Housing and demographic trends indicate that families are getting smaller, more single people are seeking housing and people are doubling up out of necessity. Given the current glut of housing across the country and the continuing economic difficulties, what more can rental home managers do to fill vacancies?
One suggestion for differentiating your rental properties from others is to install appliances that renters must often provide for themselves such as refrigerators, washers and dryers. I’ve seen this be successful for properties that meet green home certification standards, but even the smallest green improvement can be marketed to your advantage. I realize this may be anathema to you or to property owners accustomed to dictating lease requirements, but in this housing market energy efficient appliances may help seal the deal.
Refrigerators
Good models last forever it seems, but if a refrigerator is over ten years old, then significant energy savings can be achieved with a replacement. Purchase an Energy Star model with the lowest cost per year and proudly display the sticker in your advertising.
Resist the urge to stick the used fridge in a garage. Not only is the electric load high, the refrigerants or chemicals are slowly leaking into the atmosphere and destroying the ozone layer. Newer, Energy Star models must meet leakage guidelines and use less harmful refrigerants.
Washing Machines
Top-loading washing machines use twice as much water than front-loading Energy Star models. As a result they also use 30% more energy to transport, pump and heat the water. In a top-loader, clothes are immersed in water. In a front-loader, laundry passes through the water as the horizontal drum spins. The design of a front-loading machine ensures that clothes actually come out dryer than they would with a top-loader. This translates into lower natural gas and electricity bills associated with running the clothes dryer.
Residents will need to be informed that front-loaders function best with High Efficiency (HE) liquid detergents. Powders or other types of liquid detergents tend to clog the lines, although I have it on good authority from an actual Maytag man that using half the normal amount of detergent will work in a pinch.
Dishwashers
Dishwashers tend to be very good at what they do. For tenants who grew up with one, living without this convenience can feel like a hardship. If your units do not already have dishwashers, then adding one may improve your occupancy rate.
Purchasing high performance models is a lot tougher if you already have dishwashers in your rentals; particularly if the older machines are in good working order. Candidly, I would not recommend replacing units until they start to need repairs. Although water conservation and energy efficiency are important criteria, the cost of removing a good working model before it completes its life cycle is as unsustainable in concept as it is impractical.
Old dishwashers use about three times the water that a newer, Energy Star model does. Amazingly, many of the Energy Star certified dishwashers use as little as 1.5 gallons per wash with annual energy costs in the $17 to $25 range. Remember, transporting, pumping and heating water uses energy, so using less water, means using less natural gas and electricity.
Property management professionals know their market, understand the competition and can strategize amenities that may give their product an edge. If an owner is unwilling to front the cost of providing an appliance amenity, a little ingenuity may be required to meet demand. Be prepared to offer resources for rentals or become the provider yourself. With proper disclosure, owners should be amenable to this idea and may, over time, concede the efficacy of installing or upgrading appliances themselves. In the meantime, property managers can contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficient appliances.