TIRE: Walking Vacants

A couple of quick field stories:

The two gentlemen at the pool harassed residents for a smoke, a ride to town, or other disruptive behavior. A quick check of their ID caused us to discover they were squatting in a unit vacated earlier in the month by a college student.

At another property, I started walking units as part of my property inspection. As I walked into one unlit unit, I heard the familiar crunch of glass on carpet. Sure enough, a window was broken and the kitchen showed signs of recent use.

There’s no way around it: you must inspect vacant units at least every other day and preferably every day.

State level treatment of renewable energy

EERE produced a document about 18 months ago summarizing the state-level incentives for renewable energy. It’s a little far afield for me, but makes an essential point that the policies are varied, conflicting, and frequently internally inconsistent.

Key sentence from the executive summary: “At a minimum, definitional clarity should be sought.”

Good policy requires good science. Understand what you want to achieve, understand the science required, then write the statute. I’m looking at you, DC Green Building Code (and here).

http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/ems/reports/62574.pdf

Energy modeling (BOMA article)

The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), which focuses on non-residential properties, places an article at FacilitiesNet that nicely summarizes CBRE’s work in sustainability during 2007.

“Energy efficiency makes the difference” highlights CB’s use of energy modeling and BIM, which is becoming a useful addition to CAD.

“A key part of the company’s plan to improve energy efficiency in its space involves using the ENERGY STAR benchmarking tool. To begin, all office buildings larger than 100,000 square feet will be benchmarked; a second round for smaller buildings will follow.”

At a recent internal sustainability committee meeting I made the argument that the industry is headed this way: it’s time to crack the books and then get our hands dirty with the details.

http://www.buildingoperatingmanagement.com/article.asp?id=7363

There’s a much longer discussion of energy modeling in the April 2008 issue of GreenSource. I haven’t waded through it yet, but their continuing ed articles for the AIA usually provide a few new tidbits to those who aren’t otherwise paying attention.

As an owner/former developer, I’m very much of the ‘make it work’ school of thought. Nevertheless, I will concede that whole building integration of HVAC, lighting, LEED, and other requirements is still tricky business. Trying to find someone who understood my desires in the Memphis project took forever.

Here are two DOE-backed modeling efforts:

Oak Ridge Benchmarking Building Energy Performance (http://eber.ed.ornl.gov/benchmark). This website allows you to quickly benchmark energy performance on 16 different building types and approximate energy use and cost savings from energy upgrades.

Energy IQ (http://energybenchmarking.lbl.gov). Currently under way, the pilot version of this tool is being called the next generation of nonresidential energy benchmarking. This “action-oriented” tool provides opportunity assessments based on benchmarking results. The tool supports comparison of the user’s building to peers and the tracking of an individual building or portfolio over time.

Trends in green utility pricing (2006)

Created by DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, this study summarizes developments in ‘green power’ options from utility companies.

The results highlight a modest increase in replacement of fossil-fuel power (1.8% at YE 2006) and growth in generation capacity (3.8 billion kWh).

http://www.eere.energy.gov/greenpower/pdfs/42287.pdf

PV + Standing Seam Roof

I’m rebuilding a clubhouse in Memphis with a standing seam roof. If I’d known about this (and if we were keeping the asset), I might have researched this photovoltaic array for a standing seam roof. It might have gone well with the rest of our sustainable measures such as passive ventilation, low-VOC paints, low-e glass, and other energy efficient improvements.

The blog post at jetsongreen.com highlights a <10-year ROI.
http://www.jetsongreen.com/2008/08/energypeak-stan.html

Much more information at Energypeak.com.

Toward wiser water use

Green Source has a quick water saving article in the July 2008 issue.

It meets the “green multifamily article” standard of mentioning the Solaire at least once with a nice drawing of the water recycling program.

Good stuff, but it overlooks the mundane for the expensive. At my REO properties, our water conservation items follow this scope:
1. Annual inspections of toilet flappers
2. Diverter valve replacement
3. Low flow uniform pressure shower heads
4. Properly sized and cone shaped aerators
5. Annual inspection of water heaters

These are the techniques we use to reduce water usage on the cheap.

“Toward Wiser Water Strategies”

http://continuingeducation.construction.com/article.php?L=5&C=421&P=1

TIRE: This is Real Estate

All lines of work provide practitioners with a thick book of war stories. Real estate, and multifamily in particular, is prone to providing war stories with just a little bit of a twist.

TIRE, which stands for ‘This is Real Estate’ is an attempt to share the occasional story that either illustrates a common challenge or provides further evidence that “You can’t fix stupid.”

I’ll aim for weekly Friday publishing, but we’ll see.

FIRE: Annual unit inspections

Each property in my portfolio is required to complete an annual unit inspection and lease audit. Although I strongly encourage service teams to enter units on a quarterly basis to check occupancy, cleanliness, maintenance, and pets, the annual inspection, with a formal checklist of items, serves as a budget preparation tool.

By looking at each unit with a critical eye at the appliances, rough estimate of turn costs, and any general maintenance items, the service manager and property manager are able to better forecast turn costs and appliance replacements.

FIRE: Fundamentals in Real Estate

FIRE is designed as an occasional series on what I consider fundamental elements of real estate or property management. It was inspired by a particularly weak action plan I received to battle delinquency issues at a small LIHTC property.

Items preceded by ‘FIRE’ or tagged with same, should speak to timeless issues in multifamily.