Landlord eco hacks?! How do I save on non-separate utilities???

[Adam Sankowski]

Hey I'm wondering if anyone has any Landlord hacks for reducing utility bills. Looking to maybe take over a smaller multi and not sure yet if I'll be able to separate out the utilities or not? In the event I can't I'm looking for any tips in terms of reducing water, gas, or electric bills. The more specific the better :)  I don't know if you can include links to products but I'd be sooooo grateful. 

For example, obviously LED blubs are better but do folks have specific ones they would recommend that are cheap and good?  Especially looking for low flow toilet or faucet recommendations as I'm sure the water bill is going to be the biggest issue. Thanks so much for your time everyone! 

I get so much from these forums and I'm curious to see what creative ideas people have.There was a dude on the BP podcast a while ago who was talking about how much more $ he could cash flow just by installing low flow toilets so I know there are some ideas out there :)

This might be in Indianapolis or Kansas City if specific location matters? 

[Megan Ann Nagel]

@Adam Sankowski that’s a great question. I’ve found that when the tenant doesn’t pay for it, they use more. Obviously separate meters is the way to go, but that’s not always possible. You should look into a utility management company. What you do is send them the bills and they utilize their algorithms to split the costs amongst the tenants using metrics like number of occupants and the square footage of their unit. They generally take their fee off of the amount they save you as a percentage (though it does vary sometimes). Some places have minimums, so it might depend on your property as a whole, but this can be very good even for just charging back water and sewer, a utility that’s very common for the landlord to pay in my area. I’ve used AUM (American Utility Management) before for large properties, but they have competitors. Might be good to look into to avoid the issue completely.