Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
Recognizing the sheer amount of waste and pollution we create, people and businesses across the country are taking steps towards greater sustainability by way of both small and large-scale actions. Residential property investors and managers should also seek to make changes that will benefit the environment, as potential tenants will take notice and count them as an advantage of living there. You may not know where to start, however. If this is the case, you could employ the following ways to help multifamily buildings go green in your property.
Windows and doors are meant to let in sunlight, beautiful scenery, and people themselves, but you don’t want air passing through them at all times. Otherwise, the energy that residents indoors spend on heating or cooling the interior can dramatically increase. Even tiny gaps around windows and doors can let in enough heat to silently dissipate out on cold days or covertly enter in on sweltering one.
Get updated window and door models that incorporate insulation into their design and make sure that their edges and frames are tightly sealed. You can also take simple measures like applying caulk to holes and placing weather stripping around their borders to great effect.
Water is another resource that we tend to use more of than we truly need. The best way to tackle the issue with water is to look at the restrooms and kitchens in the apartment. Installing water-saving fixtures in those places is a great way to help a multifamily building go green.
You can find faucets and showerheads that aerate the water that they expel so that less water comes out whenever someone turns them on. Although air is mixed in with the water, this technology doesn’t affect tenants’ ability to rinse and wash in any noticeable way. There are also toilets that utilize less water with each flush which you can place in bathrooms.
Though most of the focus on eco-friendliness is usually directed at the multifamily building alone, you can look to expand the scope of your improvements to the parking area as well. Often, an issue that residents may face is limited parking space, especially in urban locations. Not only is this inconvenient, but it also results in residents releasing more emissions into the air while searching for a space.
To help your tenants save fuel and reduce the air pollution they create, you can add additional spots to an existing parking lot or garage with environmentally beneficial mechanical parking systems. These systems make use of untouched vertical space to rotate or lift vehicles on platforms above the floor, often doubling the number of spots available without requiring you to expand the parking area laterally.
