There’s no doubt about it – green living is in. People make a lot of decisions about their lives to make sure that they’re living in a way that protects their bodies and planet. They might eat organic foods, choose cloth diapers, carefully select the origin of their meat, and use environmentally friendly cleaning products. But it doesn’t matter how many organic foods they eat or vinegar solutions they use to clean if you’re spraying their apartments with noxious chemicals to keep pests out. You’ll lose these tenants. And with the green movement growing, you’ll find a growing number of potential tenants who live this lifestyle. It’s time to adjust or be left behind.

Many property managers are protecting their tenants’ health and doing good for the planet by choosing integrated pest management methods rather than the chemicals of the past. This method looks for the reason behind a pest infestation and eliminates it, rather than simply eliminating the pests with a coating of bug spray. Eliminating habitats through careful landscaping, moisture elimination, crack sealing, and prompt disposal of debris may be a slower method of pest elimination, but it works better in the long run. If you kill pests with chemicals, you may notice an immediate reduction in their numbers, but they’re likely to come back stronger and chemical resistant.

Integrated pest management is something you can’t do alone. It requires the participation of all of your residents who must alert you to moisture problems in their apartments and keep the garbage from piling up. But if your tenants are committed to living a green lifestyle, they’ll likely be thrilled to find a property that is just as committed and will gladly participate.