Green

Last week, I had the pleasure of welcoming Gloor Realty Company to the Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate network. Located in Oak Park, Illinois, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Gloor Realty Company is a shining example of everything you hope for in a partner when building a real estate franchise network.

Announcement day is always a mix of anticipation and nervousness. The Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate team waited in a separate room as Rich Gloor Jr. announced to his team that he had made the decision to franchise with our brand. Then he welcomed those of us from the brand to join the group. For me, this moment is always a little unsettling. You can’t help but wonder how the agents at Gloor Realty Company are feeling about the sudden news that they are now a part of a franchise system. You can imagine my relief when I was greeted by a room full of smiling faces.

Rich continued with his presentation explaining why he and his leadership team made the decision to franchise with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. He discussed the marketing advantages that the relationship offered to the local agents, the tools that would allow them to become even more competitive in their market, and the value of the Better Homes and Gardens brand name.

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Today we released the results of our “Living Green” consumer survey. The survey has been nine months in the making as we had it done in conjunction with the Better Homes and Gardens “Living Green” 15-city home show tour. At each stop along the way, we had pollsters interview visitors to the exhibit. As you can see in the video above, there were some pretty savvy people hosting the exhibit. Steven Whittle did an outstanding job “representing” green and all that the exhibit had to offer people in the way of raising their awareness regarding this important issue.

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Some of today’s environmental buzzwords are “green” and “global warming” and “healthy environment,” but what exactly do these buzzwords mean to our homes, our health and our pocketbooks?  I had the opportunity to dig into the effects of global warming during my research for our Home Efficiency Seminar.

There are volumes of information available online and in print. Go Green, Live Rich by David Bach with Hillary Rosner offers “50 Simple Ways to Save the Earth and Get Rich Trying,” and Sophia Uliano tells us “8 Simple Steps to an Eco-Friendly Life” in her book, Gorgeously Green.

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Navigating the Corporate Social Responsibility Platform of Being Green

As we build out the real estate arm of the BH&G brand, we are faced with wading through a sea of options when it comes to being green. The challenge lies in the fact that green extends into almost every facet of business and life. It’s not as if you can simply hold a fundraiser once a quarter for some particular cause and cut a check. That approach might just smack of greenwashing (scroll down to see NBC Today Show Video). To be really green, a company needs to consider its operations in their entirety:

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