On the heels of the movement to add green features to multiple listing service postings, a trend to list accessibility features is also gaining steam.

Local listing services are not required to highlight extra-wide doorways that can accommodate wheelchairs, first-floor master bedrooms, entry thresholds that are even with the sidewalk, grab bars in the bathroom, lever doorknobs and faucets, and other such features. But they should.

After all, according to the latest figures from the Census Bureau, nearly 20 percent of the population have some kind of disability. That's almost 57 million people. Of course, not all of them are severely handicapped, but about half are.

Moreover, between 2005 and 2010, the number of folks with a disability increased by 2.2 million. And in 2010, roughly 30.6 million people had difficulty walking or climbing stairs, or used a wheelchair, cane, crutches or walker.

According to the National Association of Realtors, the South Central Wisconsin MLS was the first to include accessibility terms, way back in 1991. When agents submit a property for listing, they can check up to 15 accessibility features, including ramped entries, 42-inch wide hallways and doorways and roll-in showers.

Several other listing services have since followed Wisconsin's lead, but it wasn't until two years ago that a movement began to add accessibility terms to the standard real estate data dictionary. That effort is being led by the Real Estate Standards Organization, a private entity dedicated to creating voluntary electronic commerce standards so they are the same everywhere.

Uniformity is "really crucial," says Bill Lubin, a Philadelphia broker and outgoing chair of NAR's MLS Issues and Policies Committee.

Without an agreed-upon set of standards, Lubin explains, there is no easy entry data field for agents to check off when listing houses for sale. So "they must be marketed in the notes section" of the listing, and the result is they don't pop up during searches.

According to NAR, 23 of the country's largest multiple listing services support the effort to standardize accessibility terms. Now smaller services are signing on, too, adding such common terms as low-profile carpeting, swing-in doors, entry slopes that are less than one foot, doorbells that flash the lights inside the house, higher toilets and lower light switches.

The most advanced services also list features that make some communities more livable than others, such as safe streets, outdoor places where the disabled can gather and public transportation options.

Now, all 800 or so MLSs across the land are being asked to present accessibility features in a single data field starting early next year. That way, would-be buyers who are confined to wheelchairs or have some other major disability can more easily hunt for houses that meet their physical requirements.

So, if you are selling a home with accessibility features, make sure your agent checks off those items in the appropriate box to attract the widest possible audience of home-seekers. And if you are a buyer, have your agent search the MLS by one or more of those features. You just might get lucky and spare yourself a lot of wasted time searching for places that just won't work.

Meanwhile, a new website has appeared in southern California to help buyers connect with agents who are trained to help them find homes with green features and to take advantage of energy rebates and financing initiatives.

The site, greenhomeagents.com, is sponsored by the Energy Network, a local government organization administered by Los Angeles County. It links buyers across the nine-county region to agents who have completed the National Association of Realtors' Green Designation courses and can advise them about the whole range of green features.

Dan Knapp, senior marketing manager at Build It Green, which runs the program on behalf of the Energy Network, says some 460 real estate professionals and nearly 50 appraisers have been trained so far in the art of buying, selling and appraising sustainable houses. And many more are in line.

"We're seeing a high demand" among these pros, Knapp says. "They see that the market is going that way and they are responding." An agent with NAR's green designation can "get people thinking about energy costs," he adds, and help them "get more home for their money."

Innovation is alive and well in the mortgage business, where Carrington Mortgage Services, NorthstarMLS and Privlo have all introduced new products recently. Even global property information and analytics firm CoreLogic is in the game.

Privlo, a venture capital-backed "alternative" lender, has financing for credit-worthy borrowers -- like former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and even yours truly -- whose careers, lifestyles or finances are just too difficult for traditional lenders to wrap their heads around.

People with uneven or seasonal incomes, for example, should qualify. So should self-employed entrepreneurs, or borrowers with a single blemish on their credit records.

"Borrowers have changed dramatically in the last couple of decades," says Privlo CEO Michael Slavin. "There's an entire class of solo operators, freelancers, small-business owners and even just regular folks who are much more credit-worthy than their tax returns might show."

Slavin also says that folks in more traditional professions such as nursing and law are also being turned down "when in fact they are extremely well-qualified." All of these people are "positively contributing to our economy," he says, and should be able to buy a home just like the generations who went before them.

According to the Los Angles-based company, there are nearly 18 million independent workers nationwide, an indication that Americans are redefining what the typical career looks like. And small businesses account for some 90 percent of all U.S. businesses.

Privlo intends to reach these folks with a technology-based platform and business process that better qualifies them, taking into account a far greater number of factors than their personal history and future financial prospects. It also considers alternative documentation and "career-specific" factors.

The company is currently making loans in Idaho, Colorado, Texas, Tennessee, Maryland, Minnesota and Virginia, with more states on the way.

You can see if you are a candidate for a "Privloan" at privlo.com.

Carrington, meanwhile, says it is offering "a more transparent, simplified" lending process with no closing costs or upfront financing fees. The Santa Ana, California-based company, which has a national footprint, pays all the "eligible" upfront costs, and also covers any unexpected increases in estimated closing costs.

"Many underserved borrowers, including first-time buyers, still view the path to a mortgage as unattainable, complex and often cumbersome," says Executive Vice President Ray Brousseau. "The Carrington Loan simplifies the process and improves the experience to help remove the anxiety."

Earlier this year, the company lowered its acceptable FICO score to 550, and expanded its guidelines on a number of FHA, VA and USDA loan programs by extending eligibility to more property types and reducing add-on costs known as "overlays." It also developed a patent-pending online educational resource designed to improve borrower financial literacy.

The Carrington Mortgage is a government-insured loan program. Any upfront mortgage insurance or funding fees that may be required can either be rolled into the loan amount or paid in cash at closing. Borrowers will also be responsible for services they request -- such as rate locks or home warranties -- that are not required as part of the loan.

To find out more, visit thecarringtonloan.com.

NorthstarMLS's new program isn't for borrowers; at least, not directly. But its new True Lifestyle Cost tool will allow real estate agents to show their clients the true cost of home ownership, including costs that are often ignored or forgotten, such as commuting costs, utility bills and day care fees.

NorthstarMLS is a multiple-listing service used by more than 14,300 agents and brokers in Minnesota and Western Wisconsin. (It should not be confused with Lewisville, Texas-based lender Nationstar Mortgage.) The service says it is in the process of rolling out the true cost platform, and will make a variety of resources available to help agents learn how to use it.

CoreLogic's new CondoSafe database isn't for buyers directly, either. But it should help open up the stagnant condo market, in that it will help lenders and secondary investors more easily determine if a condominium project meets their criteria.

The Federal Housing Administration, for example, has all but banned condo loans. It will back mortgages in condo projects only if the property has cleared a certification process that examines budgets, reserves, insurance coverage, percentage of renters in the development and delinquencies on payment of condo fees.

Currently, lenders must identify and then query each condo association to ascertain whether the rules have been followed. "This can be a time-consuming 'chase and place process' that can stretch out the underwriting process and add $500 or more to the cost" of making the loan, says Arlene Hyde, a CoreLogic senior vice president.

And if the information they receive back is inaccurate or misinterpreted, the loan application could be rejected.

CondoSafe solicits and stores information from more than 140,000 condo associations. Initially, the program will provide lenders with alerts based on apparent conflicts with investor guidelines. But in the future, it will be able to compare data to historical statements and validate the information.

In light of the recent murder of Arkansas real estate agent Beverly Carter, it is interesting to note how agents protect themselves when meeting strangers at open houses and showings.

According to Moby's 2011 Real Estate Report, most realty pros -- more than 90 percent -- consider their phones to be their first line of defense against attackers. But 15 percent of all male agents carry a gun, and almost 10 percent carry knives.

Women tend to be a tad less bold. Only 5 percent carry guns. But 25 percent have mace or pepper spray in their purses, and 13 percent wield a Taser, something no men reported carrying.

Admittedly, these stats are a little old. You have to wonder what the percentages are now, after Carter's death.

Incidentally, there are several safety-related phone apps on the market, which may be why most agents feel safe with their smartphones.

The latest is called PerpAlert. It costs $2 annually, and was designed by three Southern California fathers who were concerned about their own families' well-being.

Without getting too technical, PerpAlert works something like this:

Aim your phone at a threatening person, press the button and the phone takes a photo of the potential bad guy, stamped with the time, date and your precise GPS coordinates. The photos are instantly sent to up to three people you designate in advance.

With the phone in hand, you can announce what has just happened.

Hopefully, that will be enough to convince the creep that you are not an easy target.

Jody Eldred of Los Angeles bought the app for his wife, and is recommending it to "everyone I know, especially women. (It's) cheap protection for two bucks, and it can be used by law enforcement as evidence if a crime is committed."

LOWBALL APPRAISALS ON THE RISE

In another sign of the times, technology company Platinum Data Solutions reports that 17 percent of appraisals on purchase transactions come back with a value less than the contract price.

That means nearly 1 in 5 deals are likely to fall through because buyers have agreed, in principal, to pay more than the house is really worth.

Appraisers are often at odds with buyers, sellers and their agents, who complain that valuers are being too conservative. While they want accurate valuations, lenders also gripe about low appraisals.

A high percentage of lowball appraisals could mean that home values have stabilized in that particular market. Conversely, it could indicate that values are declining; nobody but the appraiser knows which one. And that's why numbers like these need to be followed closely.

LIFE STAGES INFLUENCE HOUSING TRENDS

The share of 25- to 29-year-olds who are married is down, way down -- it's 48 percent lower for men than it was in 1970, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and 43 percent lower for women.

Mollie Carmichael of John Burns Real Estate Consulting says that fact alone is "one of the biggest game-changers" for housing.

Changes in marital status are "huge," according to Carmichael, a principal in the Irvine, California-based consulting firm. "The housing market is unquestionably fueled by life stages, particularly the change in marital status and the addition or subtraction of children," she wrote online.

Here are the five life stages of homebuyers, identified by Carmichael:

-- Unmarried. Singles are more likely to rent and live in locations that are closer to entertainment and employment, which is why these areas are more in demand today than usual.

-- Togetherness. Cohabitation has been on the rise in recent decades, but homeownership rates for these couples are much lower than rates for their married counterparts.

-- Marriage. Marriage often increases the desire to own a home; many location and housing choices depend on income and nearby family.

-- Children. The addition of little ones makes owning a home feel like a necessity for many, given the desire for yards, good schools and social circles for the kids.

-- Children moving out. An empty nest often results in lifestyle changes, including different home-size preferences, social circles and floor plan needs. Locational preferences also begin to shift.

MORTGAGE RATE FALLS HALF A POINT

Since the beginning of the year, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate has fallen about a half point, from 4.3 percent to 3.8 percent, according to Zillow. A half point may not seem like a lot, but it can translate into significant savings on a monthly basis and over the life of a loan.

For example, a buyer who started shopping at the beginning of the year for a $375,000 house could buy a $400,000 house now for the same monthly payment -- an extra $25,000 of spending power.

Consequently, buyers who started shopping just two or three months ago may want to run their "affordability" numbers again. They could now be looking too low.