Christine Green On How to Have a Healthier Home

Besides structural integrity and damp-free walls, you probably hadn’t thought much about how your home impacts your health. After all, it’s only what you eat that counts, agreed? And it’s about how you sleep, not where you sleep, right?

Not quite. Realtor Christine Green, who recently founded Ardor Real Estate, has made it her mission to change perceptions around health in the home. An entrepreneur with a diverse background in property investment, management, and the corporate world, she has some big ideas on how your home can help you.

But real estate and wellness aren’t separate, she argues. They’re deeply intertwined, influencing each other to an often overlooked extent. By acknowledging this link, the Hartford County, CT-based entrepreneur believes realtors can level up their professionalism while you improve your well-being.

“Most people aren’t even aware of the impact of your everyday habits on your health,” she says. “Fortunately, in this day and age, it’s easier than ever to make adjustments. You could be pleasantly surprised!”

Feeling overwhelmed is expected, however, especially if you’re used to buying the first product you see at the supermarket. But making your home healthier is a gradual change, not a drastic one. Here are three things to remember if you want to feel better in and around your home:

1. Start with small, sustainable steps

It’s a cliché, but taking your wellness journey one step at a time is the most impactful way to make a change. While it might feel at first that negative influences are all around you, the shifts you need are simple, and you’ll notice a difference speedily. Finally, your new way of doing things will be sustainable, not habits you’ll likely drop next week.

“We’re causing harm to ourselves in our own homes,” Christine states. “To minimize it, you don’t have to buy everything without a toxic chemical component. However, if you allow them all to accumulate, they can be super harmful.”

Some of the first things to tick off your to-do list are changing chemical-based candles and cleaning agents for more natural ones and checking your rugs for synthetic fabrics. Even some common household surfaces can trigger chemical off-gassing, while their maintenance can release damaging substances too.

It’s not just your own health you’re protecting, either. Kitchenware that uses non-stick chemicals and hard-surface cleaners that contain bleach could pose a risk to your pets.

2. Nosh what you know

You’re likely more familiar with this tip, but the importance of food on your health runs deeper than you might realize. What you put in your home and your body matters, and I don’t just mean the usual spiel about eating healthily. It means understanding your food too.

“A good rule of thumb is: if it’s not a staple ingredient, don’t eat it,” the business owner says. “It’s okay to have some exotic spices for a specific recipe, but if you can’t pronounce the name and it’s not a household staple, you shouldn’t put it in your body.”

After all, you’ve spent so much time, effort, and money securing your dream home, why fill it with foods you don’t recognize? As well as a source of pride, where you live is supposed to be your safe space—which brings us to the person in charge of finding it.

3. Expect your agent to educate

Ardor Real Estate’s founder wants to raise standards in the industry, one agent at a time. She makes no secret about her ideals and how building a company on them could improve her clients’ experiences. Her message—that health in the home matters—is one she hopes will shape the future of real estate.

“Real estate is a multi-billion dollar industry, and it’s going to take more than me to change it,” she says. “But my goal here in Greater Hartford, Connecticut, is to educate my clients. Raising professionalism is a side component of that.”

Underpinning Christine’s advice is a sense of respect, integrity, and gratitude often lost among realtors. She wants to ‘lead without greed,’ which means sharing the secrets to a happier home beyond the closing of the deal. Whether you’re eyeing up a new home in the Hartford area or looking to live healthier in your existing one, make informed changes and find a realtor who encourages you to.