Making the Market: A Discussion of Forces Driving Our Market

Mar 12, 2010 at 3:15 pm
Room #407

Presented by: Ben Kaufman, GreenWorks Realty

Session Description:

Is there a premium for homes with an environmental certification? Green home valuation studies point to a nuanced answer. Seattle and King County data show a strong and growing premium, with green homes a significant segment of the market. How about other parts of our region? Are there differences between certification programs? Additional premiums for deeper green homes? We’ll take a close look at some of the first conclusive data available in the country to better understand forces which drive the marketplace for green homes.

We will expand the conversation to touch upon green remodeling and home energy retrofitting and scoring, sustainable community development, priorities for green amenities, and why green matters to buyers, from a developer’s and real estate broker’s perspective. The session will help developers, builders, appraisers, architects, designers, real estate agents, remodelers, retrofitters, and homeowners to better understand primary market forces and how to best position themselves in a challenging market.

Speaker Bio:

Ben Kaufman, GreenWorks Realty

Ben is the Founder and Designated Broker of GreenWorks Realty managing over $70 Million in real estate transactions. Ben passionately promotes GreenWorks Realty's mission to improve the livability and sustainability of our community.

Ben holds an undergraduate degree in Urban Planning from the University of Washington, a Professional Commercial Real Estate Certificate from the University of Washington, a Permaculture Design Certificate from Crystal Waters, Australia, and a Certified New Home Sales Professional Certificate. Prior to founding GreenWorks, Ben co-founded Co-Opportunities Northwest, a 2001 conference to identify and advance emerging trends in sustainable community development in Puget Sound and participated on the Governor's Sustainability Roundtable in 2002.

Starting in commercial real estate land appraisal, Ben has been active in low impact land development and marketing and selling real estate for 15 years and was recently the Treasurer of the Northwest Eco-Building Guild and is the current Board Chair for the King & Snohomish County Built Green program. Ben is also a manager and investor of a 32-home sustainable community green cottage development underway in Newcastle, WA.

Ben's recent achievements include the Environmental Certification checkbox additions to his local MLS (Northwest Multiple Listing Service) and authoring the first study using MLS data to compare environmentally certified homes to non-certified homes in the United States. Ben also helped develop GreenWorks Realty's 14 clock-hour state approved class, Green Agent Essentials, for local Real Estate Agents. The Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish County recently awarded Ben as a 2009 "Built Green™ Pioneer ".