All Forum Posts by: Jim S.

Some of the questions I ask are, age of roof, furnace(s), water heater(s). Cost of monthly water/sewer. Are there separate elec./gas meters, separate furnaces. Am I off base asking if they use a Property Man. and if so their name?

Hello all. At times I have my realtor ask the listing agent questions about a property. Usually they do not answer all the questions. They seam to think "I don't know" is an acceptable answer. It may take a week to hear back. Sometimes the seller accepted an offer and the listing agent does not reply at all. Would it kill them to ask the seller and find out? Is it too much to ask questions or to expect a reply of some type? When I want to sell something I go out of my way to answer all questions. Is there something I don't understand?

They put the kitchen and bathroom next to each other because of plumbing. I don't have much experience at LL (4 yrs) but bathroom downstairs and bedrooms up doesn't seem to get attention when showing. I'm in the $600-700 range.

Somewhat common with older duplexes in my area.

You can sign a new lease starting now/taking affect now if you don't change any terms unless the tenant agrees to the new terms. You could write it for 16-18 months or however long you want it. If you want new terms you have to let the present lease expire. You can sign a new lease today if you date it to start the day after the present lease expires.

The local utilities co. is very LL friendly. I used to call them to see if it was put in the tenants name. Now I can go online and see who's name it's in at any time on all of my properties. This is done BEFORE the lease is signed.

I would call your insurance co. and ask. That way you know for sure.

Too many other factors to base your decision on credit score alone. Length of employment, other depts. and so on. I had a 38 year old that said he was at his job a long time, 6 months. Nope. I rented to a 20 year old that was at her respectable job for 2 years. Low credit score. Great tenant. Clean & pays rent on time. Consider the whole package.

I would walk away from it. If you were an experienced LL it might be different.

If the boiler was new in 2013 I don't know why you think it's not efficient?? It sounds like a zone valve. Do you have thermostats in each unit? Put your hand on top of the baseboard and see if it's hot when boiler is running. The pipes going to all 3 units should be to hot to hold your hand on, 180 deg. If one is cold/warm than water flow is the problem. Probably a zone valve. There is usually a manual lever on the zone valve that you can actuate with you finger to open the valve. Do the pipes get hot then? If so, zone valve. You do not have to change out the valve that's soldered in the pipes, you can just replace the electrical part. Disconnect 2-3 wires with a screwdriver and 2 screws that hold the electrical part to the mechanical part. 5 minutes.