It's 22 buildings, total of 28 units (mostly SFHs, a couple triplexes and duplexes) for a total of 71 rooms. They are rooming houses so each room is rented separately. No living rooms, no dining rooms. only bedrooms, hallway, kitchen and bathroom. No heat in the kitchen or bathroom. These are very low end rentals. Code requires heat in each bedroom, not in the common spaces. The model is designed to provide a place to sleep. We also remove any dining tables put in the kitchen to discourage 'friends' from hanging out in the common areas. Friends over usually means late drinking, crack smoking/dealing and other undesirable events.
We do plan for $100/tenant/month but with water bills as high as $225/month and heating bills as high as $425... on average we exceed the $100/tenant (in the winter). Last weekend we found a city program offering new low flow shower heads, bath/kitchen faucet nozzles. This should decrease our water usage by about 300,000-400,000 gallons a year. Roughly 47% reduction. We'll see the reduction in this months bills.
None of the houses have gas. They all did at one time but the previous owners converted all to electric. Replacing one electric wall unit costs $109 at Lowes and they don't need replaced often. The last owner claimed high repair costs on gas units (he did say they were old and on their last leg). Most houses don't have much for insulation. We have found a city program that will completely weatherize the house at the tenants request, but it's a 2-3 month wait list.
I was hoping for a quick fix for the stoves, as it seems the path of least resistance compared to overhauling the entire heating system. I'll be spending the next couple months perfecting the system, unfortunately this winter I'll just have to eat the bills. I'll re-visit gas vs electric units when $$$ is more readily available.
I appreciate all the suggestions! Keep them coming!
