All Forum Posts by: Ian Lord

Sorry for the late response, but I thought I'd post an update now that the situation has been resolved.

I had a plumber come out the next day, and it appears there were some issues with the guts of the toilet that could have been resolved just with a jiggle of the handle. I ate the $100ish cost of the repair, and the plumber was kind enough to give the tenants a letter to explain to HRSD the nature of the problem and that it had been resolved. I can only assume the department waived the additional charges or made some deal that made the tenant happy since I haven't heard any more complaints in our follow up conversations.

What is annoying is that it shocks me that no one thought the sound of a toilet running for about 45 days straight was a problem until they got the bill. Moral of the story, I am stealing @Elizabeth Colegrove's advice and putting a deductible in my next lease. 

The water bill is in her name, and the lease includes that tenants pay for all utilities.  She noticed no other signs of water loss, like running water noises, puddles, leaks, etc. As soon as she took the lid off the tank she said it's running. I told her if adjusting the chain so she didn't have to jiggle it didn't work I would get it fixed. 

My tenant emailed me yesterday to say that they got a $700 water bill. The city came out and confirmed the meter, and everything matches up with the bills. The tenants pay all utilities. After talking to the tenant and suggesting she check the toilet, she confirmed it was running. She jiggled the handle and it stopped.

I'm trying to plan ahead about how to handle this. I told her to contact the water company and politely ask for a waiver, reduction, or some course to mitigate the dramatically increased bill. Typical bills for the house are under $150 and this last month was about $700. 

I sent her a link and talked her through the easy fixes, jiggling the handle, adjusting the chain, etc. I changed the flapper out within the last year since the old one had given up, and it was working fine for the rest of my stay in the home and the first two month's of the tenant's stay there. 

I know from before I changed the flapper that when the toilet runs it is noticeable. I have a feeling the tenant may ask for me to pay the increase bill if they don't like what they hear from Hampton Roads Sanitation. 

My inclination is to think that if they left the toilet running because they couldn't bother to listen for the sound of running water then I shouldn't be responsible for the bill increase. Wouldn't be much different if they left a faucet open for a month. Politely but firmly say no, since the bill wouldn't have gone up if they paid attention? 

Welcome Meghan. I'm also in Roanoke and got my start by renting out my previous home when my wife and I moved here. I'd second considering getting an RE license. Most of your other options are going to require some significant capital to get started. Studying for the exam should also provide a mental gear shift while locking down a new job. 

Hello, I successfully leased my old home out when I moved and want to get a head start on tax planning. I purchased the home for about $148k, and Zillow says it is now worth about $160k as of the date the tenants moved in. The local tax assessor says the land is worth about $62k. I'm a bit unclear on how to calculate the basis in this case since I didn't buy the house originally as a rental property. Thanks for any help.

Hi, I have a rental in Norfolk I self manage from Roanoke. Welcome to the forums!

Thanks @Matt Clark. That's exactly the kind of local info I needed. 

Hello all,

I just purchased a house in Roanoke, VA as my primary residence for the next four years. It is a 3 bed, 1.5 bath and I plan on renting it out after I move. It appears I could add a wall and add a bathroom to one of the larger bedrooms, creating a master suite on the second story. This would leave two other bedrooms with their own full bath.

Looking at Rentometer, and Zillow, it appears I can break even on the PITI payment by self managing by renting the place out for $1300. Would an extra bath in a master suite help squeeze an extra hundred bucks or two a month out of the place? For me it would be nice to have the extra bathroom for the next few years, but it isn't something I would do unless it led to increase in property or rental value.

For some insight on the deal, I slightly overpaid for the house in order to save other expenses in my daily life by living closer to my wife's work. The trade off might even allow us to become a one car family. I don't mind feeding the house a few hundred each month, since I can always refinance and plan on paying the house off within the next 10 years. 

I found it to be accurate in my neighborhood in Norfolk. There are a few caveats though. My search on Rentometer did not consider the number of bathrooms in the home, just the number of bedrooms. In my particular neighborhood, there is a significant divide between homes with only one, and those with more than 1 bedroom. A similar floor plan, with matching amenities, can and has rented for $100-200 more a month. 

These homes were all built in the 50's and originally had carports. Over the years about half the owners have customized the carport into a living space addition or garage. So in my neighborhood Rentometer is great for starting to find a ball park, but one really needs to do a comparison search on Craigslist and other actual rental listings to get a solid price. The spread between Rentometer average and a good rental price for a specific home could be as much as +- $200, but at least it shows that rents of less than $900 a month are highly unlikely in this area.