Rental Property Investor · NJ · Member since 2021 · 17 posts · 1 vote
What do you think to buy a four family house with 1 boiler heater?
I am thinking of the risks and cons are:
1) more utilities cost as landlord should pay for the heat
2) if the heat doesn’t work in winter, the entire house becomes very cold and the risk of pipe exposure
3) if the heat doesn’t work in winter suddenly, do you think it’s landlord’s responsibility to find hotel for the tenants to live temporarily? Better to fix it immediately, but how long time it’s takes to replace a new boiler heater?
Anything I am missing?
How much to divide one heater into 4? I believe it needs pipes and a lot of labor costs.
Look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments if you agree to buy a four unit rental property with one heat.
@Yuki Yu To calm your worries, investigate. Steam heat is cheap and very quiet. Many large college dorms use one boiler for the whole building. It works. Find a boiler service company in you area and talk with them about preventative maintenance. Ask them to evaluate the boiler system at the project property.
@Yuki Yu I have a 4 unit building with one boiler. It works fine. As long as you do proper maintenance on it and get it cleaned every year you should have no problems with it.
I also ran a 10,000 sq ft bed and breakfast with a 30 year old boiler for 9 years (which is at least twice as big as my apartment building) and had it cleaned every year and had no problems with it.
I believe two years after I sold the building at age 41 the boiler finally got replaced because the new owner was dating a plumber who got her a new one at cost and did the installation for free.
If possible, I would highly recommend converting to each unit having their own heating system, well worth the investment. Higher upfront cost, but in the long run, it will bring more value to your property when you sell. When running 1 boiler for 4 units, it’s hard to control the heat distribution, some tenants are cold some tenants are hot, you’ll save your self a headache. You will also lower your operating expense since your putting the heating expense on the tenants. Is the current boiler steam or hot water ?