She has a very straight forward approach in business.

Any thoughts on how I might approach the conversation with them?

It seems like your advice focuses on building a strategic and scalable approach to real estate investing—a growth-oriented mindset. 

This approach not only keeps tenants happy but also helps you maintain long-term cash flow by reducing turnover costs.

Quote from @John Underwood: Thanks John, I like your simple approach, I agree with that.

However, for a commercial property or a commercial residential (5+ unit) property value is based on the income approach and reducing expenses in this case by producing electricity factors into that math and very well might increase the valuation enough to make sense.

Remember you are using debt to make this investment, not reserves  sitting in your bank account so I recommend a more conservative investment approach. 

It’s a challenging time to start, but real estate can still be a solid investment if approached wisely.

Minimum cash required is $185k (for the full DIYer) but most that want a more hands off approach should have at least $220k (downpayment, closing costs, professional design and amenities).  

I'm curious if you have any suggestions on lending options that I may not have found or approaches that I should consider.