When it comes to choosing a real estate agent, a lot of factors must be considered: Do they understand what you’re looking for? Do you have chemistry? How long have they been in the business? But there’s another question that should be coming into play more these days: Do they work for an agency with a green initiative?
The real estate biz can definitely create a lot of waste: All that faxing, driving around the city, leaving the lights on for showings, the mountains of business cards that get left on the hall table, etc.
But in Toronto, one company has taken the lead when it comes to the environmental side of selling houses.
Bosley — which I just so happened to use when selling my condo and buying my house — has made a point of restructuring themselves in numerous ways. When my agent, Lisa, sent me an electronic greeting card this holiday season (so as not to waste paper), I noticed a little green logo at the bottom and asked her about it. Here’s what she said:
Bosley has formed a ‘green task force.’ The purpose of this is to recommend ways that we can be more environmentally responsible without costing the company more money, and to suggest ways that we can guide our clients to be environmentally responsible as well.
So far, there has been one meeting and it was very productive and yielded a number of good suggestions:
- We will be conduct an environmental audit on all three of our buildings and enlarge and promote our recycling program
- We will develop a checklist for green living to educate and encourage our clients and develop green gift baskets
- We will price partial or even total use of recycled paper
- We will encourage everyone to use the new green logo on everything they do — including their websites
I have always sent out as much electronically as possible — newsletters, just listed, open house invitations, etc. I only do actual mail-outs when advertising a listing where I need to target a specific geographical area. I’m also thinking of getting a Toyota Prius in the spring when the lease on my Honda is up.
Isn’t my agent great?
See, people always think of ways to green their homes, but what about their home-buying and selling? I’m glad I made the right choice, and from now on I’ll be sticking with Lisa and Bosley.
Posted by Vanessa 
