4 Things You Need to Know About Managing Utilities in Real Estate
Managing utility connections is never easy. We say this from our experience.
Whether you are a homeowner, power buyer, real estate investor, landlord or tenant. This is one aspect of owning/managing/flipping homes that always has you on a back foot.
Real estate investing is made to sound easy. Make an offer, buy the home, make a few cosmetic repairs, and resell it for a huge profit. And don’t go by what you see on TV shows where investors are lined up making offers making this business of real estate investing seem exciting, fast, and profitable.
Real estate investing is growing for sure. According to data published by ATTOM Data Solutions in its 2019 U.S. Home Flipping Report, the percentage of homes with flips in the U.S. reached a record high of 6.2% in 2019.
Point made. Now let’s get back to utilities. What they don’t show is managing utilities, even though it is not as glamorous, plays an important role in the process. Imagine this – the purchase is complete and your renovation crews are on the property and there is no power. That stalls the work and adds to the expenses. You have a walkthrough to sell your home & there is no light or no gas. There is a final inspection of the home and the buyer’s inspector is not able to complete the inspection as the lights did not get turned on or the appliances could not be checked.
While some may believe this is too far-fetched, these are practical challenges that we have faced. These are the same challenges that we have seen our clients face and struggle with.
The problem seems simple, and for the most part, it is. Yet we need to consider how essential service industries haven’t made much progress in digital technology. WHY is it important… well.. Here’s how we can break it down:
A few overlooked problems in utility management in real estate
- Setting up essential utilities is a no-brainer – you think? For the majority of providers, it is. And that’s where things start getting interesting. While it seems to be a no-brainer, don’t forget there is always a Karen everywhere who will make things very interesting.
- Service providers do a flawless job – right? Well, not always. Things happen. Sometimes there is a gas leak, water leak, or a connection that was not started on time. All these things can lead to delays with your renovation team causing you unnecessary costs.
- New homeowners connect their own utilities – not so fast. Don’t be naive. While we want to believe this is the case for 90% of homeowners. That they will call the providers to transfer services into their names, it’s not always the case. And your AP team can be found paying bills for a home your company no longer owns.
- Bills are being paid on time – in the most ideal scenario, it is. But then, we don’t live in the most ideal world, do we? When bills start piling up and there is no one to remind you to pay your bills (don’t expect your google sheets or excel based trackers to do that), payments are missed. Late fees are paid. Accounts become past due. Utilities get disconnected for non-payment.
Guess, we’ve made our point.
This is where Utility Junction has your back. With our platform designed on the TAP model (Turn on, analyze and pay) we aim to make this process less cumbersome for you.
Give us the property list along with the desired start dates & we take away the headache of connecting utilities. Don’t mind us asking for relevant information to start services. Very soon, you will be able to request this from the dashboard itself. It’s our way of tricking you into loving our dashboard.
Once the utilities are connected, start adding your bills here and the dashboard will ensure you never forget a payment & never forget a bill. It will do its best to get under your skin and will ensure you never miss a payment. We promise.
Sold the property and needed to get the utilities disconnected. Super easy. Just submit the request from the dashboard and we take the rest. Forget the scary scenario of you paying for bills on properties you don’t own.
We know some of our clients love the DIY approach. The platform is built for you. Simple yet intelligent. Some of our clients want us to do it for them. We’ve got your back there as well. We have a team that will help manage it.
So, let’s meet and discuss how we can help you. No strings attached. Need some information before we meet? Contact us or send us an email at support@utilityjunction.com