Drinking water is big business everywhere in the US. 
You may be a bottled water purchaser yourself.
If your rental community has bad tasting water, then you may have a nice money making situation on your hands.
Consider setting up a small, onsite, tenant-sponsored water treatment system to remove targeted components from your tap water. It is not as difficult as it sounds.
And while you’re at it, consider water vending; you’ll never have to worry about restocking the supply – right?
Commercial water filtering machines, such as the ones in the picture, remove a wide range of compounds. That’s a turnkey solution, however I’m suggesting you would be even more profitable if you set up your own system designed to remove the actual constituents in your tap water that reaches your multifamily property.
Take a look at the following idea breakdown table:
| What | Create and sell smartly filtered drinking water | |
| Difficulty: ●●○○○ | Time Commitment: ●○○○○ | |
| Why | Your tenants may be willing to purchase drinking water from you instead of buying it elsewhere. | |
| Increase Net Income By | Charging tenants by the gallon to use high quality drinking water created on site. | |
| Basic Components |
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| The Extreme Version | Place water treatment dispenser in your parking lot and allow tenants and neighbors to use water for free, but sell advertisement space on machine. | |
| Possible New Income Streams |
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| Nontangible Benefits | You’ll also be able to advertise other services to people who use your filtered water. Moreover, this profit center may be another feature that attracts qualified applicants. | |
| Steps to Implement/Test |
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Did You Know
Many restaurants, school, and offices often have their own systems. Hyatt, Hilton, and other hotels replace bottled water with commercial treatment systems. The simple reason is that everything tastes better when it starts from purified water.
Water and Ice Vending
There are a number of water vending companies, but Twice the Ice is a familiar brand. They have vending machines that you can purchase for $18,000 and up, however they also will rent a spot in your parking lot and place their machine. Check them out at Twice the Ice.
The Downside
Placing a water/ice machine in your parking lot would attract more people onto our property and that is not necessarily a good thing. Its definitely increases your liability exposure.
However if you limited water/ice to your tenants the revenue would likely be much less.
Cost / Projected Revenue
A small commercial grade water purifier starts at $800 and Twice the Ice machine start at $18,000. However, you can set up your own system for less than $500. I’ll teach you how in my upcoming in depth course on the 12 forms of ancillary income.
To learn more tactics, check out my new book 40 Ways to Increase the Net Income of your Rental Property
Your articles are always good. Congrats on the speaking engagement on the cruise. I think your audience has a lot to look forward to.
Thank you Kerry
Great Idea Al. I have often thought of putting vending machines in my apartments. The parents would hate it, but it doesn’t take too many sales to make it worthwhile.
Funny – yes, there would be some push back on in house vending. But, keep the ideas flowing.