Mesa is one of the largest cities in the country and a rental market in its own right, not an extension of Phoenix. Its older apartment corridors along Main Street and Broadway are full of exactly the small multifamily that individual investors buy: duplexes, fourplexes, and modest complexes built decades ago on a single water meter for the whole property. Bundle water into the rent and the owner covers everyone’s usage, including the seasonal residents who arrive each winter and the renters cycling through in between. Water submetering assigns the cost by unit. True Submeter installs an individual water meter on each one and invoices tenants automatically for exactly what they used, so the water bill lands with the person who ran it. Usage drops once it becomes visible, arguments over a split bill go quiet, and net operating income improves. A market this large should not still be metering by the building.
