All Forum Posts by: Julie Marquez

@Ernst S Coriolan Great info about dryers and link, thanks! But we buy mostly second hand appliances for our units, or they are old and basic but still running. Most people want to bring in their own because they are fancier and have better features than what we provide. I notice how the new dryers have sensors about the dryer vents.

@Peter Tverdov Did you remove the birds or wait until the winter when they were gone? We had one with birds and the vendor wouldn't touch it.

@Theresa Harris Yes - dryer vents on outside walls! All our newer units that we have build in the past 4 years have it this way!

@Nathan Gesner Maybe their dryer did cause the fire?!? Who knows, five kids and a 100lb emotional support puppy later. And now the dryer is mysteriously gone.

It was a great rental house in a pleasant neighborhood. It was a perfect 3/2 built in the early 90s with those solid oak cabinets, and enough well cared maintenance to make it one of those smooth rental houses. The tenants of 10 years moved away, and the new tenants with just one month under their belt brought in their own dryer and a dryer vent fire started. Electrical and plumbing burned, structural floor joists cut away. Now it's a full gut job.

And a gut punch. So I brought out the professionals and had 17 other units get their dryer vents cleaned. 40 years of lint billowing out of those long 4" ducts (why are none of the dryers on an outside wall in these 1980/90s units?!?) Regularly $250 a cleaning, we got bulk pricing for $150 each. At this point, it's peace of mind and something to remember to do more regularly (they recommended every two years) as we maintain our rentals.

We don't have a lot of answers, just questions. Was the fire the tenant's fault because they brought in their own dryer (which is not on site anymore, we never saw it)? Is it our fault and our ducts? I'm not looking to blame, just trying to access the situation and how we can do better. Should we provide dryers (and washers) so that there is no error in a tenant provided appliance? Anyone else have a dryer vent fire, I hear they are pretty common? Anyone performing dryer vent cleaning regularly on their rentals, and best practices on that?

Maybe you need to hear this today: take a closer look at those linty dryer vents.

@David Chang This is a fun thread! Where do you want to to vacation too? Do you plan on managing it yourself or hiring that out? I'm also thinking of remoteness and the amount of work you might have to do with it, being close to a home depot, etc, and yours and the cleaners convenience. I'd vote for Camano Island (drivable island) or Skagit County, but that's just because I prefer the beaches and know this area. What area do you personally want to go to the most?

@Terri B. @Charlotte Torres Long term vision can be hard! Wow, this thread is 7 years old and I had just purchased my first rental house. And guess what? The first tenant finally moved out today, and we are upping the rent significantly, doing a bunch of needed repairs, and I have no regrets keeping it. For half the life of the mortgage (15 year mortgage here), this guy has been paying my bills and now it's only going to get sweeter. But the more I learn from other people, I also wonder if selling to get my equity out and into something better would be a good idea too. But regardless, I'm in a terrific spot now with the rental, I enjoy being a landlord, and we will continue to hold it forever.

@Jordan Stupey Great project! How did you find it? Did you use subs from Seattle or local subs? How long was the turnover? With that acre and shop I bet it will sell quickly!

@Angela Grantham Welcome to real estate investing and to Bigger Pockets. I agree with  

@Shannon Smith to start with house hacking, it's just the simplest way to do a deal and get some experience. Find a local bank to get approved and a real estate friendly agent to help you find and analyze deals. I hear good things about Peoples Bank but use BECU for a lot of my personal loans. Start looking at properties and get hungry!

There are also a lot of network groups in the area so you can meet with folks, and I have always found that to be helpful in my investing. Good luck with the journey!

@Jamie Laliberte Welcome to Bigger Pockets and real estate investing! I have found this site and forums to be abundantly helpful when I first started and still now years later.

@David Maldonado I hope you get your license and find a workaround, it's sounds like your are eager and knowledgable!

It got me thinking about my experiences that would make me a qualified GC.

From Worst to Best:

5. My construction management degree.

4. My project engineer job with huge general contractors (schools, hospitals, etc.).

3. My estimating and project management job with a small local home builder.

2. Building our own ground up duplex properties for rent, and also hands on managing our properties.

1. Spending time as a youth with my dad on his rental properties, years and years of hands on property management as a minor.

@Kaci Hunter Great to hear from someone with teaching experience. It's sad to see the system not changing, and still focusing on tests and grades, when we all know AI and chatGPT will be able to do it all (I realize it's weakness, but it should be acknowledged for having influence). I think schools should be teaching self management, self governance, critical thinking, leading a community, and servant leadership, along with finding your passion. But I think you're right, the system is NOT going to be doing that for us. Have you heard of Acton Academy? They started in TX (Austin, of course), and I'd consider them innovative, radical, and effective. I wonder (with all your background), what you think of Acton. Schools also don't teach the critical thinking skills to evaluate ROI of higher education. If it makes sense, then go for it, but don't blindly lead every 18 year old into worthless debt.

@Cliff Benner What a story about your counselor, and I'm glad that person had no ill effects on your success. Maybe even made you want to work harder! I think hands on trade schools are so useful, but not encouraged enough. I think people are realizing those advanced classes and high school curriculum don't equal success in life, and realizing that the system is not working. Kuddos for what you have made of yourself!