All Forum Posts by: David Niles

“Bedroom” means a room that can be used for sleeping and that:a. For site-built dwellings, has a minimum of 70 square feet of conditioned space;

b. For manufactured homes, is constructed according to the standards of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and has a minimum of 50 square feet of floor area;

c. Is located along an exterior wall;

d. Has a closet and a door or an entrance where a door could be reasonably installed; and

e. Has an emergency means of escape and rescue opening to the outside in accordance with the Florida Building Code.

2. A room may not be considered a bedroom if it is used to access another room except a bathroom or closet.

3. “Bedroom” does not include a hallway, bathroom, kitchen, living room, family room, dining room, den, breakfast nook, pantry, laundry room, sunroom, recreation room, media/video room, or exercise room.

The toilet as others have said, is usually the culprit, its amazing how much water it can use just trickling day and night.  Depending on how old the toilet is, your might want to just change it out if its not a water saving model.  If keeping the existing toilets, I would probably change out both the flapper and fill valves as they are cheap. 

If your comfortable with the "new" agent, why not? You might be surprised how hungry they may be.  I wouldnt sign any exclusive contracts with them though so if it doesnt work out you just lose a little time.

Hey @John E Graham , I couldnt agree more....but I'm doing it anyways exactly same situation as you.  Left NY for FL 6 mths ago and going to be opening a brokerage and PM down here.  I guess it gets in our blood. lol

Most suck because its the only industry I know that EVERYONE thinks they can do.  Not sure why that is.  Too many of them counting everyone elses money and decide thats the job for them. 

If you knew @Pat L. and his daugthers are anything like the old man, they'll handle themselves just fine.  lol

Great read @Nick Heil , I just moved to Florida ( about 45 mins outside Orlando ) from Buffalo NY several months ago.  Looking to get some things going here and also have friends / family in the Cape Coral area as well.

Congrats on your success! 

As most have said, more than likely change of seasons / humidity.  Whoever initially installed them did so too tight on their spacing so the swell is making them bind.  Check your gaps and rubs, mark them and then pop the hinge pins and plane those areas giving more clearance. 

And everyone thinks its big $$ and glamour being a landlord, lol.  Good luck. 

Very common in old house markets.  If you rewired the entire house every time you came across it you wouldnt be in real estate for very long.  The insulation is very brittle so the key is to touch it as little as possible.  We have had better luck digging back into the plaster to expose better insulation then using shrink tube to cover the wires vs just wrapping in electrical tape.  When possible we also remove wire back to a central area where an exposed junction box can be used and new short romex run made to fixture/outlet. 

I am also interested in getting on the list for local meetups, probably not a good time with current health status across the world but would like to be notified if someone gets something going in the near future.