Would you buy an "award winning" home?

My continuing search for positives and much needed creativity continued as I read the story in the Milwaukee Journal about Mayor Tom Barrett presenting the “Mayor’s Design Awards” for design excellence with categories based on design, environmental concerns, and architecture.

The story went on to name various buildings, some city owned, others historical sites, and others which are commercial that are being named and information about what was done to earn the honor. I came away thinking this is a good idea, and then wondering why I hadn’t heard about this before.

Next, I thought about how local real estate offices are supposed to know their community of service inside and out, and even if for selfish reasons want to see local property values as high as possible. The Design Awards in Milwaukee are for some city and some commercially owned properties. What about residential?

I’m sure there are some new condos and developments somewhere which are making a big deal about how environmentally friendly they are, or have an environmental improvement completed or about to be. There are others which take special pride in a garden or gardening arrangement. And the list of possibilities goes on.

Selling a condo in an “award winning environmentally sound building” would seem to be a plus for the listing agent and for the seller when this unit is put up against hundreds of other condos also available in this buyers’ market.

Various city and community leaders should be aggressively looking for anything which could accelerate local property sales. As we have detailed in past columns, each property sale generates thousands of dollars to people and companies (commissions, taxes, transaction fees, moving expenses, etc.) and brings money directly and indirectly into city coffers.

Before you wonder what difference an “award winning condo” or “award winning single family home” might make, start naming movies you have gone to see AFTER you learned that a film had been nominated or won one of the major awards. Yet, you didn’t go see it when it was playing down the street for weeks.

Let’s see if we can work together and develop a residential property awards program.