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For more than a decade, Cheryl Eley has been a broker with Residential Properties Ltd. and has been manager of the company’s East Greenwich office since 2006. This year, Eley was certified as a green broker by the National Association of Realtors.
PBN: You have recently been certified by the National Association of Realtors. Why did you decide to get certified as a green Realtor?
ELEY: My reasoning is that it’s basically the way that everything is going to be as we go forward. The cost of living will be going up and people are always trying to find ways to save money. And being sensitive to the environment allows them to do that. I wanted to get in on the ground floor of that.
I represent a development in South Kingstown – Ministerial Farms – that’s five-star Energy Star-rated. The developer is doing an indoor air-quality certification, too. When people come in to look at those homes, they’re very impressed by the green features. And if someone wants it, we’ll put geothermal heating in. It’s all those things that people are starting to talk about – what is a five-star rating and how much money can it save me?
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PBN: Can you tell me a little about the certification process?
ELEY: First of all, I had to take a two-day course with the National Association of Realtors – NAR’s green designation core course. After that, I took a sustainable living elective class. We were tested on both classes. There’s a lot of common sense involved, but also a lot of learning about what’s involved with the different types of certifications, like the Energy Star or the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design certifications (LEED). It was a pretty intense class.
PBN: What will it enable you to do?
ELEY: The reason that I took it is because I am working with this subdivision and as we go forward, we’re getting greener. I want to be able to explain what’s happening to the consumers. And I also want to be knowledgeable about retrofits and reselling, because green is the way things are going. People are driving more energy-efficient cars and living in energy-efficient houses – it’s becoming a way of life. I just want to be able to educate the consumers better.
PBN: And is there a market for green houses in Kent and Washington counties?
ELEY: I think the market for green certification is basically everywhere, any place there’s a home – Rhode Island, the United States or internationally. We’re not going to go backwards [and become less green].
People in the area are doing small things – putting in energy-efficient bulbs or adding insulation, things they can do to make their homes more energy efficient – just because the cost is so extreme to run a home. So on a smaller scale, you’ll see it in Kent County. That’s because there’s not as much building going on. Warwick is pretty much built up, although there will be some future building. Now, builders are just building green.
PBN: How has the East Greenwich office been faring this year?
ELEY: With the way the market has been going, with the downturn, we’re fine. But we’ve certainly seen a decrease in business, especially with less people relocating into East Greenwich. We’ve had people relocating out of East Greenwich to other states. Today we have 142 houses on the market just in East Greenwich – I would say that’s somewhat consistent with years past, but could be up about 15 percent.
We’ve come a long way with community activities in East Greenwich … it’s a great place to live with shops and dining and boating. But because of the economic situation in the state, we have unfortunately seen people leaving the state. Still, as people come in from out of state, they’re looking for good school systems. East Greenwich and Barrington historically have scored the highest.
