4 Plex Beginner Questions

[Braden Wood]

Closing on a 4 plex next week and I have some questions.

The building is residential style, it is a large home split up into 4 units with individual exterior doors. Property is mostly rent ready, however 2 units share a water heater and all units share utility bills. How have you guys split up utilities with no dedicated meters? How difficult is it to split the utilities up for the individual units, it seems like it would not be worth the hassle and costs. There is also a large, shared back patio and backyard, is it worth my time and money to split them up?

Purchased at 105k, previous leases were 650, 650, 1000, 650. The 1000 and one 650 are ready to rent. The other 2 need some minor rehab.

I have some experience rehabing and leasing a single family home but nothing multifamily, what are some things I should look out for or keep in mind with this new property? Things you wish you knew when you started multi-family, tenant selection and management, etc...

[Randall Alan]

Without rewiring the unit, you would probably just have to build the utilities into the rent.  You can call your utility company and ask them what the utilities average.  The only way to split them would be to re-wire the 4 units with 4 electric meters.  Likewise for the water.  Probably all very impractical.  I would base your split on bedrooms.. which translates roughly to how many people are living in each unit and consume utilities.  Keep in mind there is no incentive for your tenants to be conservative on resources when its all included.  Who needs to turn up the air when you leave when it's free?!  So I would aim high, and adjust them yearly based on actual expenses.  Probably build that into your contract - that utilities are subject to change.