All Forum Posts by: Johann Jells

 Not if you make clear that water is included.  Around here rentals runs the whole gamut from nothing included to everything, even electric. I have a 4U property where I pay the heat as well as the water/sewer and the hot water. I realized that my cost wasn't the bills, it was the difference between what I built into the rent and what I paid.

YES! If only realtors would be honest and tell people this!!! Many folks here bought brownstones paying taxes for 1/3 of their FMV and thought it would go on forever. The realtors just told them it was a great deal because the taxes were low and their attorneys were clueless about the local tax situation.

I'm curious, have you priced pro cleaning? I can't imagine it comes close to what removal and replacement costs. You can't just flop vinyl down over tile, there's usually too many irregularities, and good tile will long outlast vinyl flooring. I have tiled hallways 70 years old! Dirt in grout IS inevitable, a reason for going with dark grout or epoxy grout to begin with.  There's also a variety of cleaners and power devices to clean tile and grout. Check out this one for the Sawzall  https://www.homedepot.com/p/ReciproTool-Nylon-Scrub-Brush-Offset-Accessory-for-use-with-Universal-Adapter-for-Reciprocating-Saws-RCT-SCB-10/204248369

These cable guys are vandals, inside and out. I've put in my lease that tenants must submit cable plans, they still ignore it. This mess is typical of Jersey City:

You can't appeal an assessment based on neighbor's low bills, only on valid comps. We had a reval here after none for 30 years, some of the highest prices property saw a 2-3x increase, exceeding $30k in some cases. Had we done it like your county upon sale it would have been far less of a mess.

Costco Visa is 2% cash back, but they also add 2 years to warranties, significant for appliances.  

 Prepping for tile is time consuming and has it's costs too. A lot depends on what you have there currently. I did not lay the hall tiles I have, though I've done plenty of tile work. I've laid laminate & vinyl boards over some pretty crappy floors with good results, tile would have needed far more prep and materials like CBU or Ditra. Lastly, Planks are easy to repair, just take off the toe moldings and disassemble it to remove the damaged plank.  I have one unit that I got with a terrible tile job in their kitchen & halls, laid directly on ply. The tiles come up all the time, it's not worth doing tile wrong!

Fun. My leak last week was from a squirrel gnawing a PEX line in the attic that I ran to the top floor fridge. Started in a rainstorm which really had me running in the wrong direction! 

Sharpening you own skills in this dept will serve you well and save you a ton. I had a friend pay thousands to frack the well at his cabin when all that really needed to be done was clean the strainer on his kitchen tap. This stuff is mostly just a logic puzzle.

You say NY, but not where. In very high value areas like NYC the ratio of land to improvement can invert on small buildings, the improvement becomes the minor portion. This happened to a new infill rowhouse down the block.

 Considering it's the common hallway, no one's there in bare feet! I have several tiled hallways, the only problem I've ever had was an extinguisher being knocked down and shattering the tiles. I also installed click vinyl in a hallway last year. It looks and wears great but I had a couple of separations on the long axis, at 32' it may simply have been too far without an expansion joint.