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Tips for Landlords Going Green

Landlord Advice

The life of a landlord has never been an easy one. In choosing to make one’s property available for leasing and renting, one is taking into consideration several factors, the least of which is determining just how successful such a venture can be and finding ways to make the most of the prevailing economic times.

Going green has been one of those trends that have been gaining popularity at a surprising rate as of recent, maybe not as fast as those campaigning for the trend would want but faster than has been the norm in recent years.

Many a landlord is catching up to the economic benefits of going green, in the trend’s ability to increase the value of one’s property and the tax deduction benefits attached.
Looking at it critically there is not denying the fact that the pros of going green far outweigh the cons and it would be in the best interest of potential landlords to get ahead and pursue this green revolution before legislature comes in play that leaves one no other choice other than to make costly changes.

Besides the numbers speak for themselves, going green doesn’t merely set you apart, it is the kind of trend that has proven to attract tenants in the droves, the kind of hook you have been waiting to take advantage of but didn’t know about

The ways or means of going green will vary, with different guidelines and tips best suited for different types of conditions. 5 tips to going green cheaply as a landlord will include the following:

Install appliances that meet green requirements: highly efficient water heaters, refrigerators, air conditioners, a landlord should ensure to purchase green appliances for the apartment units of his property, devices that are designed to consume less electricity than the average appliance while providing an efficient service, the purpose not only being to reduce on one’s water and electrical bills, but in turn also affecting the amounts of coal and oil that must be burnt in power plants to produce electricity. For every high energy and water consuming gadget out there, there is a green alternative, and if you tenants are not as willing to invest in the future of the planet, it wouldn’t be so bad to take the step for them by reducing their overall water and electricity consumption by making such appliances the only ones available in their living spaces. Of course one can consider laying down policies to ensure the use of only green appliances.

Meters: many landlords make the mistake of including whatever costs tenants will accrue from their utilities on their overall monthly rent. This is a problem as it encourages wasting and provides no incentive for tenants to display more responsibility with their daily utility usage. The key to this is to install a utility meter in every tenant’s room, the idea being that each tenant will be responsible for paying for their own water and electricity bills. It is this sort of measure that will best incentivize tenants to be careful with how they use the available resources now that they are responsible for meeting the costs of the bills. You will also no longer have to incur the massive bills accrued by careless tenants, hence saving a precious penny.

Landlords should consider providing thermostats to their tenants. Tenants have been known to leave the heat on all day in order to find their units warm when they return later in the day. A thermostat can be programmed to deactivate in the day when no one’s home, and hence save on wasted electricity, and instead activate later in the evening when one returns home.

Take into consideration the sorts of light bulbs specifically taking care to purchase and install throughout your property only those bulbs that consume less charge while providing equally efficient lighting such as compact fluorescent light bulbs. Also be sure to replace burnt bulbs while ensuring than bulbs not up to green standards are not installed in your units unless authorized by you and only for special reasons.

Sometimes landlords have to set an example for those around them, especially their tenants by ensuring that their offices are run with as green a style in place as is possible. The methods will vary. Rather than waste precious paper sending out letters and putting up notices, one can use email and the phone. Credit cards and online payments are a more efficient and greener means of carrying out transactions than paper cash when dealing with your tenants, and there are a variety of green office tools such as computers and printers that one can choose from. Basically let your tenants see your example in advancing the green movement.

Going green will not be easy if you do not know what to do, and that is because marketing strategies have a tendency to make it difficult to know what is what while shopping for specifically green apparatus. However information is easily accessible on the internet, and with the proper information, one can transform their formerly non planet friendly property into a greener space in no time at all while spending nearly half of what you normally would. Plus you are saving the planet. What more could you want?