Every affordability conversation you have runs on PITI, so the number you hand a buyer covers principal, interest, taxes and insurance and stops there. The host argues the line that is moving fastest in some markets is the one nobody quotes, and she has renamed the formula to force it in.
The host has been tracking data centers and utility bills for weeks, wrote a Substack about it, and says HousingWire has now picked the story up and interviewed people in Texas.
Her argument is that agents have to start describing a property as "not just PITI, principal interest, so the mortgage, taxes, property taxes and insurance, but also add in the use. If y'all remember, I called it PTUI." The U is utilities, and it belongs in your understanding of what somebody actually pays to hold the house.
The example she uses is the senior on a fixed income who exists in every market. The note is long since paid off, so there is no principal and interest at all — but property taxes keep climbing, insurance keeps climbing because insurers are paying out more, and if utilities then jump two or three hundred percent, that owner may not be able to stay in the home.
Her point about where the increase comes from is the part agents miss. Many data centers are built by right, which means no public hearing and no chance for elected officials to hear from residents. She notes the designs put stress on both the water system and the grid, and asks how a grid that failed in a Texas ice storm handles that same storm with data centers on it.
“not just PITI, principal interest, so the mortgage, taxes, property taxes and insurance, but also add in the use. If y'all remember, I called it PTUI.”
You already know what happens when the insurance quote lands late and the payment moves. Utilities are now capable of doing the same thing more quietly, because they arrive after closing and never appear in any pre-approval math. The buyer does not blame the utility, they remember the number you gave them.
Asking a seller for twelve months of utility bills costs one text and turns into two things at once: an honest payment figure for your buyer, and a listing detail worth advertising when the bills are low. Do it on every file in a market where the grid is a topic.