Cost of Separating Gas Meters?
I'm looking at buying a 4-plex right now. After running the numbers and doing some pretty thorough research, this property appears to be a cash cow except for one little problem...
there is only one gas meter, one electric meter and one water meter - i.e. - ALL of the utilities are paid by the landlord (which basically kills 80% of the net profit each year).
Looking at each of the utilities - gas is by far the most expensive one. Fortunately, each of these 4 units already has it's own forced air furnace and ductwork (I'm not sure about the lines to each unit).
Does anybody know - how much would it cost to split one gas meter into 4 separate gas meters? Since the individual furnaces & ductwork already exist, are we looking at a few hundred bucks? A few thousand bucks? Ten thousand bucks or more? I really have no idea.
I know this is a difficult question to answer with precision, but I'm just looking for a ballpark idea from anyone who has been through this before. The cost of this "improvement" is an important, decision-making piece of data (because if I can't unload this cost onto the tenants, the deal won't work).
Thoughts?