Free Upgrades for Investment Rental Properties

Today’s RIAOC meeting was a quick meeting, but one that came with a good reminder.  We all have probably heard of rebates and other programs from the major utility companies to help with energy savings.  Well, today’s RIAOC guest speaker was Rosemarie Malijen from the Telacu Agency.  Her agency is one of many that works with major utility companies to reach out to people to offer free energy efficiency upgrades for residential dwellings, multi family properties included (such as duplexes and fourplexes).  Very important to note this program offers free upgrades to rental properties that are tenant occupied and even primary residences.  Here is a link from the Southern California Gas Company that will let you check on the eligibility of your primary residence and any investment rental properties. In Rosemarie’s case today, she was promoting weatherizing upgrades offered by the Southern California Gas Company (SCG).  Since the property types includes rental and investment properties, coming to RIAOC made sense for Rosemarie.  Investor and Commercial Real Estate Brokers tend to be a large portion of the attendees, so RIAOC is fertile ground to reach out to.  There are many programs offered by most, if not all, of your local utilities, so you should visit their websites to see what is offered.  You could possibly lower your energy bills, upgrade and increase the value of your properties for little or no money.

The interesting twist is that it is the actual occupant, not the necessarily the owner, of the dwelling that determines the qualification for the free weatherizing upgrades.  So Malijen made a point to let the audience know that the property owners need to reach out to the tenants and inform them that they may be visited by someone from the Telacu Agency, or another similar agency.  Another interesting tidbit is that there is a national database that rates neighborhoods by projected incomes and classifies them into five different categories.  The lowest income category neighborhoods are automatically qualified for the free work, so there is no written questionnaire for the occupant of the dwelling to fill out.  If the property is not automatically qualified, then the occupant(s) need to fill out a basic questionnaire.  Since there is natural apprehension to filling out forms, the agency outreach is a critical factor in success.  The agencies have the advantage of local, community based employees who can dispel misunderstandings and better communicate the benefits of the program.