Not to be gauche, but the only green that most people in the real estate market seem to care about is how much money they can shove in their pockets as quickly as possible.
There seems to be a fascination among the flipper community with turning around a home as quickly as possible, with the aim apparently being to reduce costs as much as possible (even at the expense of using cheap materials that aren’t durable and old appliances that will fall apart as soon as someone moves in).
Little attention, if any, is ever paid to how our practices as flippers will affect the environment, and a focus on the customer experience (as customers prefer durable, green renovations where possible) is subsumed by a get-rich-quick mentality that harms not only the profession but also the planet.
For flippers who choose to renovate their properties in a planet-conscious manner, however, there are benefits that would make the thoughtless opportunists in the community blush.
Green technology, in general, has an unwarranted reputation for being expensive and elitist, with sustainable energy still being considered a thing of science fiction rather than an actionable, present reality. While some of these renovations are more investment and effort-intensive, the positive feedback from consumers (as well as, in some cases, the money saved) makes all such investments more than worth it.
As time goes on and our society continues to progress towards a more ecologically-aware mindset (as well as utility bills going up, that also helps), customers will continue to demand more and more green-friendly appliances and other aspects in their homes.
Choosing to invest your effort and funds in any of the options listed below will ensure that customers gravitate more towards your properties: and you may find, as an added bonus, that you save more money than you were expecting while it’s on the market.
Let’s begin.
Work With Your Own Assets
Any house flipper knows that before work begins, you have to first consider the assets you already have: how many of them can be used as outright selling points, how many need a little TLC before they become functional, and how many are destined for the dumpster. What you probably didn’t know was that this practice is, in some ways, already an ecologically friendly practice, as the more original pieces of furniture you choose to refurbish instead of junk, the less waste your renovation is creating.
If you find that the cabinets in the kitchen, for example, are a little dinged up but still overall functional, you might want to consider re-painting them with low VOC paints instead of tearing them out and throwing them away. As you’re evaluating your property, identify items you can refurbish instead of replacing; those items that you do replace, consider replacing with used equipment, as that will also reduce your overall waste and allow you to take advantage of products that have already been made.
Install Energy-Efficient Appliances
Energy-efficient appliances, on the other hand, represent a much more significant investment, but one that consumers have come to appreciate over the last few years. In addition to being outright better for the environment, using fewer resources to accomplish the same tasks, these appliances tend to lower consumers’ utility bills, allowing them to save money month after month.
Fortunately, while energy-efficient appliances may be a little more expensive than your standard models (especially if you have standard-model appliances that work), they are also selling points that tend to attract customers’ attention for the reasons above. As such, whether you’re listing your property as a vacation rental or trying to attract a buyer, energy-efficient appliances will give you a leg up over the competition, allowing you to attract more customers to your property more frequently than those who don’t have them.
Of course, there’s much more you can do as a would-be house flipper to make your properties (and the way you go about fixing them) more environmentally friendly in order to protect nature. Try the things presented above, and see if they work: you may decide that going green is the best possible thing you can do for your business, securing you more customers and saving you more money on your bottom line.