Raleigh, NC —Earth Advantage®, Inc. and the Triangle Multiple Listing Service (TMLS) announced a partnership to deliver building performance data from the Green Building Registry® (GBR) to Triangle MLS users. The green certification and energy rating data available from GBR will be integrated into CRS Data, the tax/public records system used by Triangle MLS. Adding this information will provide a more holistic view of the homes in North Carolina. CRS Data will also support the auto-population of this data into listings to ensure a consistent and accurate representation of a building’s energy data for prospective buyers or renters. This functionality is expected to be available later this year.
Historically, important home data such as energy ratings, third-party building certifications or solar electricity generation have not been included in sale or rental listings. This has prevented appraisers and lending institutions from creating a thorough valuation, resulting in the potential loss of thousands of dollars of value per home and preventing buyers from making a fully informed purchasing decision.
Since 2017, Earth Advantage’s self-funded Green Building Registry has provided home performance data to the public and real estate multiple listing services. GBR partners directly with programs to provide verified data directly from sources such as the U.S. Department of Energy’s Home Energy Score program, LEED® for Homes, ENERGY STAR®, HERS® Index Scores, and other national and regional third-party verification programs.
“Do a survey, ask buyers their top worries: cost of ownership comes up in the top three every time. I know the payments, but what will it really cost to live there? Energy costs are a big part of that so buyers care about efficiency, especially first-time and younger buyers,” said Matt Fowler, Triangle MLS Executive Director. “Adding GBR lets us share what we know about features that buyers are looking for. That seems like an essential function for any MLS. Making it available in IDX potentially increases the number of sites where buyers will find the information to thousands.”
"We are thrilled to collaborate with Earth Advantage and Triangle MLS in this initiative,” said Sara Cooper, Executive VP of Real Estate Market at CRS Data. “By incorporating GBR’s robust data into our system, we are enriching the quality of information available to TMLS users. We understand that today's homebuyers are increasingly conscious about energy efficiency and the environmental impact of their homes. This partnership allows us to better serve their needs by providing them with comprehensive, accurate and verified information about the energy performance of listed properties. We believe this integration will help in supporting informed decisions, fair valuations, and ultimately, a greener future.”
David Heslam, executive director at Earth Advantage®, said, “For many years, the communities in the Research Triangle have been leaders in building green. There are tens of thousands of certified green properties in the region. This new partnership will make those green buildings much more visible to the buyers and agents.”
ABOUT TMLS
TMLS is the operating system for over 15,000 real estate brokers and agents in five REALTOR® associations in and around the Research Triangle area. Stakeholders include The Raleigh Regional Association of REALTORS®, The Durham Regional Association of REALTORS®, the Orange/Chatham County Association of REALTORS®, the Johnston County Association of REALTORS® and the Burlington-Alamance County Association of REALTORS®. Triangle’s vision is to advance equity, support the community, and deliver excellence in their 16-county region. For more, see
www.trianglemls.com.
ABOUT CRS DATA
For more than 30 years, CRS Data has produced innovative, industry-leading platforms that makes it easy to access rich property data, mapping tools and dynamic reports. Real estate professionals across the U.S. and parts of Canada turn to our MLS Tax Suite for the product’s simplified and inspiring interface. This best-in-class product offers streamlined prospecting and comparables tools that inspire client satisfaction and help drive business growth. The MLS Tax Suite includes access to current sales information, such as FSBOs; mortgage and tax data; foreclosure data; neighborhood statistics; school zone insights; and flood conditions. Visit
www.crsdata.com for more information.
ABOUT THE GREEN BUILDING REGISTRY®
The Green Building Registry (GBR) is the largest single source for building performance data in the United States. GBR contains over two and a half million records containing data on single-family, multifamily, and commercial buildings. Our GBR-API allows any MLS, lender, or other data provider to connect directly to the information contained in the registry. Visit
us.greenbuildingregistry.com for a free property search.
GBR is a wholly owned and self-funded initiative of Earth Advantage®, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Earth Advantage is helping the US housing industry advance a more informed and humane residential real estate market that acknowledges both the climate impacts of housing and the impact climate has on housing. For more information on Earth Advantage visit: earthadvantage.org. If you would like more information about this topic, please call Meg Garabrant at 503.310.9138 x162, or email meg@greenbuildingregistry.com.
