When it comes to being eco-friendly, you can’t leave your rental home out in the cold. Making it eco-friendly has three main advantages:
1. Reduce your tenant’s cost of living
2. Reduce your property’s environmental energy footprint
3. Help attract higher quality renters
If you’re looking to turn your rental home into a lean, green, eco-friendly machine, consider these tips to help the environment and your wallet at the same time.
1. Fix Home Insulation. Where is the most energy lost and wasted in any home? Believe it or not a home’s HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) unit is the biggest offender. An easy way to bring down costs and make your rental home green is by insulating and sealing ducts for air leaks. Ignoring this issue will literally make your money fly out the window.
2. Invest in NEST technology. When you’re talking about heating you need to think about installing a smart thermostat with NEST technology. A smart thermostat will control the temperature by adapting to the tenants’ routine. For example, when no one is home, it will automatically adjust the temperature without having to be programmed manually. This will save money because it will optimize your property’s heating needs and operate only when needed by the tenant.
3. Install Energy Saving Appliances. Look for appliances with the Energy Star label because these appliances use a lower amount of electricity and water to function.
You’ll see the results in your utility bills as these appliances use anywhere from 10 to 50 percent less energy than regular appliances.
4. Use Low-Water Landscapes. There’s something to be said for curb appeal to draw renters into your home.
However, you don’t want to waste so much water on maintaining the landscaping that the only green thing left at the end of the month is the grass! Opt for native trees and plants because they need less water, while still giving your home that much-wanted curb appeal.
5. Install Low Flow Toilets. You can’t talk about water conservation without talking about how much toilets consume. Standard toilets use more than one and half gallons of water per flush. Older toilets can use up to seven times that amount per flush! You don’t have to be a mathematician to figure out that toilets account for the majority of water use in any given home. Installing low flow toilets can reduce water usage by 20 to 60 percent.
6. Use Energy Saving Light bulbs. When it comes to your rental home, you have no idea how long lights stay on which is why you should switch to LEDs or CFLs
LEDs and CFLs not only save money on the electric bill, but they also last longer than the traditional light bulb. To figure out just how much you would save, check out this energy saving calculator.
Making your home more eco-friendly doesn’t have to be complicated. Following these easy steps can make a huge difference for both you and your renters.
What are you waiting for? It’s time to go green!
