📈 Market Snapshot

📰 Headlines

• 🏛️ How 7% interest rates are keeping the housing market in check

• A new report shows the office market is nowhere near recovering

• Glenn Kelman, Redfin’s CEO, weighs in on the state of residential real estate

• FTX is listing its infamous $220M Bahamas portfolio to repay customers

• Forbes releases its 2024 housing outlook

🏚️Deep dive

1 simple trick to save 30% on electricity

Utilities are critical to your bottom line.

An extra $50-100 on a unit cash-flowing $300/month is substantial.

“So? My tenants pay utilities, Nathan. This doesn’t apply to me”

Sure it does.

Good investors ensure tenants are paying utilities by submetering / otherwise charging a monthly fee.

Great investors actively try to save their tenants money on utilities.

They know that tenant satisfaction is all about expectations.

If a tenant has been expecting $150/month in electric costs and you get them down to $100?

They will remember that when it comes time to renew.

Lower vacancy = higher returns.

Kapeesh? Kapeesh. Now, here’s how to save some money.

This weekend I posted on the Columbus subreddit how I cut my electric bill by 30%.

That thread has been viewed 85,000 times and shared by nearly 1,000 people.

It got floated to Cincinnati / Cleveland where it’s been viewed an additional 30,000 times.

And it personally saves me $100/month in a property (here’s a recent bill).

Today I’m going to show you:

• The part of your electric bill that you aren’t forced to use your primary electric provider for

• How getting AEP Ohio (Columbus’s primary provider) out saved me 50% on part of my bill, 27% overall

• The factors I believe are most important when choosing between 100+ competing offers

But first….

If you’d prefer a video walkthrough, I recorded a 4-minute step-by-step walkthrough here.

Bookmark one of these sites, which will let you compare providers / ensure you’re getting the best deal.

• Cleveland here

• Columbus here

• Cincinnati here

• Toledo here

The two types of charges on your electric bill

Delivery charge: 

This is the charge to bring electricity to you via power lines, substations, and other infrastructure.

It’s what your main electric provider (AEP Ohio, Duke Energy, etc.) rubs their little mitts together about.

Because you’re stuck with them for it.

Supply charge: 

This is the price that electric companies charge you for the electricity itself.

It’s measured in dollars per kWh and, in deregulated markets (like Columbus) you get to choose your supplier.

This is where you're going to save 50%+ (see below in yellow).

How to Switch

It’s super easy to switch - all you need to do is:

1. Find the deal you want on the energy choice site above and visit that electric provider’s website

2. Pull up your account number from your electric bill (top right side of any physical/digital bill)

3. Plug in your address, account number, and initiate a transfer – the electric company does the rest and your prices should drop within 1-2 billing cycles

What to look for / avoid in an electric offer

DEFINITELY DO:

• Low prices: Immediately sort by $/kWh. The website lists AEP’s 3-month average price ($0.1132 as of writing) so any company below that is money in your pocket.

DEFINITELY AVOID:

• Variable rate types: If a rate is variable, it can get changed on you. Would a $.06 kWh company double its prices over 6 months? Maybe, maybe not. But I ain’t trying to find out.

IT DEPENDS:

• Monthly fees: There are so many low-priced plans without them. That said, plans with a flat fee aren't necessarily bad, you just need to do more math. I currently see plans with a $0 $kwH charge but $40-80 monthly fees. The supply charge on my bill is typically $100-200, so, from what I can see, these would be a no-brainer, but do your own research!

Prefer a video walkthrough of the tips above? I recorded a 4-minute step-by-step walkthrough here.

Enjoy the savings!

📊 Chart of the Week

Foreclosure rates are a great indicator of the ‘strength’ of housing prices.

My interpretation? Prices are sky-high, but buyers are not underwater.

Therefore, there will be no forced selling and no release on pricing pressure until we build sufficient supply (years from now).

🐤 Two-Tweet Tuesday

#1

Millions of older Americans are “house-rich, cash-poor” after the COVID housing price boom.

This strategy repairs their homes for them and then splits the profits. Smart!

#2

Speaking of cool strategies - my friend Sean was on TV at the end of January to talk about his.

Go check out Scholastic Capital!

🔥 Want everything you need to buy 1-5 more units this year?

Check out the Duplexx Blueprint and get all of these goodies:

Note: If you’ve joined in the past 2 weeks, you’ll automatically be taken to a special page to receive 80% off. 

• Cash-on-cash returns calculator: I call this model my yield yoda. This lil’ guy takes care of any single/multi-family scenario you have and comes with a video guide on how to make the most critical assumptions.

• Rehab guide: A materials list put together by myself and a friend who has done over 100 flips. Comes with every recommended item/brand you need for renovations, split into flips vs. buy-and-hold.

•  PM/Contractor interview guide: Your shortcut on what to ask a PM / contractor to qualify them as the right partner for you.

• 30-minute mini-course on finding deals: I walk through my favorite sources of data for state/city /neighborhood-level rent, pricing, and inventory information.