Providing laundry for tenants
First time land-lording, so go easy on me :)
The area my property is in has coin-op laundry in the basements which seems to be common on other similarly rented properties in the area. I would deem the neighborhood a B class neighborhood.
I would like to attract a more reliable and higher caliber clientele and was planning on providing laundry units in each of the units. The electricity would be paid by the tenant, but the water costs will be borne by me, the landlord since the water meter is not split. Only the electric and gas are split. My realtor said to use coin-op so as to recoup the water cost.
When i think of it from my perspective, I would never rent a unit with coin op because I want to be able to wash laundry in my own home whenever I want without having to scavenge for quarters and take them down to the basement every time I wash my clothes. There may be times I only want to wash a small load and not have to wait to fully load my laundry in order to get the most for the coins I'm using.
Am i being delusional in thinking I can attract a class A type tenant to my property by providing non-coin operated in-unit laundry? If I do that, could I simply add a disclaimer to the lease stating that if the water bill goes above a certain amount that the tenant agrees to pay the difference? That way I can safeguard myself?
What are your thoughts/advice?
Thank You