I recently had an uncomfortable, albeit necessary conversation with a landlord who owns a property on my block. This face-to-face meeting followed a rocky year with one of her tenants—the kind of neighbor no one wants to live near: Yelling in the street at all hours of the night, an unkempt yard complete with garbage bags that languished in the front yard for weeks on end, and serving as headquarters for increasingly badly behaved teenagers with hobbies that included drug dealing. Needless to say, neighbors were not happy.
But it was the track record of this landlord that was truly disconcerting. A bad egg now and again is par for the course. But in the five years that I’d lived across the street from her property, I’d witnessed a steady stream of ne’er do wells who brought serious problems that required more than a few police calls to resolve. It appeared to the rest of the block that the landlord was not being very discriminating when it came to finding good tenants, and I wanted to let her know that we were the ones suffering from her lack of good judgment.
I found Jean knee-deep in abandoned personal artifacts of the recently vacated side of her 1950-era duplex. I took a good look around the apartment, which was jam-packed with mismatched furniture. A leather jacket was hanging in the open coat closet. A plastic bottle of motor oil was discarded on its side in the middle of the living room floor. Jean told me that the tenants hadn’t paid rent for two months before skipping out on her. I shook my head. Clearly her vetting was posing serious problems for herself as well—loss of revenue, wasted time in cleaning out an apartment full of personal belongings, and the burden of finding a new tenant, once again.
Finding Marketing Opportunities
We chatted about how she was marketing the space. Curious, I asked her to describe her ideal rental situation. She wanted stability. So did the neighborhood. She wanted respectful people who wouldn’t trash her property. I assured her that the neighborhood supported this, too. My recommendation to her was simple: “Jean,” I said, “You’ve been in this business a long time, but I’ve been in marketing a long time, too. It’s plain to see that you are not targeting the types of folks you actually want in your space. If you don’t focus on marketing to the tenants you want—the ones who will respect your property, bring stability to your investment, and never, ever leave you with mountains of junk to clear out—you will get more of this.”
Easy Green Initiatives That Save Money….Step 1 Recycle
I also knew that Jean was failing to take advantage of implementing some very basic green initiatives on her property, and this was having a direct negative impact on her bottom line. For instance, she pays for her tenants’ garbage hauling. But more times than I care to count, I’ve seen her duplex trash bins overflowing with recyclables, including mountains of cardboard after a move-in. Any item that doesn’t fit inside the trash bin creates an extra, unnecessary fee for Jean. When her recently departed tenant moved in a year ago, I personally delivered 2 brand-new recycling bins to the door as a friendly gesture and hoped for the best. The bins languished on the front stoop the entire year, and with them the potential for Jean to cut her costs.
I certainly don’t believe that people who recycle are without fault, but those who recycle understand impact—for some, it’s about reducing our impact on the planet; for others, it’s simply a strategy for reducing impact on the pocketbook. I do believe, however, that tenants who practice this very basic exercise in reducing personal impact are more likely to bring this point of view to the properties they rent.
Reduce Time Spent at The End of the Lease
Jean was also missing an opportunity to reduce her own labor at the end of a lease. It’s probably not uncommon for tenants to leave the odd piece of furniture or other household items from time to time. A simple, cost-free strategy for Jean would be to provide tenants who plan to vacate the property with contact info for local nonprofits that accept donations or provide curb-side pickup. That way everyone wins: Fewer items go into our landfills, nonprofits receive the donations they need to meet their objectives, and Jean doesn’t have to spend her valuable time clearing out furniture.
Since our conversation, I’ve noticed something unprecedented happening on the curb in front of Jean’s property: On recycling day, two bright blue bins nearly overflowing with plastics, papers, and glass patiently wait for pickup. Let’s just say Jean is making a positive impact that is good for business, the neighborhood, and the environment.