While I earn the bulk of my income from owning a retail real estate firm in Cairo, New York, I also have invested in multifamily apartments as my main retirement income investments. As the real estate market has come back from the collapse of prices in 2008, it still has not come back anywhere like the stock market has (now close to a 5 year high). Construction is up, new housing starts are up, and as I stated in my last post I’m optimistic about the economy. Having more free time has allowed me to do some things that I usually don’t get to do (and maybe shouldn’t). One of my winter goals was to paint the very large parlor floor entrance and three story hallways in my ten unit historic landmark located on Willett Street in Albany, New York. The key here is historic.
While the property is located on what I consider the most desirable location in Albany, most of my fellow landlords have completely renovated their apartments. For financial reasons I can’t compete with that. I don’t have the capital in this marketplace. In order to compete I’ve had to accept a discounted rent roll. In my desire to raise the rent roll I have been slowly making at least one improvement to at least 20% of the apartments each year. In addition I have tried to be a very hands on landlord. As any Realtor will tell you, you (or your building or apartment) only get to make great first impression once. That’s what I’m going for. A new first impression.
For those who have read my November 30th post of last year, you know that I’m a Green Landlord. Add the need to renovate and paint in keeping with the historic color palette of 1878, and the task becomes more difficult than expected. My last big issue became the fact that all of my research on historic paint colors are about exterior colors. There is no shortage of websites from paint companies as well as other sources to find appropriate colors. Interior colors is a whole other thing. After hours days of research I finally found that as I looked into paint manufacturing I was able to find the historic colors I needed.
In my case, the hardest problem to solve after finding the “right” colors was how to deal with the need to find the right primer, one that would not take off or “bubble” the existing wall paper when priming. Remember, I needed the paint to be both low or no VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds). All of my research suggested that no latex primer would work. The suggestions were to use either oil based or alkyd based primers. If you have ever used these types of paints you know that they really “stink.” My building, with high income tenants simply would not be very happy coming home to hallways that smell like chemicals. As we have become more and more litigious as a society, I worry about having a tenant get the flu and blame me, as the landlord. This is not beyond belief. (Remember the woman getting a million dollar settlement from McDonalds for a coffee that she spilled on her lap because she claimed it was “too hot.”)
The solution turned out to be simpler than I thought. After having no luck finding a primer that was both environmentally friendly and odorless I typed “odorless oil based primer” into Google and surprisingly multiple primers came up. I had never heard of any oil based paint that was “odorless,” but just adding that word in the search made all the difference in the world. I settled on Kilz Odorless Primer and it has worked out fantastically. I was able to tint it so I was able to one coat the finish paint. My tenants were thrilled that they could watch me paint and no one could smell anything.
You’ve got to be wondering “what does any of this have to do with liberalism.” Here, your age might help. As I grew up when all paint was oil based a smelled like the toxic chemicals it was made of, this odorless, low VOC paint is a miracle of evolution. Even if you’re younger you grew up with the latex version of the poisonous, smelly paints (the smell are the VOC’s). Now, for the first time in history you can paint with 99.9% toxin free paint. I should mention it’s not just about paint. There is now low VOC or VOC free glues and adhesives. In fact half of the building supplies are now either completely safe or much safer than they have ever been. This is not by accident. This is the payoff of 25 years of environmental progress.
Now is the time for the liberal left to join the fiscally conservative right to help save both the planet and our pocket books. For all those conservatives who have considered these environmental laws as government interference, you are viewing this issue from the incorrect perspective. All those toxins caused health issues that we all pay for. If keeping health costs down is desirable, join the fiscally conservative side of this issue. The more safe products we make, the healthier our lakes, rivers and streams will be, the healthier we will be, the lower our health care costs will be. This basic concept is true of every environmental law we have passed from removing the lead in gasoline to getting rid of the CFC’s in refrigeration. When both were legislated, the warning from the polluters were that these laws would make these products too expensive. These warning have been going on for over 25 years and have never proven to be true.
We all agree that we can’t go on spending the way we do. Let’s look for areas where the data shows that we have solutions that should work for both sides. I would challenge anyone to show me an example of any environmental law that either cost too much and closed a business that didn’t have a health benefit that offset the cost. Now is the time to close the budget gaps by investing in cleaner products that reduce health costs. It just makes cents.
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