Landlords: Watch your Water Bill
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When is the last time you examined your water bill? Are you sure it is correct? How much water should an apartment building, duplex, or 4-plex be using? Allowing toilets to run on and faucets to drip can add $50, $100, even $400 per month in extra expenses. I even had an $800 water bill at a single family house because the tenant never told me the toilet starting running all the time.
Excuse the pun, but that was just money down the drain. Never to be recovered. Not put back into the property.
A rise in the water bill can be triggered by several items:
- Dripping faucets
- Running Toilets
- Malfunctioning washing machines
- Outside spickets that are not turned off
- Even more people living in the apartment than you expected (and may be on the lease)
- I even had one police detective tell me that illicit drug manufacturing in a home can use large amounts of water!
Call you municipality and ask them how many gallons or units should be used per month per person. Do the calculation to see how close you are. If your water usuage is outside the norm, stop by at your apartment immediately and hunt around for the offending appliance.
Additionally, don’t assume the water usuage you have been seeing on your bill for years is the lowest it can be. You may be sitting on some cost saving opportunities. Replacing shower heads and toilets older than 10 years can dramatically cut your water bill. Many of the older toilets used 3.5 gallons per flush compared to many today that use 1 gallon! These improvements can pay for themselves within 1 year as well as protect you against the $800 water bill (since the unit is brand new).
Read your water bill the next time it comes in the mail and see if you can stop those pennies, dimes and even dollars from going down the drain.
Scott Ficek is a Realtor with Keller Williams Integrity in Minneapolis and helps new and seasoned investors buy and own investment real estate. He owns and manages almost 30 investment property units from single family to multi-family. Find his website at www.minnesotainvestmentrealestate.com or get his blog via your RSS Feed or in your Email.
Oh the good ole’ water bill! I make sure to watch this closely with tenants. Thanks for this outstanding information!