All Forum Posts by: Deborah Burian

@Kristopher K. - thanks for the link, it was very educational although I didn't see a frame wall/frame clad I still learned a few things... the siding is the original lapped board @Josh James - this is Oklahoma, similar climate... the reason the question has come up in my mind is there was some additional interior moisture that likely came from an older siding patch where the caulk is gone, plan is to, as you said, caulk and paint but was curious about the barrier... @James H. - very succinct but still standing after 77 years is just one measure. It's a sad looking house right now and I'm in the midst of trying to ensure its next 50 years...

Purchased a property and ditched the deadbeat... you know the one with the 52" flat screen and surround sound that couldn't pay $500 rent? When he moved the TV the drywall collapsed - it was soaking wet from a poorly installed window AC.

I removed the damaged drywall plus a little more to ensure I had removed everything that got wet and discovered that this 1937 plank-sheathed house does not have a vapor barrier at the exterior wall...

Is this a serious concern? Is there a way to fix it?

Any feedback is much appreciated.

My impression is that you don't have a lot of units or 'bigger pockets' so some of these solutions may be out of your price range. If the tenants are surviving with good grace, I would apologize profusely, and rebate the rent for the days the property was in a less than completely habitable condition. I did that for tenants whose roof repair became a comedy of errors and they were both shocked and appreciative (and still my tenants a number of years later). The provision of disposables is also a very nice thought.

@Gary Parker - Cedar Mesa for the backpack and follow up at Moon House and Butler Wash - it was awesome!

More OT, exactly what you said, it's all about tenant screening and selection

@Seth Williams - that was AWESOME! @Brandon Turner - thanks for moving it up... I missed it and it is terrific.

@Bill B. - I have briefly considered seeking a PM for the multis but the singles are both so easy and so individually valuable that in the foreseeable future I have no intention of paying someone else to watch my portfolio.

As others have said, location and preparation remain key... And by preparation, I mean a combination of 'training' tenants after they are selected, and internal team development. For example, I work with three plumbers... different price points, different skills, different levels of aggravation from zero to tolerable... I have a plumber, in other words, for every occasion. However, the one that just gets 'er done with no aggravation can easily be twice the price of the one that needs me to run parts... I can match the plumber to the job and the budget... and I make sure the one that can handle anything, albeit at a higher price, stays happy.

@Brandon Turner - you also get great chances at cash flowing properties!

I would have automated pay-or-quits years ago... And to be completely honest, I still don't know if the multi-unit was a good move. I'm finding the increased dependance of those tenants a bit disconcerting.

Also - I just returned from two weeks off the grid backpacking in Utah. Set the company on remote control, transferred the phone to my adult daughter who lives several states away and disappeared... The flexibility is awesome. If you want to do that, you have to be thinking up front about who is going to take the calls when you're not there... and it didn't used to be my daughter for me. I've used everyone from a previous nursing home employee to a great real estate agent to cover while I disappeared... something I try to do a minimum of annually.

I am a full time landlord of 29 mostly SFHs, a few multi's. My husband, who continues to work full time (excepting when he's a furloughed federal employee) and I built the company one property at a time and both worked full time professional positions for the the first 7 years/11 properties. My going full time for the company allowed us to ramp up our acquisitions and management contact but even before then, we found the property management piece very doable.

However - and I can't stress this enough - every move we made was toward simplifying tenant management and tenant expectations. We get the properties in great condition, we screen tenants to a very high standard and we don't fool around. We let tenants know in the interview process that we are not fooling around and if they are not comfortable with that, fine, move on. You ask about preparation, as others have said over time, we did a ton of reading. We also, and this may sound excessive, did a major remodel together to see how we liked working together that closely. Before we bought the first property we assembled a professional support staff, banker, accountant, real estate agent, insurance dude, attorney that have supported us every step of the way.

Lastly, I am a retired nursing home administrator. That's a job that requires one to look angry hurting people in the eye and tell them the way it's going to be, how you're going to fix what might be broken, and what can and can't be done at any given time. Great preparation for landlording except for the slight tendency to want to roll one's eyes at what some people think is a problem. You're going to die of colon cancer, probably in the next three days or so and your son is in Afghanistan and the flights aren't lining up to get him home and by the way the morphine isn't working and your wife has dementia with no caregiver when you're gone and you don't have enough money for a care facility but you don't qualify for Medicaid... that's a problem. I saw a slug in the kitchen... not so much. I mention my career because it's kind of post-doctoral lan-lording and I know full well is skews my world view.