All Forum Posts by: James Kim

 @Caleb Brown - Thanks for the feedback. After my PM checked with a vendor they told me the house that sits on a block with 4 other houses seems to have the land sort of slope to my home from all the other corners. There is drainage (ditches) all around the block and my home has gutters taking water away from the house, but seems the rain storm cause a flood around my house where the water level rose above the slab line and creeped in under the walls. The repairs (new base boards, painting, new carpet + padding and also checking for insulation damage and mold check) is going to run me about 3900. Not sure how i can address the drainage issue, the PM thinks i can call the city to see if they can check the drains around my house to improve it somehow. Have you seem this? don't think it's a builder issue so i'll take care of it, but not sure what else i can do (note: House is not near any flood zones).

Thanks!

James

 @Theresa Harris - Thanks for the feedback! yes, it wasn't through the foundation. Just that the water level from the rain storm was higher than the slab foundation and seemed to have creeped through the walls. I think it's more an issue related to the drainage outside and around the house (already have gutters taking the water away from the house). Not sure what options i have to see if the city might do anything to improve things, not sure if you've seen this and if you were successful with the city to help improve the city drainage on city land around a home?

Thanks!

James

 @Chris Seveney - Thanks again for your feedback. After talking to my PM i found out that my property just so happens to be at the bottom of the slope in the block, meaning of all the houses on my block the land seems to slope to my house from the other three corners. Not sure it's that obvious but that's what i was told. Also, there is draining all around the block and the house is on a slab and from the outside the slab is higher than the ground. It's just that the storm was very bad and the water was not draining out from the yard etc. as fast as needed and the flooding cause the water to come under the walls. This is the first time this happened and the employee at the PM that visited the site told me he would recommend putting an additional 'ditch' or some drainage in the back yard that drains to the city line but not sure if that's really needed. Luckily the tenant acted fast and moved all their belongings away from the walls to avoid damaging their own property. The repairs to redo the baseboards, new carpets + padding, and checking for insulation damage and mold + any new painting is going to run 3,900 for 3 bedrooms, laundry room and back door. The house itself does not sit near a flood zone so this might be a one off but not sure what i can do to try and prevent future damage like this?

Have you had situations similar before at your properties?

James

@Scott Mac @Chris Seveney thanks for your tips. After speaking to the builder they were nice enough to come and install the dampers!

James 

Hi,

Do I have an option to ask the builder to remedie water damage issue? This past week there was a heavy rain storm and the front yard and back porch area got alot of water and caused water to penetrate the walls and garage door. The carpet is soaked up to a foot from the wall inside the bedrooms.

The property was built In 2022 and is a detached single family house. I understand there's a 1 yr warranty on appliance or system related issues but not sure if this is something I go to the builder about?

thoughts? Thanks in advance.

James 

 Thanks! Honestly I don't know much about HVAC and generally would just go with what I'm told but this home being new I decided I should ask. I'm assuming mine doesn't have a variable speed drive and slow down as the hvac techinican is strongly recommending I get a bypass damper. But wouldn't the builder who installed the HVAC be responsible for this? Or is it now up to me to "fix" this situation on my own dime? Being quoted $750 for the fix.

Thanks again!

Hi,

I'm not sure if this is the right section of the forum to post this question, but wanted to know if anyone has experienced this or have knowledge that they could share with me.

My rental unit is a 2 floor house with separate thermostat on each floor with one HVAC unit. I recently had it serviced (annual) even though the house is a new build (2022). The technician told me that i needed a 'bypass damper' that connects from the return plenum to the supply plenum. I understand that this helps with controlling temperature and air pressure in zoned spaces and the technician also told me this helps prolong the life of the HVAC.  It also appears that a bypass damper is not something that might be 'required', though i may be wrong, and I'm asking the builder if this is something they could come back to install. I'm wondering if a damper like this is really needed? or if it's just something 'nice to have' but otherwise it won't kill my HVAC early. I'm also wondering if it's required from whoever installed the HVAC system to include it as part of an HVAC system that's installed for a multi zoned (i.e. more than one thermostat) system?

Thanks in advance!

James

Probably more a legal and economic issue but here's the deal (disclaimer : you should consult an attorney).

1. What is the economic arrangement of the deal? Did you both agree to put up 50/50 of all costs with a different profit split? (It's possible). You should really have this in writing so the economic arrangement is documented (generally this will be in the form of a partnership agreement of sort).

2. Who's name is the title of the property under? I presume it's both of you? If everything will be 50/50 then you could be viewed as having a tenancy in common or partnership. If there's a different profit allocation then it'll be a partnership, but again, should be in writing. If the title is under one person's name and the other person is putting up something else of value for their "50%" then you really need to have things in writing.

3. Assuming you have things in writing and assuming you have a formal partnership, and your friend wants some sort of payout then there are many ways to structure their compensation. If they will be the one actively managing everything going forward then you could set it up to be 50/50 until you all get your investment back plus a return on investment then your friend could get, say 20%, of any additional profit until they get a certain $ limit, thereafter you could share a different ratio. If you want to keep things 50/50, then you could also have it so the friend gets something equivalent to a wage (guaranteed payments) but that would need to be paid irrespective of the profitability of the partnership.

There's a lot that is possible. But depends  on what you and your friends economic arragement is and if theres anything unique (i.e. not 50/50 for anything) then things should really be in writing.

Hope this helps.

@Chad McMahan 

@Sara Levy-Lambert - I will take a look at your reviews, thanks!

@Nathan Gesner

Thank you all very much for your feedback. I'm looking at San Diego for mid term. If you know any good PMs please let me know. Thanks!