What is wellness real estate? We hear a lot about wellness real estate lately. Sheila Alston knew nothing about it until she started thinking of ways to bring health and home together. After doing some research, she discovered that wellness real estate had already become a 134-billion dollar industry two years earlier! The very first wellness lifestyle community was built near Atlanta, Georgia. It has been a great success, and people love living there!  I’m Marla, the Green Home Coach! I am super excited to introduce you to my guest, Sheila Alston, the creator of WellnessRE Magazine! She is joining me today to talk about wellness real estate and how to make the connection between a healthy home and a healthy life. Stay tuned for more! Wellness real estate Forward-thinking developers are building wellness-based communities and creating neighborhoods that support a healthy lifestyle. Rather than just building a suburban area with a community pool, they have been thinking more about the design. Wellness neighborhoods include green features and amenities centered around a community farm or some other aspect of wellness to benefit those living there and bring them together.  Growing in leaps and bounds Wellness real estate has grown in leaps and bounds over the last two years. Last November, it was said to be worth 275 billion dollars!  How Sheila got into wellness real estate When her kids went off to college Sheila became a real estate agent. She also got a health coaching certification, but being a health coach did not feel like her calling. She wanted to find a way to bring health and home together, so she researched wellness real estate and found that it sparked her interest. WellnessRE Magazine When Sheila got her real estate license, she wanted to stand out from the other real estate agents and provide value. She also wanted to educate people on creating a healthier home environment. So, she started a podcast to interview experts in the field. She met wellness architects, home biologists, and other businesspeople doing amazing things in the industry. After a few months, she decided to create a digital magazine as a tool to position herself differently within real estate, forge deeper connections with people, and help people live better in their homes.  Green homes versus wellness Green homes have been around for some time, but many think that they focus only on energy efficiency. (note from Marla - This is a common misconception, yet certified green homes are built or remodeled holistically with many health and wellness benefits in addition to efficiencies.) Sheila understands that wellness is more than just green. It is about people living well and thriving in their homes. Making the connection Sheila went to the Integrated Institute of Nutrition (IIN) and learned that health and wellness are more than just diet and exercise. Toxins in your home environment could be detrimental to your health and manifest as chronic pain or discomfort. Yet many people fail to make the connection between their health and their homes. Driving change People- professionals, in particular, need to understand the “why”, the value, and the benefits of people living better in their homes. Both Sheila and I want to help people with solutions and drive change. Real estate professionals are in a perfect position to be change agents because they are at the intersection between people and their homes. Helping people Many real estate agents want to help people, but they end up sharing and educating on the transaction rather than sharing information about the home environment. Or helping people love their homes and feel more comfortable in them. Surrounding themselves with green and healthy home experts, and having a toolkit of healthy resources, is a good way for agents to help people live better and more comfortably in their homes. Mindset Real estate agents need to educate people about the benefits of homes because most people don’t really care about t