Being a landlord can be an incredibly rewarding career, not to mention a lucrative one. If you’ve purchased an investment property, while you wait for it to appreciate in value, you can make a lot of money renting it out to others. Especially if you’ve purchased a multi-family unit, you can likely make more than the mortgage and then some by renting out each floor to different tenants. Especially in a city like Melbourne, Australia, where the median rent is $400 a week, making $1600 a month from each of your tenants is nothing to scoff at.
Of course, being a landlord and property manager isn’t just about paying your mortgage and collecting rental checks. There will be times where you need to hire contractors to perform maintenance on your units and building, and you’ll need to ensure that you’re upholding your end of the bargain when it comes to the lease agreement. As you look through a guide to managing rental properties, you’ll probably come across some advice in regards to including a utility or two in order to make your rental a bit more attractive to renters. If you’ve decided to choose electricity as the utility to include, that could be a major selling point—but it could also eat into your profits each month. Read on to learn more about how to find the best electricity rates in Melbourne.
Use the internet to your advantage.
One of the best tools at your disposal when you’re looking for a great deal on your electricity provider is the internet. This is because the internet makes it easy and efficient to source information about a wide variety of service providers and energy companies without ever having to leave your desk. You can email, live chat, or find a contact phone number on many electrical companies’ websites, easily connecting with a sales rep or agent who can walk you through their pricing structure a bit more thoroughly. There are plenty of comparison tools that help to facilitate this sort of work, so head to Google or another search engine and type in “electricity Melbourne” to see what sorts of options turn up.
Beyond helping you compare the pros and cons of different utility companies, the internet can also be useful as a tool for finding out the truth about an energy provider. For example, if you want to find out about a particular company’s actual service quality, you can read up on actual customer reviews and ratings from platforms like Google Reviews, Facebook, and Yelp. You can also get a feel for their customer service by seeing whether they only engage with positive reviews or negative reviews online and how they do so. All of this goes a long way in helping to inform your decision of which electricity provider to use for your rental units.
Make sure to read the fine print.
Just because one company has a better price or starting deal doesn’t mean that they’re necessarily the best option. Having quality service is just as important as saving some money, especially if you’re trying to make a good impression on your tenants. The quality of the service providers and contractors you decide to use directly relates to your tenants’ perspective about renting from you and your role as a landlord. As such, you’ll want to investigate how the energy provider you’re considering handles peak loads and whether your electric rate is a flat fee or varies based on usage. All of these factors can ultimately impact your bottom line, so it’s pivotal that you fully understand the contract you’re agreeing to as a landlord before you sign it.
