Temp Control...

[Jake Kozul]

Does anyone have any creative ideas to control the temperature on my rental homes? I have a couple rental properties that I cover the utilities on...so been trying to figure something out. 

[Andrew Medlen]

Hi Jake,

I use a thermostat from Chicago Controls that keeps the heat set at 68 degrees.  The tenant can move it to 71 but after 3 hours it goes back to 68.  This has done two things for me;

1) I am getting a feel for heating costs without the variables that tenant control creates. I prefer to pay a little more and know what to expect than get big swings.  

2) I can let the tenants without thermostat control know that the heat will always be at least 68 degrees.

In my market is is very common for the landlord to cover heat so I doing my best to keep the costs consistent.