All Forum Posts by: Jim Adrian

@Devante Boll

I use excel to tally up my one rental. Feel free to use what I have uploaded into File Place.  Lots of good free stuff there.  I am also in the process of converting to quicken.  Create a checking account for your rental and run everything thru that account this avoids co-mingling of funds. This is a lot easier to keep track of.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/files/user/JimA732/file/rental-expenses-report

 The ones I recently seen looked residential or at least in appearance.  But it was a quick glance in the space and that's about it.

I think there are a handful of options out there for this and some with apps for your phone.  I recently toured several colleges that had some sort of smart technology.  One place used a credit card tied to student id cards and 2 places had apps you could use. The apps would tell you when the machine was done. I didn't see any brand names on them.  Sounded really slick and the students liked them. 

Your return vents do not have dampers on them and you should not change this.  I did see your other post about what vents are supply and return. 

Its not very hard to change the grilles out.  You just need to match the grille sizes up and simply unscrew and install new one.  I would buy the grilles first before removing.  You may have a odd size for ones with dampers in them.  Looks like you have an old house.

Satin or eggshell is very common.  My rental I have semi-gloss but I grabbed the wrong paint and noticed it to late.  It looks fine and you don't notice that its more glossy that normal.  It does hold up well. I have continued with semi-gloss and the tenant can deal with it.

Windows can be a long lead item in general. 

I tried to use World of Windows in Omaha last year and it was going to be 14 weeks before they could install 2 windows.  It would have been 6 weeks to get windows to shop if I wanted to install them myself.  I cant say anything bad about the company just didn't fit my schedule or specific need.

I did look at Home Depot line and didn't think it was to bad window. 

Another option is to simply replace the glass with better glass by calling a glass company.  I did this because the seals were broken in several lites and it saved me lots of money from replacing the entire window.

I do like fiberglass frames over vinyl frames in general. 

I tried doing prescreening and people would not fill out the questionnaire so I gave up on that. I know I was too antsy to get the place rented.  Though I do agree with doing pre-screening.  You may want to consider doing an open house for 2 hours or making appointments every 20 minutes. I wouldn't worry about other perspective tenants seeing each other and it may help create an sense of urgency for them if they like the place.  I did turn my pre-screening questions into points of conversation with tenants and let them have verbal diarrhea to learn a lot more.  

Fix the toilet with new guts so it doesn't overflow again.  You need to understand if the collapse  line ties up to a sewer system.   You could scope the line for visual inspection.  Talk with the city / utility dept as they should have records of where the line goes.

My old house had the returns under the window which is backwards.  while the supplies vents where near the middle / interior of the house.    Best way is with a tissue test.  You may need the ducts cleaned.  

@Larry P.

There will need to be a utility easement where this pipe runs I believe.  I have one in my neighborhood and the developer put a walking trail over it.  Most people don't realize there are utilities there.   I know houses are within 75 of this.  I would guess most backyards are in the 40 ft deep range.  I would have a talk with the engineer to see where they are planning on running this line as it may be a non-issue.  Ultimately it will depend on site layout of the pipe and house location and what else is around it.  As for the loan info I have no info on this that I can share.