Recently purchased a rooming house, looking for some advice

[Me Him]

I recently purchased a rooming house, and I'm looking for some advice for how to maximize my profits and minimize headaches. It's a 9 bedroom house in Seattle, and currently fully rented out to reliable people who have all been there for a long time. One of the roommates handles the day to day management (lawn, roommate search, chore scheduling, etc.) and gets a discount on rent. The general problem is that the rents are well below market, and all include utilities, but it seems people use a lot of utilities, because they don't have to pay them.

I feel like in a rooming house situation, it makes sense to have rents inclusive of utilities and wifi, so any ideas on how to get people to use less heat, water, etc. when they don't have much incentive? Or, would it make more sense to just have a fixed utilities surcharge added to the rent? Rents haven't been raised in over a year, and I'm planning to make a change this summer. I'm planning to do some maintenance and upgrades, to justify the increase.

How would I determine what the fair market rent price for each room is? Based on craigslist research, they seem to be far under anything else in the area, but I'm only finding 5 and 6 bedroom houses, and I'm sure price should be somewhat cheaper since you're living with more people. Any thoughts on how I can come up with a decent idea of what these rooms could rent for? I know I'm capped on how much I can increase existing peoples rent, but I'd like to have an idea for what to charge new people.

I'm new to owning/running a rooming house, so if anyone has any other general advice or suggestions, please let me know. Thanks!

[Marcia Maynard]

I lived in a house share situation in Seattle years ago.  It was not a rooming house, but the house had utilities that we all shared.  We split the utility bills four ways among each other and the group held each other accountable for not wasting utilities.  Since your house has a house manager, I would sit down with him and share your thoughts.  Change is always better accepted when those who are affected by the change are included in the decision making.  

Instead of doing a rent raise, shift the responsibility for paying the variable utilities (electric, water, natural gas) on to the tenants, with the house manager handling it.  For the non-variable utilities/telcom - those with a fixed cost that is not based on usage (garbage/recycling, yard debris, wifi) keep those factored into the set rent.

@Brie Schmidt makes a good point on how to go about doing a market comparison.  As we know, there are many variables to consider.  It is not all about rents, it is also about amenities, property condition, BR to BA ratio, room size, storage, utilities, parking, location, etc.   

Lead your marketing efforts with an emphasis on what makes your property unique and most desirable.  One of the things that may be working in your favor is the quality of the group of people you have and a good house manager who helps make that happen.  Stable rents will make your property desirable and will help keep turnover down.  Turnover is costly and not always worth the risk of pushing the rent.