charmlive review

Does anyone manage an all utilities included property?

I did for 5 years

What are your thoughts on it? I have always thought that making a market property all utilities included would be very market able.

It’s very hard to control. Once people know they aren’t paying their own water and electric the usage goes way up. I’m not one for it. I didn’t see the huge profit lines

The problem is that when people dont pay for something, conservation goes out the window. Go to any all you can eat buffet and look at the food thrown away. Don't pay for water? Let the tap run. Don't pay for electric? Leave all the lights on. And to go back to the restaurant analogy, when you split the check someone ate salad, and someone ate lobster. I am the salad eater and dont want to pay for my neighbors lobster

So you don't think there is away to safely manage the utilities. What about putting a cap on it?

A cap would be the best way to increase conservation. Or for you to get bulk rate pricing.
The other issue is online marketing. If people are searching by a price point, you might miss being in their search results because with utilities included in the rent, you are higher than their search criteria. You are advertising with all market rent conventional properties at the same time. The prospect cannot easily see the value when comparing a list of properties and prices.

I have 5 properties with all utilities included. I track all usage, cost and have for 14 yr. I have paid less $ now than in 2004. I am conservative without brought beating my residents. Changed to LED lights , lock programmable thermostats. Put sensors where I could and can watch each unit. The thermostat is in a place that I can get to without bothering the residents. I treat my residents like they are important to me.

I would think a cap would not be all utilities included then.

so you set the temperatures for the building then? chiller-boiler?

I manage an all utilities included property. We have a chiller and a heating boiler as well as a domestic water boiler. They are extremely efficient, the residents can keep their apartment as warm or as cold as they want, no cap they have a thermostat in their apartment and their plug ins are not monitored. I’m in Phoenix Arizona where the temps can get up to 120 in the summer and it’s not unheard of to have a $200+ electric bill every month. It’s a great marketing point, we’re always full we have no problem renting at 37 yo property.

I manage a property with all utilities included. I recently had an LED light project completed to conserve electric energy (every single light in the building including garage and exterior lights) so we also get a kickback from the electric company. The project had a 1 year payback and our electricity bill had already decreased by ~$2,000/month.

It is extremely marketable and it allows us to have slightly higher market rates because we are telling them this is all they will have to pay each month, and there is no guessing. Works like a charm.

You can put caps on it. We pay up to certain amounts so they don’t go crazy.

I manage one in Phoenix, it’s master metered which is probably the best way to do it. Great marketing especially in the summer time when an individuals electric bill can be $200+

I managed a property for several years that included all utilities (note: it was an AC-free community, so no major overages there). Part of what helped with the management of utility expenses was simply having the dialog with residents. Utilities are included, but not infinite. We were also in a big "green" area: dark sky city, green energy buildings in town, energy efficiency and environmental footprint conscious, etc. As new residents came to the community we would remind them that we as a community were equally responsible to each other and the larger local community for responsible use: abuse of the system might impact everyone. I think in almost five years at that property I had to have a separate conversation with a total of two people who were using too much electric or gas! We also got residents on-boarded to energy efficient bulbs, added recycling, shared energy efficiency tips in newsletters, etc. It was part of our culture, and accepted as "expected" behavior.

We also used lack of caps as a marketing tool a few years ago. We emphasized to folks that came in that some other communities offered "utilities included" but capped them; we'd add that while we didn't cap, we did expect all residents to be part of our efforts to be responsible stewards of utilities, and many prospective residents both respected and liked that. Some shared that they viewed it as our community having "culture," and they liked the idea of being part of it!