Fairfax, Loudoun County Virginia -Residential Real Estate Market Blog

Realtor- What is your Carbon foot print in your professional life?

We read articles, blogs all the day long on how to reduce carbon foot print in your home and daily life. But as a Real Estate professional do you take time to evaluate yourself where you are leaving the carbon foot print? Well I did, and here are the things I have done to contribute back:

eSignature: Few months back I signed up with Docusign right before my Spain trip. I received contract on my listing in Virginia. With eSignature I ratified contract sitting infront of the beautiful views of Madrid rather than running down and hunting for a cafe in middle of Madrid. I feel it was one of my best investment! No more printing, faxing and waiting for my clients to waste paper after paper.  As long as your client is comfortable using a computer and you have done your due diligence in explaining before they sign. We will save planet earth and make life easy for everyone!

eFax: I have been using efaxes now for over 5 year. If you have All in one printer (fax, copy and scan) with wireless technology, program your copier with efax to be send & receive from your laptop/computer. If you don't have you can sign up with online services like eFax. You don't have to wait or burn gas to get to your office to pick up fax or deal with jamp paper.

Laptop: I feel gone are the days where we had work stations/desktop computers. Though my laptop is bit older (3 years old). I don't have to worry about having files all over the town...I use to kick myself for leaving something while I was working from home office or at my office. My laptop has been with me to vacations, closing tables and anywhere business is called for! Also Laptops consume less power over a desktop.

Hibernate or Sleep mode: Nothing new about this one....set your computers to sleep mode or hibernate if ideal for certain duration.

eBackups: Since I extensive use my laptop and we are required to keep all the documents for five years I back up everything from my emails to contract files electronically. No more renting a storage space or having huge filing cabinets with stack of papers unorganized in my basement. If I do have paper I will scan and recycle the paper.

Showing route: On a typically weekend I think Realtor's drive more than the average person drives through the work week. It does not make sense for me to trade in my car for a new technology car so I map (using google map) each and every route while showing homes in the Virginia area over the weekend. This will not only save gas and pollution but my energy also!



Light Sensors: I have installed in my home office and my broker has in our individual offices light sensor switches. If there is no body movement the lights will be turn off.

Recycle Brochures: What do you do with left over brochures from your listings? My kids love creating art work on the left brochures after the home is sold. They can draw on the back side of the brochures, on some they have created decoration on the main picture of the home..I let their imagination create the use of those brochures. I use it to make my todo list!



Computer as Charging Station: Most of our phones have USB charges, why have separate charger when you can charge your phone and work at the same time. Let your computer do multi-tasking and unplug the ideal charger hanging around the office and consuming energy.

Space heater/fan: Get a space heater or a fan to cool off if you are working from home office. That way your are not wasting energy to cool or heat the entire house while you are at work!

If you have tips to share how you have green your Real estate business please feel free to add to the comment. Lets show the world we don't just sell green homes and tip but we practice what we preach!