GreenPropertyManagement.com

Backyard Chickens

Posted on 27. Jan, 2012 by Jennifer Marcus Newton.

One of the perks of my last apartment in California was access to seven hens. Really, the perk had more to do with the eggs the chickens produced, but the thought of interacting with hens was strangely thrilling. I’d never been around them before and I was extremely curious. I imagined making my way to the coop with an egg basket tucked under my arm.

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An Environmentally Responsible Move-Out List

Posted on 29. Dec, 2011 by Jennifer Marcus Newton.

You’re not the only one making wish lists this time of year. Here’s one for your residents to check twice to make sure their next move-out is environmentally responsible. Or, should a tenant leave you with a move-out mess, this handy list will help you navigate the detritus responsibly. Thank goodness for security deposits.

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Getting Personal about Public Transportation

Posted on 02. Dec, 2011 by Jennifer Marcus Newton.

But no matter where you are in the world, local public transportation reduces carbon emissions for every person on board. It also reduces the number of personal vehicles on the road, thereby reducing traffic congestion. Over the course of a year, you can cut your own carbon emissions by nearly 5,000 pounds just by hopping on a bus rather than driving.

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The Aesthetics of Recycling

Posted on 19. Oct, 2011 by Jennifer Marcus Newton.

What comes to mind when you hear the word recycling? Do you ever think of anything more aesthetic than an iconic plastic recycling bin?

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Sustainable University 101

Posted on 12. Oct, 2011 by Jennifer Marcus Newton.

What do college campuses generate? Students. And what do students need? Rental housing.

This is certainly not news but what you might not know is that college and university campuses nationwide are implementing strategies to be more sustainable.

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Rethinking the Toilet

Posted on 26. Sep, 2011 by Jennifer Marcus Newton.

Did you know the earliest form of today’s flush toilet first emerged in 1596? And while ordinary toilets today do what they are primarily designed to do – that is, flush waste away from wherever you are to a treatment plant far, far away – mainstream flush toilets haven’t undergone truly significant innovative retooling in quite some time. Meanwhile, they continue to flush about 4.8 billion gallons of water every single day in the U.S.

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The 21-Day Recycling Challenge

Posted on 11. Aug, 2011 by Jennifer Marcus Newton.

If your office or home environments don’t currently have a system for recycling, now is a fantastic time to develop one. Let’s start by conducting a little trash experiment. We’ll call it the 21-Day Challenge.

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Be a Hero with a Zero-Waste Event

Posted on 04. Aug, 2011 by Jennifer Marcus Newton.

You’ve probably heard of zero-waste events before. You might have even attended one. They are just like regular events, except they produce exactly zero waste.

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$3 Billion Power Drain

Posted on 12. Jul, 2011 by Jennifer Marcus Newton.

$3 billion in electricity. That’s how much energy set-top boxes – the ubiquitous household device that liaisons between signal and television – consume in the United States per year. Even more shocking is that 66 percent of that energy (about $2 billion worth) is used when no one is even around to enjoy the actual televisions set-top boxes enable.

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Teaching an Old Dog a New Trick

Posted on 07. Jul, 2011 by Jennifer Marcus Newton.

After reading about Max the Labrador, I’m thinking about introducing a new twist to our family walks. Max, who was rescued by his family from Orphans of the Storm, has learned how to recycle alongside his human family members. He actually fetches recyclable trash and helps his humans collect an enormous volume of litter by week’s end.

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Strong Resident, Strong Community

Posted on 29. Jun, 2011 by Jennifer Marcus Newton.

My neighbor Sage comes to mind when I think about an ideal tenant. First off, she’s reliable, responsible and stable. She’s lived in her apartment for nearly seven years. She treats her rented space with the utmost respect — just as if it were her own. She organizes efforts to clean up litter, create street art and plant flowers. I figure that her landlord certainly must know a thing or two about enticing high-quality, socially responsible tenants.

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Going Green Is Not “All Or Nothing”

Posted on 08. Jun, 2011 by Jennifer Marcus Newton.

Your green journey depends on many factors — job, family, hobbies, personal values, physical abilities and many more. In that way, eco-consciousness is more of a spectrum.

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Junk Mail: If the Name Fits

Posted on 11. May, 2011 by Jennifer Marcus Newton.

There was a time when posted mail was full of an alluring promise of adventure, good stories and friendship. But these days, most mail has been reduced to bills or junk mail. Postcards are few, handwritten letters even fewer. The anticipation of something great is still there, but when all you find is a circular for sale-priced beef at the local grocery store (and you happen to be vegetarian), there is a serious letdown (and evidence of a serious disconnect between marketer and consumer).

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Nuturing Tenant Loyalty

Posted on 04. May, 2011 by Jennifer Marcus Newton.

Once you’ve found a great match between a tenant and your property, you want to nurture tenant loyalty. Here are a few easy-to-implement ideas that will help build a long and beautiful relationship.

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How Do You Vet Prospects for Eco-Consciousness?

Posted on 20. Apr, 2011 by Jennifer Marcus Newton.

First contact launches the screening process – green or otherwise – of potential tenants. Use this initial exchange, be it in person, by phone or via email, to highlight a few key green assets of your property. Even if the prospect isn’t entirely green-savvy, they will be put on notice that green principles rate high with you.

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Better Buildings Initiative

Posted on 06. Apr, 2011 by Jennifer Marcus Newton.

Who knew there was a link between energy savings at your local property management office and job creation on a national level?

Yet President Obama’s Better Buildings Initiative connects the two. According to the President, “[m]aking our buildings more energy efficient is one of the fastest, easiest and cheapest ways to save money, combat pollution and create jobs right here in the United States of America.”

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Defining Green

Posted on 23. Mar, 2011 by Jennifer Marcus Newton.

Green to me is more about personal responsibility, weighing my own needs against the needs of those around me and the planet and seeing the big picture.

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Calculating the Value of a Green Tenant

Posted on 16. Mar, 2011 by Jennifer Marcus Newton.

How do you calculate the value of an eco-conscious tenant? It goes well beyond a timely rent payment — a tenant can easily pay rent on time, while destroying your property from top to bottom.

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Getting a Handle on Stuff

Posted on 23. Feb, 2011 by Jennifer Marcus Newton.

Having too much stuff eats up our valuable time, because there’s more to organize, maintain, move, and store. As a result, what we have grows less useful as it wastes away in some forgotten corner—slowly becoming obsolete. The New York Times and other publications have been reporting of late about a new strategy to simplify our lives. All we have to do is whittle down what we own to 100 items or fewer (including toiletries). This is an exciting experiment to read about over morning coffee, but most folks would be hard-pressed to successfully pare down a household or office to 100 items.

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Become a Destination for Earth Advocates

Posted on 09. Feb, 2011 by Jennifer Marcus Newton.

Making your office a destination for eco-conscious folks will bring more green traffic your way, start a green dialog with prospective tenants, and add value to current tenant relationships. Your efforts will prove invaluable in nurturing a long and fulfilling relationship with eco-conscious tenants — and the planet.

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Watching Your E-Waste in the New Year

Posted on 19. Jan, 2011 by Jennifer Marcus Newton.

We streamline our offices by using less paper, more energy-efficient light bulbs, and by carpooling to work. But do we ever consider the impact of the beasts of our heavy office lifting — computers, fax machines, and printers?

Here are a few strategies for softening the environmental impact of office hardware:

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A Bright Post-Holiday Idea

Posted on 05. Jan, 2011 by Jennifer Marcus Newton.

This season, I was eager to explore the intricacies of holiday light recycling after reading about a local program in Minnesota.

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Promising Plastics and Paints

Posted on 16. Dec, 2010 by Jennifer Marcus Newton.

Market demand is an impressively powerful force, and it’s not always for the good of the planet. But in the case of a small thing like a paint roller tray or a less toxic paint, things are looking better. And so is my kitchen.

Sometimes it’s the small things that have the greatest impact.

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Deconstruction of Residential Real Estate

Posted on 06. Dec, 2010 by Jennifer Marcus Newton.

If deconstruction is a new trend in the world of real estate development, you can expect re-use centers to be brimming with stock and plenty of opportunities for you to find just what you need at a very green price. I imagine that tracking and searching inventory will eventually become more sophisticated and easier to navigate as the demand for deconstruction increases.

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A Conversation with Minnesota’s First Eco-Broker

Posted on 22. Nov, 2010 by Jennifer Marcus Newton.

The earth benefits of eco-brokering are self-evident. But I wanted to know how certification helped an agent’s business, so I sat down with Gina Vermilyea to discuss eco-brokering and what led her to get certified.

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