All Forum Posts by: Dan L.

Just to close the loop... I have now purchased the property. We are in the middle of a light rehab (paint, floors (as needed), faucets, etc). After working with my electrician, and running the numbers on the cost to either add gas & electric meters, or switch to electric meters & heat… I decided to leave it alone. I will just keep paying the utilities and increase the rent accordingly.

The main reason is because it was going to cost somewhere in the $35,000 range to do both Gas and Electric… If I went with electric heat, it would have been a little less than that. It just didn't make sense to put that much money into such an old building. And really my goal is to do this light rehab, fill it with tenants, and then sell it. I don’t think it’d increase my sale price by $35k, so I opted out.

Single-family home rental, 1/2 acre of land, tenants have lived there for a year, now they are claiming there are mice. The lease clearly says Pest Control is their responsibility. I am in upstate New York, a very tenant friendly state. But is there any reason to believe that I cannot say that Pest Control is the tenant's responsibility? Is there any way to verify that it is perfectly legal to make it their responsibility?  Thanks for any assistance 

It depends on what part of rural New York. I bought a 4 unit a couple weeks ago in rural New York, but it is 20 minutes away from a city with a population of 70,000. Very similar numbers - I paid 105k. Cash flow will be great. And I think it is close enough to that City that people will live there for the right price. Not even done rehabbing it, and I have had three different people say they are interested. There definitely is a housing shortage.

@Jim K.I agree, the Defiant locks are cheap enough so just buy new.  But I do keep the old ones for garages, sheds, etc  Though I will be looking into that landlordlocks because even though Defiant locks are cheap, labor is not!

That's my guess as to the cause of the problem... But they have nice cars, wifi, nice phones, just can't pay rent.  *Not all tenants* - I just know a few who are financially qualified, had been reliable, but just suddenly hit a financial roadblock this month.

With the stimulus and tax money running out... It seems to me that tenants are no longer able to afford the high level of rents they used to pay. Or at least they are choosing not to pay. I think they got used to spending all sorts of money, and when they have to cut back, they want to cut back on rent. And by cut back on rent, I mean not pay rent.

I'm talking about tenants who throughout the pandemic regularly still paid rent, just all of a sudden I have realized more are struggling. I'm thinking with the stimulus money they got expensive cable television plans, expensive phone plans, etc thinking the money will never run out and now that it has... We landlords are taking the hit.

Has anyone else noticed this?

I know this is a late comment...

Actually the vent on the door makes it more safe, but it really should be a much bigger vent. Should be a louvered door. Get the furnace all the oxygen it needs. The furnace being in a closet is not the problem. The furnace next to the sleeping quarters might be the problem.

Even if it is legal, it probably is not smart. Not just for liability purposes, but it would make it harder to rent (as the other poster mentioned, I would not want to sleep like that nor would I want my kids to). I am buying a 4 unit that has a similar setup (one apartment has a furnace in a bedroom closet that serves all four units). For this reason and for others, I am looking to switch to electric heat throughout.

@Ryan Miller Thanks!  Sent!

@Sean McKee The weather is too variable. We could have 2 weeks straight of 0 degree weather, huge heat bills. I would have to put so much padding into the rent that nobody would rent it. By using the meter, not only does it save me time, and keeps the rent down, it also increases the value of the place when I go to sell it

@Dustin Murphy 

Here is a quick list of reasons why I want to meter the heat per unit…

1 It is hard enough to collect rent, I don't want to collect rent and heat

2 If they don't pay their heat, I can't cut it off the heat like the gas company can

3 They could go get some outside government assistance to pay their heat if they pay it directly to the gas company, I doubt they could get it to pay it to me

4 If they pay their rent, and not the heat to me, I bet it would still be extremely hard to evict

5 It is extra work for me!

@Russell W.  

Hey thanks for a your input!

As far as Electric, I definitely recognize it is hard work, and my electrician does not say it's easy work, I'm just saying conceptually we're not reinventing the wheel - add meters, run wires. There's no equivalent of the furnace, there's no decision to go radiant or electric or forced hot air, etc… It's just adding a meter and running wires. Again, not saying it's easy, but the concept is easy. And I have this good relationship with the electrician, so it is also a weight off my shoulders because I know I can trust him... As opposed to heating, I don't have a great person like that

Thanks for the tip on the packaged units... Definitely looks intriguing! Have you used them before? The concerns that pop into my head are:

a)I don't see where it specifically says it is metered, and will bill back to the appropriate unit. Does it do that?

b)Will it be hard to find someone to install it, and going forward, will it be harder to find someone to maintain it?

c)I have never really looked into converting from radiant to forced hot air. Seems like it might be opening up a can of problems, since it would need a lot of carpentry work to run the ducts. I do like the idea of it having air conditioning, we don't have a lot of hot hot days in New York, but it gets to 80+ and humid quite often in the summer. Being able to advertise AC would definitely be a plus.

Thanks for your assistance!