SeeingGreen ™

A little over a year ago, several Portland realtors were the first in the nation to convince the Regional Multiple Listing Service to add fields for green home features. This function allows sellers to identify efforts to increase the environmental performance and healthfulness of their property so that perspective homebuyers can search for these features more readily. Now in a similar vein, a new website called GreenRenter, is helping match future tenants with green commercial and residential properties.

According to its website, GreenRenter’s mission is simple “…inspire renters and owners to go green.” If a property incorporates at least one of seven sustainable strategies, such as energy or water conservation, it qualifies to be listed. The site is elegantly designed and easy to navigate. To post a listing, all you need to do is create a free account. To search for properties (note that not every property has current vacancies) you can do so without signing up. A recent search turned up many options to choose from, even though the site was just launched.

Although renters can get a bad rap, living in rented properties has many advantages in terms of sustainability. Often units are in multifamily properties that benefit from “environments” of scale, such as lowered utility bills, well-appointed recycling facilities and opportunities to share tools or other resources. Also, renting provides you with a little more flexibility to live closer to where you work, especially if you change jobs frequently. And with all our current real estate woes, being a renter can help save a little green while GreenRenter can help you live a little greener.