Realtor, General Contractor, and Developer · Redding, CA · Member since 2009 · 7k+ posts · 4k+ votes
As everyone knows, California is in a drought. Have any of you been affected yet by the drought, or have you made plans to change anything due to the drought?
In Shasta County where we still own a house on 20 acres, they were notified that the water usage will be cut 25% from what was used last year.
Here in southern California on the new houses, rather than the tropical landscaping that's prevalent I'm thinking we should do a more modern xeriscaping.
Hanford, CA · Member since 2013 · 5k+ posts · 1k+ votes
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I am buying like crazy while people are still nervous about the drought! It will go away and prices will go up again. So I am trying to buy as much as I can now!
Investor · Torrance, CA · Member since 2014 · 75 posts · 13 votes
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A program with LADWP recently reached out to the LA area and offered to install water efficient toilets for free. I just got them installed in my duplex property yesterday so i will know in a couple months how much money it saves me. I'm hoping this works out for me because water/sewer is my biggest expense here.
A program with LADWP recently reached out to the LA area and offered to install water efficient toilets for free. I just got them installed in my duplex property yesterday so i will know in a couple months how much money it saves me. I'm hoping this works out for me because water/sewer is my biggest expense here.
We are in the Bay area and we see notices everyone about the drought and water conservation. we have sent an email reminder to the tenants about this and we have to see if it will reduce the usage in anyway.
We will have a turnover in one of your units in May and we are planing to change the water fixtures throughout the unit and toilets to low flow ones. We plan to do this in the other three units also over the next year.
Rental Property Investor · San Marino, CA · Member since 2011 · 398 posts · 144 votes
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planning on implementing RUBS in all my properties. My conversations with other apartment owners is that it cut down utilities by 30% once tenants realized that they were accountable for their water bills.
For my personal residence i'm putting drought tolerant landscaping as well as rain barrels.
Hanford, CA · Member since 2013 · 5k+ posts · 1k+ votes
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I am buying like crazy while people are still nervous about the drought! It will go away and prices will go up again. So I am trying to buy as much as I can now!
Rental Property Investor · Windsor, CA · Member since 2015 · 28 posts · 11 votes
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I added a water meter so that I can determine the individual tenants usage and informed the tenants that they will be paying for actual usage instead of a set fee. As @Jason Mak mentioned, tenants will use less water if they have to pay for it.
Our reservoirs are about as full as they were last year at this time.
How much does it cost to add a water meter? I have a six plex in San Bernardino and we pay for water. I wonder how my partners and I could meter the individual units....
Rental Property Investor · Windsor, CA · Member since 2015 · 28 posts · 11 votes
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The meter and fittings were about $240 and another $100 to have it installed. I now take a picture of the meter with my phone when I collect the rent and subtract it from the last picture to get the monthly water usage.
Investor · Sacramento County, CA · Member since 2013 · 104 posts · 20 votes
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Personally won't be watering the front lawn all that much (again!) this year. Will be on the lookout for free or low cost resources from my local water district. There has been mumblings about a couple thousand dollars for xeriscaping; definitely interested in doing that. Much more than that; isn't even going to have much of an impact.
Time for our agricultural industry to involve and in a major way. I say lookout for the next big tech advancement in water usage for the Ag Industry to come in the next 24 months. It's going to be a game changer.
Rental Property Investor · San Marino, CA · Member since 2011 · 398 posts · 144 votes
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@Devin E. Prior to changing to the high efficiency toilets, were your toilets very old? A lot of my units have updated toilets since we recently remodeled. We purchased these toilets from Home Depot or HD Supply. I'm under the impression that most 'newer' toilets installed within the last few years are already considered high efficiency. Is that right? Otherwise, it'd be a waste to change out all my toilets even though it is free.