About Beth Johnson, REALTOR^®

LEED AP, EcoBroker Certified™,
Certified Green Professional™, NAR GREEN

• I'm proud to be the
  • first REALTOR^® on the planet to earn the green credential “Quadruple Crown” of LEED AP, EcoBroker™ Certification^®, Certified Green Professional™, and NAR GREEN.
  • first Texas REALTOR^® (and only the 13^th anywhere) to earn the LEED Accredited Professional credential associated with U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System™, the nationally accepted benchmark for high performance green buildings.
  • first Texas REALTOR^® to earn the nationally recognized EcoBroker^® Certification that provides training on energy and environmental issues relating to real estate transactions.
  • first North Texas REALTOR^® (not directly affiliated with a builder) specializing in green building.
• My added specialty is assisting "green"-leaning buyers and sellers:
  • helping you to obtain the elements you want in a new green home (land, architect, builder) or to compare the energy-efficiency and other "green" features of existing homes on the market.
  • helping you to properly market your home with green features to sell at highest price and fastest time.
• From typical properties to those with green features, as a veteran full-service REALTOR^® I enthusiastically handle the full range of all types of residences, residential lots, and farm/ranch land, providing savvy, excellent service grounded in expert knowledge and experience in real estate and marketing. I pride myself on diligence and meticulous attention to detail in furthering my clients’ interests. Among my transactions:
  • A quarter involve my getting the job done for my clients after others have failed. I have successfully represented sellers whose previous agent’s marketing and pricing strategies failed to attract buyers, sellers whose “for-sale-by-owner” process was unsuccessful, and buyers whose previous agent’s knowledge, services, or diligence failed to meet needs.
  • Half involve properties with significant green features or green building program certifications.
  • A quarter involve relatively standard properties bought or sold by green-leaning clients who prefer to do business with an agent who shares their values and brings added knowledge.
  • A quarter involve typical cases where neither client nor property has more than average green leanings.
  • 60% are seller clients and customers I secured to buy their properties.
  • 34% are buyer clients.
  • 6% are referrals where I help buyers or sellers find an agent who’s a great fit in a market outside North Texas.
  • I’ve done business in 10 North Texas counties at last count.
• A native North Texan, I’ve lived in 9 neighborhoods in 4 cities in 3 counties in North Texas (plus 2 cities in West Texas and Washington, D.C., as well as extended work assignments elsewhere in Texas and in OR, KS, OK, AR, AL, KY). My in-depth knowledge and insight from decades of living, working, and investing throughout North Texas advantages my clients.
• A proven, trusted professional, I am a full-time real estate agent with 17+ years’ experience (double the median experience level in the business) and a college graduate (education level greater than 68% of REALTORS^®) as well as having some graduate school (surpassing 94% of REALTORS^®).
• I’m founder and principal of Smart Green Now Consulting.
  
• I am backed by the strength of Texas-based Keller Williams Realty -- #1 real estate franchise by world agent count and U.S. annual closed volume and sales units -- and our Dallas Preston Road office --  #1 producing real estate office in the Metroplex. To learn more about Keller Williams Realty, please click here.
• I have 29 years’ professional experience staffing Texas and national environmental advocacy organizations --
  • lobbying, media work, grassroots organizing and training
  • in Texas, Southern Plains region, Washington, D.C., Oregon, Alabama, Kentucky
• I am the first REALTOR^® to join U.S. Green Building Council's North TX Chapter.
• A Founding Member and the only REALTOR^® to have served as a Director of the Home Builders Association’s Green Built Texas Council, I helped draft the Green Built Texas™ Program, chaired its inaugural year Marketing Subcommittee, and served one of the longest tenures as Director, helping lead the Council in its first 4 years.
• I served on the MetroTex Association of REALTORS^® task force that implemented a major green update to North Texas Multiple Listing Service, Nov.-Dec. ’08.
• Green building, conservation development, and building science courses completed include the first-ever "Green Building for Building Professionals" course by National Association of Home Builders (NAHB); first Board-offered green building designation course by National Association of REALTORS (NAR); U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) "Technical Review: LEED for New Construction" and “LEED for Homes Workshop”; “Building Science Fundamentals” by Lstiburek and Straube of Building Science Corp.; Energy and Environmental Building Alliance's (EEBA) "Houses That Work" and "Selling High Performance Homes"; U. S Department of Energy / Dallas Builders Association "Challenge Home and Net Zero Home" training; EcoBroker's courses on energy efficiency, environmental issues, green marketing; Austin Energy's "Green by Design" and "Cool House Tour"; national home performance conferences by NAHB, EEBA, RESNET and Affordable Comfort Inc.; Realtors Land Institute's "Creative Land Planning"; Conservation Development Symposium sponsored by Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center including subdivision design workshop and field trip to 2,000-acre development with 75% protected open space; Energy Efficient Green Building Institute's "Residential Building Performance Technician" (3 credit courses), "Secrets of a Texas Net Zero Home" and "Healthy Home" by award-winning builder Jim Sargent, "Green Interiors"; numerous green building, marketing, and interior design classes and presentations at Dallas Builders Association.
• My firm became the nation’s first real estate agency to show our commitment to energy efficiency by joining Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET), the national organization that sets standards for quality of energy rating services and annually hosts the premier national forum on home energy performance and financing.
• My husband Arthur Kuehne and I built our own green home as an educational catalyst illustrating mainstream greenbuilding. Certifications include USGBC LEED Gold, EPA ENERGY STAR, and EPA Indoor airPLUS. First LEED-certified home in Hunt County.
• I am a frequent speaker and media source on residential greenbuilding.
• As a licensed real estate agent committed to continuing and up-to-date education to serve my clients at the highest level in the ever-changing real estate market, I have completed more than 650 hours in more than 111 courses accredited by Texas Real Estate Commission and/or National Association of REALTORS^®, in addition to the greenbuilding-related courses mentioned above. This level of knowledge and professionalism goes far beyond that required for obtaining and maintaining a license and far beyond that of most agents. In addition to courses related to skill and excellence in the well-rounded practice of real estate representation and required legal and ethics updates, in-depth/multi-day specialty courses I’ve completed include:
  • Certified New Home Sales Agent two-day certification course
  • Accredited Luxury Home Specialist two-day designation course
  • Realtors Land Institute’s Accredited Land Consultant courses (five days) on Site Selections and Land Fundamentals
  • Historic House Specialist two-day designation course by Preservation Dallas
  • Accredited Buyer Representative two-day course
  • Senior Real Estate Specialist two-day designation course
  • Real Estate Appraisal five-day course
  • Loan Applications and Procedures five-day course
  • Short Sales and Foreclosures one-day designation course

To see the full list of real estate courses I’ve completed, see the TREC page here.
(From this page, you may also search to compare the education completed by any other licensee.)

ADDITIONAL EDUCATION / PERSONAL NOTES

• B.A. with honors, Texas Tech University, 1976
• Honors graduate, South Garland High School, 1971
• Teaching certification at secondary level; student teaching in Mexico; volunteer tutor to English-as-Second-Language students in Lubbock, TX
• Extensive experience as researcher, author, editor, and proofreader for Texas and national nonprofits
• Author, Yukon Wild: The Adventures of Four Women Who Paddled 2,000 Miles through America’s Last Frontier (Berkshire Traveller Press, 1984)
• In 1982, I led first women’s expedition in muscle-powered craft down Canada’s and Alaska’s Yukon River—a 76-day, 2000-mile canoe trip by four Texas women. For some photos and captions, click here.
• I have canoed, kayaked and rafted more than 7,000 miles throughout North America and spent about 400 (including 50 solo) overnights on river trips.
• In 2003, to celebrate a milestone birthday, my husband and I drove 13,000 miles round trip on a 7-week truck-camping trip to the Arctic Ocean, and I flew with three companions in a bush plane deep into the world’s northernmost major mountain range and canoed for a month above the Arctic Circle on a trip I organized within the heart of one of the world’s largest parkland areas and finest remaining vast wilderness areas. We canoed America’s longest designated Wild River segment and the longest floatable mileage of any American Arctic river--400+ miles down Alaska’s Noatak River from near its source in Gates of the Arctic National Park, through Noatak National Preserve, to its mouth at Chukchi Sea tidewater on Alaska’s west coast. For some photos and captions, click here.

• In 2013, to celebrate another milestone birthday, we experienced the Lower 48’s quintessential river adventure—floating close to 300 miles and approximately 200 named rapids of the famed Colorado River through the mile-deep Grand Canyon, at 25 times the gradient of the Mighty Mississippi. We chose the longest commercially outfitted trip available—18 days. We chose the exciting, “lively” ride of the smallest commercial craft allowed in the Grand Canyon--historic, elegant, 17-foot-long hard-hulled, hand-crafted dories. For some photos and captions, click here.

• Other outdoor and travel experiences include a 3-month, 8,500 mile solo van-camping trip in the US and Canada; a 5-day, 225-mile bike ride across Missouri on America's longest rail-trail; two 6-week Spanish-only educational stays with Mexican families in Mexico; a 6-week course traveling by public transportation 5,000 miles throughout Mexico to dozens of archaeological sites; a 3-week, 8-country self-funded trip throughout Europe at age 16.

• Organizing schools attended: Midwest Academy, IL, 1994; Highlander Research and Education Center, TN, 1993; Campaigns and Elections, Washington, D.C., 1990.