All Forum Posts by: Justin Owens

Probably need to also have a good discussion with the tenant about what they are putting down the drain. Because It typically takes years of abuse for a tank to back up in to the house. A tank backing up in less than a year means that there might be a clog some where in the system. The tank is only designed to hold solids and then the excess liquid is continually being cycled through and out of the tank as you add more water. The water level in your tank should be a constant level. So you might have a a damaged baffle inside the tank that is pushing toilet paper past a point it isn't supposed to go, thus causing a clog or back up. Or even worse your drain field is failing.

I'd definitely look into getting the tank inspected to see if something is a miss, though most companies will do this when they pump it....

@Gabe G. Hoping Gabe pops back in here to answer all the great questions we had. 

Thats a great looking house. You did a fantastic job. 

Were they any surprises along the way that you did not budget for?  What was your project profit before you started work? 

Welcome Bigger Pockets, You'll find that this forum will become your most visited place on the internet. So much knowledge and great opportunities with the people here. 

@Rodney Kuhl At $185K i'd imagine your PMI is $200 + a month? I'd pay the loan down to 90% and get rid of that, and you get that nice tax write off. $2k is alot to spend on debt restructuring but its not like you just paying it as an on going fee like PMI, that $2k goes right to the principal. I assume paying down to 90% will lower your monthly payment too?

I wouldn't count on Rates being lower a year from now.

It is surprising that so many investors on here recommend just rebuilding the internals on an old toilet.  While this is the cheapest solution its really quite risky in terms of bullet proofing your rental property. 

I have been in some houses that have toilets that would clog with out much in them. And i've known people who are renters that literally do not know how to plunge a toilet when it is clogged will literally keep trying to flush them. I have even had customers come in where I work and overflow the toilets there causing $100's in damages with replacing carpets and what not because the didn't know how to plunge or just panicked.

With an older 2.5-3.0 Gal model you can pretty much be assured that if it clogs and your tenant decides to flush it again as a way to clear it, you will have an overflow and have a mess to deal with.  With a new low flow it will take a couple extra flushes to overflow the toilet. 

Like @Roy N.  said, get a toilet with a larger flush valve and trap size, which will eliminate clogs above the flange all to together.  

The toilet is probably the one item in a house than can cause the most damage in the shortest amount of time. Not sure why anyone would skimp on this item for a rental property. 

Champion 4 is the best toilet your money can buy. 1.6 Gal cost about $200. They are literally uncloggable, I've not had a clog in the 3 years that i've owned the toilet in my personal residence.  However they don't necessarily save you money because if you have an older house like most people then most likely your main line out to sewer or septic is somewhat deteriorated or might have a slight belly due to settling, thus things will snag in there and eventually back up with the reduced water flow. We generally do 2 flushes to make help make sure the line is cleared. 

Curious as to why you did not press the  landlord on the crappy workmanship his roofer did, if your roofing consultants both said that the hole for your down spout was covered up and the elbow removed. Then that would be a direct result of his roofer. This should have been exposed and easily determined when your own roofer went in and made the the repair as he would have had to cut back that hole exposing the layers.   Honestly you could have possibly thrown all this back into his face and made him to pay to fix your gutter. I would have deducted your expenses for your repair from the $1500 you are agreeing to pay him. 

@Gabe G.  Congrats! That seems like a solid deal. 

Are you gonna have to do the minor fixes right away or after the tenant is out?

How long is the current lease for?

Would be awesome if you could do a further break down on the numbers with Taxes and Insurance and how much you are holding back for maintenance.

@Sarah Lewis

I would approach them with a new lease agreement that ends when they want it to, but with those extra months at an increased amount of rent, and you simply explain it to them that it is much harder to rent out the property that time of year. So you need to charge them more for those extra months to help cover your potential losses. You give them what they want and you get an extra amount of security to make it worth your risk.

You need to approach it as you are doing them a favor and that you didn't not realize the timing predicament they were in with the Grad Program. But you also need to re-establish the King of the Hill in Landlord Tenant relationship. You do that by admonishing them for listing your property on craigslist, and make it a point that a lesser landlord would have moved to evict them or even sued them for misrepresentation and or trying to sublet based on the language in they used in the listing, mention the fair housing laws,  etc...

Remember you you are dealing with Grad Students, which often means they are just dumb enough to think they are the smartest person in the room.  Hence they went behind your back to try and solve your eventual problem for you before you even knew about it.