The cost of being cheap on rental properties - share your story!

[Marcus Auerbach]

It's an interesting experience to work on a property you rehabed a long time ago - some of my first rental properties are now long enough in service that I have to start making some repairs. And I am shocked with some of the things I find. What the heck was I thinking?? Talk about a throw-back! 

Example: a few weeks ago we had a turnover on a single family I had BRRRR-ed back in 2010. The tenant had been there for almost 3 years and told us that the dishwasher needed attention. I reached under the counter to turn off the water - and the cheap shut off valve just snaped and crumbled in my bare hand! Water started gushing right away and by the time I had turned the main off we had a good size puddle in the kitchen and water was dripping from the cabinets.

The contractor I had used for the home back then was always proud of saving me money on material and had installed plastic shut-off valves, probably saved me $5 a piece - on 8 valves total in the house. It add's up right? I could hear him in my mind: "Hey, Marcus guess what, I safed you a bunch of money today! Harharhar!" Yes, thanks Tom, great call.  

I was not too worried about the water at the time, because of the vynil flooring - mopped up most of it and texted my plumber to stop by and replace ALL shut off valves in the house. Little did I know that some of the water made it under the flooring and caused the subflooring to swell and buckle. It's a really nice home with a new kitchen and top rent - so no wonder the new tenant called and asked us to fix it. Fell free to guess the real cost of that plastic shut off valve!

It makes me cringe every time I see someone ask about what the cheapest fix is for XYZ in a rental property. 

Don't do it people! It seems like a good idea to safe a few bucks, but it will come back and bite you!

I guess I am not the first to discover this. What's your experience with cheap repairs / materials?