tracye Herrington. “The makeover works on any home with similar results.”
A recent Zip Realty survey shows that 55 percent of homebuyers cited green features as important, and of those 89 percent named energy efficiency as number one. So in March, Metrolist, the state’s largest multiple listing service, added fields to metro Denver’s MLS allowing the capture, advertising and tracking of energy-efficient and green features in properties.
“I’d like to buy one of our homes,” says GreenSpot co-owner Melissa Baldridge. “The makeover and window sticker is one way we demonstrate we care about the owner’s experience long after they buy.”
# # #