Hogan School receives GREEN council award!!

 Among the 2,600 Realtors and Institute Affiliates who are NAR Green Designees are three special individuals selected from a pool of nominees by the Green REsource Council. These individuals – one agent, one instructor, and one course provider – have risen above their colleagues in greening their businesses and lives. They have demonstrated exemplary dedication to green lifestyle and work-style, have advanced green industry skills based on training, competency and experience, actively participate in Green REsource Council and other green programs, and show a commitment to the advancement of the green building industry and its practice.

They are the winners of the first-ever Green REsource Council Distinguished Service Awards. Congratulations to Member Troy Hodas, Instructor Bob Hart, and Hogan School of Real Estate. Selected by an independent panel of judges these three outstanding awardees will be honored at the 2009 REALTORS® Conference and Expo.

Hogan School of Real Estate

Located in Tucson, AZ, Hogan School of Real Estate has paved the way as a course provider for NAR’s Green Designation. An early provider of the curriculum – offering the Core Course just two short months after NAR unveiled it – Hogan has continued to infuse unmatched energy and creativity into it.

Husband and wife pair Jim and Esther Hogan have distinguished themselves as real estate educators for more than 35 years, considering their school to be its own competition. Never satisfied with plain vanilla, out-of-the-can courses, Hogan always works its magic to make courses more relevant, more local and more fun. For the Green designation course, Hogan’s special value-added touches include:

·        The videos, “How PV solar works” and “Stuffing the Green Turkey,” both available on YouTube 

·        The “Arizona Green Advisory,” a pdf document made available to Hogan students with over 100 hot links to national, state and local green websites  

·        “The Green Test” and the “Green Motivation Grid” that help students apply course principles

·        The Hogan-produced video, “The Power of Green,” an advertising piece explaining the value of working with an NAR Green Designee.

Hogan students receive a CD-Rom with these items, for their exclusive use, as a parting gift at the conclusion of their green course. Students have commented on the “fun atmosphere,” and credit the information as not only relevant to their real estate practice but practical for everyday life, too.

 

Troy Hodas

Troy Hodas, a REALTOR® with Better Homes and Gardens Rand Realty, in Goshen, NY, and a Green Designee, is all around green. A “green representative” for his office and a former builder of Energy Star® homes, Hodas has worked with green homes for years. He has performed three different green real estate transactions in the past two years.  He implemented a work recycling program and is participating in an electricity-saving competition between his local office branches. Hodas is a BPI-certified Energy Auditor and HERS Rater (CIP), and has taught classes about green building benefits to students at the local community college, middle schools, and Kiwanis Club.

Most important to Troy is “the variety of education, because it really gives you all the information and knowledge on green issues.” His lifestyle includes organic food, and he has cut his home energy consumption by switching to wind and hydro power.

 A new NAR Green Designee, Troy is active in his community and the green industry. He has completed NAHB’s Green course, is an EcoBroker, and is a member in his local USGBC chapter.  Troy promotes green issues through social media outlets, involvement in the Orange County Association of REALTORS® Green Task Force, and as a guest speaker.

 A special thanks to Troy from the Green REsource Council for demonstrating the personal and community commitment that comes with being an NAR Green Designee!

Bob Hart

Bob Hart is an instructor for NAR’s Green Designation from Santa Barbara, CA, who has held a variety of green volunteer positions. He is a Past President of the Santa Barbara Association of Realtors®, a Director for the California Association of REALTORS® and chairs its Green Task Force.  He was recently appointed to the California Home Energy Efficiency Rating System (CHEERS) Board of Directors.

His national service includes serving as a Director for the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) and was appointed to a Presidential Advisory Group on Climate Change for NAR.

Bob presented a session on how global climate change legislation will affect REALTORS® at the 2008 NAR Annual Conference and will present a session on greening your MLS and association at this year’s conference. 

He not only teaches NAR’s Green Designation courses with great passion, but he offers students first-hand stories about greening his own life. Bob and wife Debbie have remodeled a number of homes in the Santa Barbara area and enjoy doing all aspects of the projects themselves.  They are especially interested in building green.  The home they are currently remodeling will have solar power, solar hot water and space heating, and many innovative features such as a drywell to return roof water to the ground.

 “My wife and I are doing a lot of construction in our home, where we constantly have the power tools and electricity that accompanies them,” says Bob. By making smart and environmentally conscious choices, they keep their electric bill at a mere $20 per month.

The Green REsource Council thanks Bob for his commitment, and congratulate him on this prestigious achievement!

The 2009 Distinguished Service Award inductees will be honored for their dedication and service at a special reception on Sunday, November 15, 2009, at NAR’s Annual Convention. Learn more about the Green REsource Council Distinguished Service Award by visiting www.GreenREsourceCouncil.org or visit us at booth 2335 at the convention.