Rental Property Investor · Leander, TX · Member since 2018 · 183 posts · 264 votes
I'm in contract to buy a quad in Cleveland. It's my first property in the area. I know I'm on the hook for water & sewer. I'm wondering what I should budget for that expense. So, for those of you who own small multi-family in Cleveland - what are you paying per unit for water & sewer?
@Joel Fine, sorry didn't complete the first part. it's avg. $96 per month water, and $183 per month sewer. So if you wanted to break it down per unit it's $35 per unit total per month
It'll vary vastly depending the tenants, how many people live in each unit, whether or not they're employed, and whether your fixtures are water efficient.
I have two duplexes with one unit occupied in each at the moment and the bills are vastly different...
I have one unit occupied by a working brother/sister/baby. I imagine the sister's boyfriend is there once and a while also. They use about 0.38 MCF/mo. If you had four of them, it would put you at $242/mo for water and sewer
In my other duplex, I inherited a terrible tenant with a unemployed daughter and deadbeat boyfriend. They're home all day so I see water usage at all hours of the day. That unit uses about 0.8 MCF/mo. If you had four of them, it would put you at $466.65/mo for water/sewer
You should also take into account lawn maintenance. The city will fine you if your lawn grows out of hand. My property manager recommended 4x mowing in the summer (not sure if that's excessive) which comes out to $120/mo
@Joel Fine You should be able to get a copy of the water and sewer bills from the owner during the due diligence phase. Have you asked for them? You can also just call up the utility and ask what the bills have been. I just did that on a 15 unit I have under contract where the owner was very slow to provide information.
@Austin Tam, sounds like your range is $60-$115 per unit per month. That gives me some idea.
@James Lusk, this is an absentee owner who inherited the property and just wants to get rid of it. It's been vacant for a while so I doubt he'd have any useful information even if he was inclined to help. I guess my best bet will be to ask the water company if they can dig up records from a time when the property was occupied.
@Sean Dawson thanks for the answer but I'm afraid I don't understand your numbers. $96 for the year for water - does that mean $12 per unit per YEAR? Or per month? Or something else? And $183 per month for sewer - is that for all 8 units or per unit? Per unit sounds more reasonable, that would be about $15 per month.
@Joel Fine, sorry didn't complete the first part. it's avg. $96 per month water, and $183 per month sewer. So if you wanted to break it down per unit it's $35 per unit total per month
@Joel Fine, sorry didn't complete the first part. it's avg. $96 per month water, and $183 per month sewer. So if you wanted to break it down per unit it's $35 per unit total per month
$35 per unit per month is not bad. I've heard others paying $75+ per unit.