Estimating Utility Expenses for Short Term Rentals

[Seth Wiseman]

Hello everyone! I am looking into potentially making my current home into a short term rental on Airbnb once my wife and I make the move to a different residential home for some extra space. We are in Louisville, KY in a pretty up and coming neighborhood that has a decent amount of good comps for short term rentals. What I am wondering about is how to estimate utility costs if we were to make the move to making it a short term rental? How do people estimate their monthly electric and water/sewer bills? We obviously live there now and know what it costs for the two of us to live there full time, but I didn't know if it would possibly be less than what we pay currently since we would have an occupancy rate that wasn't at 100% every month. Thanks in advance! 

[Todd Rasmussen]

@Seth Wiseman

Read your meter.

Turn on every light.

Open your windows.

Turn the ac on at the lowest temperature setting

Run extension cords to your neighbors house and offer to run their appliances for the day

Read your meter after 24 hours.

Assume 2x that is the daily energy consumption of short term renters.