All Forum Posts by: Johann Jells

You're young, don't let impatience make you buy at the top of a bubble, which this has looked like for a while. When someone tells you "this time it's different!", be very very cautious. As @Bjorn Ahlblad story shows, this is long game. Want speed, try day trading.

I've been using Quicken to track my business expenses for 30 years, even before I had properties. You download your bank and card transactions into it, then categorize each one. From then on you can track whatever you want using the report function. I can easily look up what I spent on the water bills of a property for 2002.

I use one checking account and one credit card for each of my businesses, but rentals are one business.

As stated, lawyer up, you're in for a ride. NEVER EVER tell someone a reason for rejecting them unless you absolutely have to. Never tell someone they're the 1st to see the place, so you can say you have a previous application. Unless you're still on the market weeks from then you're good.

I'm not absolutely certain of my footing on my usual S8 response, but it a variant of what already said. "I take the first qualified tenant  Since the unit isn't currently inspected by the city and approved for S8, and that can take a long time especially if it fails something, it's unlikely it will still be vacant when approved." Do I have anything wrong here?

If I replace the cabs a standard range is a no-brainer. I have no idea what the previous owners were thinking with the cooktop/wall oven arrangement. I had to update those in the unit upstairs and couldn't believe that wall oven costs more than a range!  Managed to pick up a used one at a decent price. But ripping all that out opens a huge can of worms. I may test the paint idea of @Kris H. on some scrap.  

What was going on in the 70's and what are we doing today that will look so bad? I think travertine baths are a good candidate. But they won't look as bad as this below! It looks like a crappy motel. The temptation to gut here is strong, there's tile issues in the tub surround. Upstairs I had to gut a surround that was laid on greenboard. There was literally nearly 3" of tile, drywall, horsehair plaster and lath between the tile surface and the studs! OMG. That was one job I regretted rejecting a contractor's price I thought high and doing it myself.

Sounds like interesting stuff, but does NOT say specifically it's good over laminate. It's that hard surface and corners that make painting laminate so difficult. But it does say metal, which can be as hard. Hmmm.

Recommended For
Cabinets, Metal, New & Previously Painted Wood, Furniture,
Woodwork, Doors Trim.

 Reassuring hearing a voice of sanity from another hands-on guy recognizing that something isn't as easy as it looks at first glance. How awful would new white thermofoil doors be on the green frames? And I Already replaced all the old hardware with modern brushed nickel when I bought the place 16 years ago. Wow, time flies! 

I have the skill, but I'm not sure I want to put in that kind of time. I built this closet below of birch ply then veneered it with cherry and installed custom made doors from Walzcraft.

As for replacing the cabs, I have not taken careful measurements, but I assume that with those soffits and other details it would not be a 'hang and walk away' job, there would be a ton of fill strips and other nonsense. Not to mention there being a chimney flue behind the cooktop. 

I have a kitchen with 70's laminate custom cabinets. It seems worth exploring new doors and refacing the carcasses rather than ripping it all out or just leaving it.  Anyone have experience with this kind of job? What does it cost? I bet I could just buy doors at Ikea. Is it possible to paint the carcasses? I've always believed laminate and paint never really works, it'll always start chipping at the corners. If I did this I'd put in granite slab and a tile backsplash. 15 years ago when I bought the place I put new hardware on the cabs and called it a day.

Once you start ripping these cabinets, you start creating a whole lot of work with the soffits etc. The floor however needs to go, it was badly laid right on top of ply and is constantly coming up.  The outgoing tenants were paying $1850, it's about 1000 ft with free shared laundry and a patio in a rapidly gentrifying area.

I don't have any experience yet with the new water-resistant laminate, but that would be the direction I would go in the next time I'm laying flooring.  I'm turning over unit I put down 10 mm in 5 years ago and it still looks absolutely terrific. The 5mm vinyl in the kitchen I put down a few years before that looks pretty good, but some of the seams are starting to do that little curl up thing.

I refuse the gray trend and paint all my units Ben Moore Navajo White, a stock premixed beige.