A Mineola broker is backing green with green.
The Windmill Realty Group will donate up to 10 percent of its commission on each house sale to the Natural Resources Defense Council, a major environmental action group. Plus, it’ll be done in the name of the sellers.
“The sellers get the benefit, in the taxes and in mindset, knowing they did a good thing,” says broker-owner Maria Marchelos, 38.
When Marchelos set up her new agency in November, she thought about her longtime belief in preserving the environment.
“What could I do?” she says she asked herself. “I was a single woman. There’s got to be more than just the daily grind of going to work and paying your taxes.”
So among other green moves, she named the business after a renewable energy, found an office near the train station (some Manhattan clients ride the rails, then walk to her office) and prints house brochures on recycled paper.
“If I could, I would place a windmill on my roof,” the broker says.
Marchelos says she wanted to give back to the community and also reward her sellers by donating money to a green cause. She says she chose the Natural Resources Defense Council because research shows that most of its money goes to programs instead of overhead.
So if a house sells for $500,000 and the total commission is $10,000, the Windmill Realty Group could possibly donate $1,000 if it doesn't have to share the commission with another agency.
Marchelos says she hopes such donations chip at the image of people like her as “greedy Realtors”. The fledgling agency expects to make its first donation on behalf of a Franklin Square seller when the deal closes.
Of course, part of the green idea is to attract customers, and it’s working already. A Suffolk couple looking for a Mineola home chose her for green reasons, and Marchelos has gotten others curious about her agency’s philosophy, including those who hear about green and want to be green but don’t quite know how.
“They think it’s a great idea,” Marchelos said. “It makes them feel like they’re doing something.”