Tips for including utilities

[Genny Li]

I'm renting to a student market and am targeting out of state and international students with a fully furnished apartment, down to kitchen goods.  This bumps my rent up by a minimum of $480 per month if utilities are included and the unit is rented out on a per-door basis, because this demographic fears financial uncertainty over all.  (I will test to see if I can get $540 per month more--it's likely but not certain.)

Because this is a student market, I can be a bit more controlling than you can be with regular tenants.  I have a nicely framed sign saying what shouldn't go down the kitchen drain, for instance.  So this is what I'm in the process of implementing as I transition to this model over the next few years.  Tell me if I miss anything!

This unit has an electric water heater, so the main concern with water is specifically HOT water.

This is out of town for me, in a southern state that's an AC-dominant area.

• Turn washer spin speed up to the highest setting because they're unlikely to change it.
• .5 GPM aerator on bathroom faucets
• 1.25 GPM aerator on kitchen faucet
• 1.25 GPM showerhead
• 1.28 gp-flush toilets--I'm only replacing them because they're the horrific 90s toilets that clog CONSTANTLY, as the water savings will literally never pay off
• New tub spout diverters because the current ones leak around the edges badly
• Y-splitter on top load washing machine to connect the washer only to the cold supply (it's not a high-efficiency, so it cleans well at any temperature) 
• Smart thermostat with 74 degrees minimum cooling temp and 71 degrees maximum heating temp until 10 pm, dropping to 68 degrees until 6am
• Alarms on doors and windows that alert me if either is left open while the heat or AC is on
• New windows, because the current ones are single panes in need of heavy maintenance and are already causing problems
• Possibly solar screens on two of the windows that get the most light, particularly a west-facing one