All parks in area include W/S in rent - issue in submetering?

Hi everyone.
We’re looking at acquiring a small, solid park. The obvious upside right away is submetering water/sewer/garbage back to the tenants.

The only issue we see is that most parks in the area include w/s/t within their rents, so we’d be the first park to do this. Anyone see a reason why this wouldn’t fly? Anyone have similar previous experiences?

Thanks!
Ari

Factors for me would be;

Vacancy, how many vacant lots do you have, how many vacant spots do the other parks have and are the other parks offering free move in specials.

Where is your rent compared to the other parks, if you are all the same but you have a cleaner park or better location, you’re probably fine.

Demand, most things come down to the demand you have in your market. If it turns out to be a mistake can you fill the lots again.

I have a park in my area that is run by Frank and Dave that has higher lot rents plus sub metered utilities but it’s a nice park with paved roads, club house and larger lots. There is value there.

Overall, if your residents are currently happy then it shouldn’t be an issue. It does promote more responsible water usage.

Have fun

Ken

It may be that you can’t submeter and bill for actual usage. I ran into this when doing due diligence on a park. The solution is to increase the lot rent. You should contact the County utility folks and find out.