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Welcome to the AAOA Forum, where we discuss the the topics our members want to hear and want to talk about. We like to take an active roll in the online community to help our members learn and help educate landlords new and old. We encourage you to participate and join in our discussions. Thanks.
Landlord Quick Tip
Every time you start up an appliance that runs on a motor, electricity is drawn into your home. Your meter spins, tracking usage, and your bill is calculated on that amount.
But not all of the electricity that is metered is 
actually used. A lot of it is wasted. You’ve paid for it, but it never gets used in your home or business.
However, there is a cost-effective way to start saving money immediately, every time a motor in your rental (or your home) fires up.
The Power-Save reduces the amount of power drawn from the utility by storing in its capacitors otherwise lost electricity caused by the inductive motors in your home – things like air conditioning units, refrigerators, freezers, washers, dryers, dishwashers, pool pumps, vacuum cleaners, furnace blower motors, and fans.
Power-Save units are available for both commercial and residential use. They can be installed easily as long as you have a circuit breaker panel with breaker switches and not the old screw-in type fuses. The unit will work on any single-phase electric application for homes.
The Power-Save unit also serves as a surge protector for many common home electronics. FreeEasyGreen.com guarantees the unit will reduce your electric bill. There is a “no questions asked” 60-day money back guarantee. Residential units are just $299, and independent studies, including one conducted by CBS News, have shown the unit can pay for itself in 6-18 months depending on usage. For more information, see FreeEasyGreen.com.
Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.
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Posted by Kim Ezzell on 10.19.2009. 1 Comment »
Filed under: AAOA Forum, Going Green
A Must-Have Item for Your Move-In Checklist
Most tenants as with many homeowners don’t pay attention to the amount of energy they are using.
Tenants who are not responsible for paying the utility bills are traditionally least aware of their energy abuses because there is no feedback mechanism, i.e. a utility bill, to keep them honest.Education can play a large part in changing tenant behavior. I believe if a tenant was given some simple energy saving ideas they would use them:
For instance, the placement of furniture can have a large impact on air flow in the home thus impacting how hot or cold it feels. Tenants should be told to be sure to avoid placing furniture in front of or on top of registers or return vents.
In vacation homes and short-term rentals, including student housing, the easiest way to control costs is through the use of a tamper proof thermostat. Limiting how high or low a guest can set the temperature will have a large impact on saving energy usage in a vacation home.
Also Microsoft just launched a new website site “Hohm” to help homeowners baseline and track their energy usage.
As a long term strategy that involved capital investment, consider variable speed technology to better control fans and pumps.
See our Green Forum for more energy savings tips.
American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts on products and services for landlords related to your real estate investment including REAL ESTATE FORMS, tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing. Find out more at joinaaoa.
To subscribe to our blog, click here.
Posted by Kim Ezzell on 10.15.2009. CLICK to Leave a Comment »
Filed under: AAOA Forum, Going Green
Identifying a Truly ‘Green’ Rental
Rent it Right
by Janet Portman, Inman News
Q: I’ve been looking at a brand-new apartment complex that advertises itself as a “green community.”
When I asked the leasing agent about what that meant, she could only point to the recycling bins and the use of high-efficient outdoor lighting. This seemed pretty paltry to me.
Are there standards that an owner must meet before being able to claim “green” status for a building? –Max M.
A: In the past it was onsite laundry facilities, then cable TV access, then Wi-Fi. Now, it seems that “green” is the newest amenity that apartment owners hope will set them apart from the competition. But unlike those earlier upgrades (either there was a laundry room or there wasn’t), being “green,” or energy efficient, isn’t so easy to measure in a residential building.
Commercial buildings and single-family homes can be measured against the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program, but no green building standard existed for apartment communities until January 2009, when the National Green Building Standard was approved by the American National Standards Institute.
The first question to ask that leasing agent is whether this complex was built using methods, materials and designs that approximate the new standards. If the complex was designed and built using green approaches and materials, the next question is whether the property is run with “greenness” in mind.
You’ve been shown two green practices — recycling and efficient lighting — but these are only the tip of the environmentally conscious iceberg. To be truly green, this property should practice overall energy- and water-saving techniques, use cleaning compounds low in volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and have low-emission equipment, among other things. To encourage individual tenants to conserve, utilities should be individually metered.
Finally, a successful green building depends on the behavior of the individual tenants. Those who refuse to recycle or who use phosphate-rich compounds or inordinate amounts of water will sabotage management’s efforts to go green. This is where things can get tricky.
To require green practices among tenants, landlords need to write “green compliance” clauses into their leases. If they are to mean anything, these clauses must be enforceable, putting tenants who don’t comply at risk of termination and eviction.
But how does a landlord monitor the brand of soap or amount of water tenants use without violating their rights to privacy? Hopefully, the promise of a green environment (and the premium that many tenants will pay for such a living situation) will attract only those who are eager to conform to the program, making enforcement all but unnecessary.
Janet Portman is an attorney and managing editor at Nolo. She specializes in landlord/tenant law and is co-author of “Every Landlord’s Legal Guide” and “Every Tenant’s Legal Guide.” She can be reached at janet@inman.com.
Copyright 2009 Janet Portman
See Janet Portman’s feature How to Negotiate a Lease Buyout.
American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts on products and services for landlords related to your real estate investment including REAL ESTATE FORMS, tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing. Find out more at joinaaoa.
To subscribe to our blog, click here.
Posted by Kim Ezzell on 09.28.2009. CLICK to Leave a Comment »
Filed under: AAOA Forum, Going Green
Energy Upgrades May Earn You Rebates
by David Lowe
Farmer’s Almanac is predicting below average temperatures for 75 percent of the country.
Here are five things owners and landlords can do to get ready and reduce their utility bills — and they are easier to do now when it is still warm than wait until winter. Caulk and seal all windows and doors. Ensure their is no outside air leaking into the house. Also, add insulation to your attic and crawl spaces.
Change your air filters.
See our Green Forum for more energy savings tips.
American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts on products and services for landlords related to your real estate investment including REAL ESTATE FORMS, tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing. Find out more at joinaaoa.
To subscribe to our blog, click here.
Posted by Kim Ezzell on 09.21.2009. CLICK to Leave a Comment »
Filed under: AAOA Forum, Going Green, Make Extra Money
Regain Control of Your Utility Bills
Did you know you can save from 3% to 8% on your utility bill for every one degree of adjustment on your thermostat?
With heating and cooling bills climbing, take steps to rein in the costs from your rental property, and well as your own home.
Vacation home owner David Lowe got fed up with the problems caused by renters randomly setting the thermostats at extremes. So he decided to do something about it. He created a tamper-proof thermostat.
Dubbed the “ControlTemp Thermostat”, it is specially designed to prevent tenants or guests from cranking up the heat or air conditioning in your units or common areas that cause your utility bills to sky rocket.
Posted by Kim Ezzell on 08.17.2009. CLICK to Leave a Comment »
Filed under: AAOA Forum, Going Green
Simple Checklist Saves on Heating, Cooling Costs and Repairs
Performing regular maintenance on your cooling and heating systems saves energy and extends the useful life of these expensive appliances.
Energy efficiency expert David Lowe offers these tips to keep your systems in top condition: -
Outdoor condensing units (the part of the cooling systems where hot air can be felt blowing) can become clogged. Dust and dirt will accumulate in between the small metal fins, blocking air flow. This will make the compressor work harder, increasing energy costs and shortening the lifetime of the compressor.
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Inspect heating and cooling ducts and seal any leaks. Direct leaks in duct systems can result in large losses.
Posted by Kim Ezzell on 07.30.2009. CLICK to Leave a Comment »
Filed under: AAOA Forum, Going Green
16 Cheap, Easy Ways to Save
by Jeff Adie
High heating, cooling, and water bills are not going away.
With this list of 16 cheap, easy-to-install upgrades, you owe it to yourself, and your tenants, to find a few that will work to lower your costs.
We are not talking major projects in this blog– just 16 low-cost improvements that you can easily accomplish that will help save our resources.
So, no more excuses! Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Kim Ezzell on 05.21.2009. 1 Comment »
Filed under: AAOA Forum, Going Green
The Water Billing Nightmare
Rent it Right
by Janet Portman, Inman News
Q: I’ve lived in a 40-unit apartment building for the last five years. Until now, I have paid for water, as required by my lease, based on a submetered water system.
Recently, the landlord said the meters are broken and she has decided not to fix them, claiming that they are inaccessible. She is now billing us on an allocation system, based on square footage and number of people in the apartment. My water bill has doubled!
Can they bill us for water this way or are they required to use meters? –Leslie P.
A: Shifting the cost of water to tenants is becoming increasingly popular with landlords. Doing so reduces their costs of doing business, and though they could build in the cost of water when setting the rent, many hesitate to do so for fear that they will end up with a higher-than-market rent. Some will argue that when tenants pay for their specific usage, they tend to conserve more, which is important in drought-plagued parts of the country.
Posted by Kim Ezzell on 05.14.2009. 1 Comment »
Filed under: AAOA Forum, Going Green
Landlord Quick Tip
Quick Tip #3: Stop Flushing Money Down the Drain
If you have older toilets in your home or rental property, say pre-1994, you are probably spending far more money on water than you need to.
Toilet flushing accounts for about 40% of household water costs, and with rates going up, this is a must-fix item.
Installing new energy efficient toilets is one way to eliminate the problem. But if new toilets are not in your immediate future, there are a few easy alternatives that will lower your water usage and costs:
Toilet Tummy. Invest $5.00 in one of the many products designed to make old toilets more efficient, like the Toilet Tummy, a water bottle especially shaped to hang in the tank of your toilet. The water displacement will cause your toilets to waste less.
Adjust the levels. The water level for many toilet tanks is adjustable. Click here to see how.
The old water jug in the tank trick. Fill a half gallon plastic jug with water, and place it in the tank. Before you go through the trouble, check to make sure there is room in the tank for the jug.
With any of these methods, test the toilet to make sure there is still enough pressure to flush the bowl. If the tenant has to flush multiple times, you haven’t saved anything!
For more information and a step-by-step guide to each of these techniques, visit the handyman at Dover Projects.
Unexpectedly high water bills? See what happened to one homeowner, just for fun.
See last week’s Landlord Quick Tip.
Let us know what you think by commenting below. For questions about our blog, contact our editor at kim@joinaaoa.org.
American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts for landlords on products and services related to your rental investment, including real estate forms, tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing. Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.
To subscribe to our blog, click here.
Posted by Kim Ezzell on 05.04.2009. 1 Comment »
Filed under: AAOA Forum, Going Green
Don`t Miss These Valuable Energy Tax Credits
In an effort to reward homeowners for energy efficient upgrades to their homes, the recent Stimulus Bills included some very valuable additional tax credits!Water Heater, Boiler, or A/C new Installations
A tankless water heater installation with a 90% + efficiency gets you a 30% federal tax credit up to $1,500.00. This may also qualify for a gas utility rebate of $300.00. Total job deduction $1,800.00.
Newly Installed Energy Efficient Certified Windows & Doors
Qualifying Windows and Doors purchased between February 17, 2009 and December 31, 2010 are eligible for a tax credit equal to 30 percent of the product cost up to a maximum credit of $1,500.
…I myself took advantage of this one and received a certified letter from the Window and Door company that I can submit to my accountant at tax time, and bingo! … $1,500 cash savings right back in my wallet!
These installations must be “placed in service” from January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2010, and must be for taxpayer’s principal residence, but if you were ever considering upgrading your home’s utilities or windows and doors for better Energy Efficiency, NOW is the time to do it, as you will get a portion of your cost paid for you in these specified cases.
Sheldon Neal is a Realtor(R) with RE/MAX REAL ESTATE LTD, serving buyers and sellers in Bergen County, NJ. You can contact Sheldon for more info on these tax credits, or any other real estate questions at 201-481-2891, or email at SheldonNeal@remax.net.
American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts for landlords on products and services related to your rental investment, including real estate forms, tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing. Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.
To subscribe to our blog, click here.
Posted by Kim Ezzell on 04.30.2009. 1 Comment »
Filed under: AAOA Forum, Going Green