Survey Results: Going Green in the Property Management Industry

Posted on 21. Jul, 2010 by Aimee Miller in Best Of, Green Trends

In partnership with the National Association of Residential Property Managers (NARPM) we recently surveyed a group of residential property managers to better understand if and how they are using the green movement to grow their business. Click here to download a PDF version of the survey.

Because Property Managers actively work on finding new ways to differentiate their services from the competition, we were interested to learn how many residential property managers see “going green” as a benefit to their business and identify the factors that will soon differentiate the industry leaders.

We found that although many of the survey respondents are interested in learning more about green certification, few property managers are actually certified. Making ‘green’ improvements to properties is most interesting to property managers when they are associated with cost savings. It is also interesting to note that the survey respondents were primarily focused on how to run a paperless office as a method of reducing overall business costs.

Renter Demand for Green Properties – Trend Is Early But On the Rise

What percentage of your residents have shown interest in renting “greener properties”?

While not many tenants are actively asking to rent ‘greener properties’, about 46% of the survey respondents see some tenants showing an interest in environmentally friendly rentals.

This small but growing demand from renters who are looking to live in an eco-friendly home is an excellent opportunity for property management companies to differentiate their rentals and stand out from the crowd. We believe this demand will continue to grow as consumers and the media become more aware of the impact our environment has on our health.

Going Green is Important to Property Managers

Even if renters aren’t yet vocal, about 58% of the survey respondents feel it’s important for the property management industry as a whole to ‘go green’. An additional 30% of respondents recognize the importance of the green movement in the property management industry but just don’t have enough time to focus on it.

Describe your thoughts on the importance of “going green” in the property management industry.

Currently, a very small number of property managers who responded to the survey are credentialed (about 4%), but an overwhelming 70% are interested in learning more about becoming credentialed in green property management.

Are you credentialed in green property management?

With awareness and renter demand increasing, it’s evident that becoming credentialed in green property management can help managers differentiate their companies as early leaders in the industry.

Learn more about green home certification programs or becoming an Eco-Broker.

Property Managers Are Going Paperless and Using Web-Based Technology

Are you interested in using less paper in your office?

The majority of respondents (76%) are very interested in using less paper. Aside from the small 5% that were not interested, it is overwhelmingly clear that property managers recognize the inherent costs they will be saving.

Moving towards a paperless office means eliminating expensive ink cartridges, hours of monotonous filing, pricey bank checks, postage and stationary paper. A recent interview with Bob Machado, owner of HomePointe Property Management provides a look into a green property management office and how going green leads to more free time and increased profitability.

The use of web-based technology is also allowing property managers to make great improvements in their business productivity. When asked about the kinds of technology used in the office to reduce paper consumption respondents said:

Web-based Property Management Software: 48% of respondents take advantage of the mobility provided by web-based property management software – allowing them to accomplish their work from anywhere.
Using Email for Communication: 88% of respondents to this survey said that using email for owner statements, reports, and resident communications has greatly helped them reduce the use of paper in their office.
Accepting Rent Online: A large number of property managers surveyed (50%) accept online rent payments, significantly reducing the time and cost associated with processing rent checks
Owners Portal: Almost half of the property managers surveyed (41%) report using an owner’s portal to communicate with owners and post statements and documentation.

Which technology do you use in your office that is helping you reduce your use of paper (check all that apply)?

It is evident that property managers are quickly adopting new technology to run their business more efficiently.

Opportunity Revealed: Greening a Property Is a Valuable Investment.

40% of the respondents said that the owners of their properties feel that making green improvements and retrofits is important but they are not willing to pay a premium. When marketing to owners, property managers can leverage the return on investment for making green improvements by having better resident retention and a competitive advantage when filling vacancies.

The owners of my properties feel that the cost of making green improvements and retrofits…

Property managers are also taking small steps to make properties ‘more green.’ The majority of respondents to the survey (55%) are installing energy-efficient appliances when possible. Another 34% are making green improvements to their properties by installing water conserving toilets. About 16% of property managers reported both providing compact fluorescent bulbs to new tenants as well as installing sustainable landscapes to reduce their water consumption.

What are you doing currently to make your properties more green?

Being Green Is a Competitive Advantage for Property Managers

Survey respondents said that when selling their services to new owners the following items would give them a competitive advantage:

68% would market their use of email as a tool to communicate with tenants, vendors, and owners.
An equally high percentage of people (65%) responded that knowing the best practices on how to save money by making properties ‘greener’ would help them acquire more business.
With the present buzz around the green movement, a large number of property managers (46%) said that running a paperless office could help them get ahead.

When selling your services to new owners, would it be a competitive advantage if you…

Renters, owners and property managers are paying increasing attention to the value of running a green and paperless property management business office. By going green, property managers can save money, improve their marketing and stand out from the competition.

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4 Responses to “Survey Results: Going Green in the Property Management Industry”

Aimee Miller

21. Jul, 2010

Thanks to all of the property managers who provided input for the survey. Some great information here on how property managers are using ‘going green’ messaging to be more competitive and attract new renters. And….the graphs are very pretty too!

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Troy Kempton

28. Jul, 2010

Among the many great alternatives in going green Solar PV, Hot Water and Pool Heating can make a huge difference for cost of living or doing business for the tenants. Owners/management companies can have these systems installed saving users a lot of money enabling higher leases for providing a service that most others don’t have. A tenant that pays a $1K electric bill monthly is happy to pay a higher lease if that bill is reduced to $200/mo. The owner/mgmt co. has the 30% tax credit coming for putting in the system and accelerated depreciation over the next 5 years which can in turn be used to accelerate the payment of the loan giving ROIs of 30% in 4 to 5 years.

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Rob Thomasian

29. Jul, 2010

Great survey! Glad to see this sector becoming more conscious of how to conserve and make their properties more attractive. As Troy mentioned, implementing renewable energy, such as solar pv can help reduce operating costs and can lower lease rates gaining an edge on the competition and making the property more marketable, not to mention continuing to reduce the carbon footprint. The state and federal grants with renewable energy credits make the economics very attractive.

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Steve McCrann

29. Sep, 2010

It is good to see the attitudes and what these survey respondents have gotten from upper management, it is telling though.

Printing less paper is great and saves money too but real savings will come from energy use reductions and the multifamily (and SFR) markets are not set up to benefit from the real meat of energy reductions and cost savings over time because owners don’t pay the operational costs, renters do.

Those major improvements to systems and building envelopes simply will not happen in an environment where the resident pays their energy bill for heating, cooling, electricity, and hot water and the annual cost of Apartment A cannot be compared to annual cost of Apartment B.

Some cities are proposing benchmarking and required disclosure but that is also fraught with major issues. New builds are the best opportunity to “build it in” and they will.

I have been doing energy and water efficiency retrofits and improvements on multifamily and some single family for about 10 years for the right “green” reason- dollars. If the dollars are there, it will be done. The major efficiency upgrades have been done on all-bills-paid properties (older than 1970 typically in Texas) and the results/ROI have been very strong.

Lots to discuss on these subjects and advertising that your office is “green because it uses e-mail and is paperless” will die when the greenwashing wave that is currently cresting, recedes.

Don’t get me started on how competitve solar is (not) without massive incentives who is paying for the incentives.

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