How to build South Florida’s market for resilient homes

South Florida residents know firsthand the power and destruction of hurricanes.

Meanwhile, real estate agents in South Florida know that resilient features that help protect homes against hurricane damage are popular with consumers.

Whether it’s high-impact windows, a home’s architectural design, or “smart” electronics, homeowner investments in resiliency pay benefits. Resilient homes also tend to be more energy-efficient, helping homeowners save on monthly utility bills.

Building resiliency into homes in South Florida is not a trend, but a necessity. Steadily rising sea levels and stronger hurricanes threaten our region’s coastline and even some inland communities. By 2060, experts expect South Florida’s sea levels to rise by 14 to 34 inches from today’s levels.

Elected leaders are addressing the threat of rising sea levels through the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact. This collaboration brings together officials from the region’s four counties (Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach), who work with business leaders and other stakeholders to implement practical policies and solutions to this critical challenge.

The climate compact intends to reduce climate risks and foster longterm economic growth by coordinating infrastructure resiliency throughout South Florida.

This is a wise public investment in our region’s future. According to the Multihazard Mitigation Council of the National Institute of Building Sciences, every dollar spent on mitigating natural disasters saves taxpayers an average of four dollars.

Real estate is one of Florida’s largest industries, so what can real estate agents do to help protect the climate?

Selling more green buildings would be a great start. After all, selling is our business, and South Florida boasts innovative green residential and commercial buildings that are resilient and energy-efficient, with the ability to charge electric vehicles through battery storage units. These “smart” green buildings represent some of the most resilient building stock available.

However, to sell green properties like these, real estate agents, appraisers, buyers and sellers need to be able to find them in the first place.

Right now, green buildings are difficult to pinpoint in this region’s all-important Multiple Listing Service (MLS) — the database of properties on which the real estate industry relies.

The MLS currently does not contain search fields for such “green” features as solar electricity, passive solar design and resiliency features. Conducting searches for these features is a hit-and-miss proposition in the current MLS.

The Realtors trade association serving Broward and Palm Beach counties (“Realtors of the Palm Beaches and Greater Fort Lauderdale”), which operates the region’s MLS, is working to correct this search deficiency.

A newly created “Green Task Force” will make recommendations to the association’s board on modernizing the MLS to enable Realtors to readily identify “green” or “high performance” homes.

Making resilient “green” homes easier to find in South Florida’s housing market should help spur additional demand among home buyers, providing new benefits to our economy, and ultimately benefiting climate protection.

Resilient homes are already comfortable and climate friendly, and soon they will be easier to find on South Florida’s MLS. Now that’s a powerful selling point in any season!