All Forum Posts by: Arthur Wang

@Arthur Wang

How big is this building? How many units? Ultimately I would agree w/ Mike here- if there's extensive rewiring/repiping you might want to stay away from that project. I would definitely investigate the way the property is piped & wired now to see the extent of modification required to get each unit independent utilities, it may not be bad at all or may be terrible.

If it's terrible I would see if the local utilities provider has something equivalent to a "RUBS program" (ratio utilities billing system) which bills tenants directly based on usage in proportion to the square footage of each unit. 

If this isn't an option, marketing the units at a rental price and having an additional "utilities premium" on top of that works too. Bigger complexes bill garbage this way all the time- flat rate per unit. I don't know the market you're investing in at all, so I'm not sure if this will affect your ability to get tenants at market rent at all but it's not an unreasonable sounding option.

Best wishes!

Hi @Arthur Wang,

One thing to consider would be to check nearby comparable properties to see if they are already billing back utilities, or have them sub metered.  If not and your property will be the first to either submeter or bill back then how will that effect your rent, vacancy, etc.

Like @Theo Hicks said you can offer a monthly utility fee that covers that amount and could include water, sewer, pest, trash, etc.  The only draw back is that if the city raises any of those rates in the middle of your lease cycle you will have to wait for the leases to expire to raise the amount to recoup the higher fees.

Finally, you could implement a RUBS program that would be separate from the lease and could recoup almost all of your utility costs.

 Hi Arthur, hope you make the most out of your trip. What parts of Ohio are you going to be visiting?