All Forum Posts by: Ari Friedman

Sorry you are having to navigate this when you’ve already had to adapt to so much.

There’s something called a Special Needs Trust you could look into: https://www.forbes.com/advisor/legal/estate-law/special-need...

Good advice so far. Also think through taxes as far as cap gains exemption goes. If you have substantial appreciation may want to sell it to lock those in.

Most electrical heaters are more about the electric than the heater. Try an electrician?

Naviens are good units.

heatinghelp.com has a database of contractors who know what they’re doing. Important with hydronics—easy to do silly things that cause problems.

Dan Hoolihans books are essential reading while being fun at the same time.

Innago now offers this. Tenants would probably like it bc it helps their credit. Bumping an old thread. Anyone done this have pros/cons? How do you remain compliant with FCRA?

Absolutely have it inspected.  We do lead/sewer/radon for every property.  Not sure about MA, but in many areas there's a "Lead Safe" certificate which is different than "Lead-Free."  If there's no peeling paint and the swabs come back clean, then it's lead safe.  Needs repeating every few years, but you don't have to do a full remediation.

Aside from costs and legal liability, do you really want to be renting a property with lead to a family with a toddler?  Lead is awful and ruins lives in subtle but very real ways.  Don't mess with that.

Lots of local codes regulate how much a lease breakage feee can be charged. We had to break a lease once and offered to pay two months rent (lease break fee in lease was 1 mo, plus security deposit) as well as find a new tenant. They agreed, but then started tacking on extra fees and such. Consulted lawyer who noted that city only allowed prorated rent to be charged for the time before it was re-rented. Found a tenant two weeks later so only wound up being out the security deposit.  Check your local laws.