All Forum Posts by: Justin Wilkey

I feel like I cycle through plumbers a bit. I had a "go to" company and then they really hosed me twice and so I've been in somewhat of a search mode ever since. Here are the two I'm liking right now. Not sure about the home warranty piece though. Halpin and Beresford. I'm still kinda searching for that single person operation that you can always depend on but these two companies have done good and reasonably priced work for me.

I just built a detached garage at my home... actually it's still under construction. In the City of Cincinnati you are required to have a 3' offset. I believe most codes are driven by the municipalities typically. You can apply for variances to go less than that so depending on your neighbors that might be an option as well. 

I agree with Lamont. Have the PM find a service. I've had varied luck with tenant's picking up maintenance. They either pay themselves too much or do not do a good enough job... or both. In this area though I do think you could push snow removal to the tenants and just make it part of their lease. Heavy snows are infrequent and it's almost impossible to get to it quickly before people walk and drive on it so it's in the best interest for the tenants to just take care of it. I provide good shovels and salt and they take care of it if they want. 

@Mark H. Porter The city website is confusing and stating law while also giving guidance that takes it further. In each bedroom is not law, just guidance. Here is the city ordinance.

https://library.municode.com/oh/cincinnati/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TITXVINEQULIUNCO_S1601-1GEDE

Going down a rabbit hole though, it looks like the ordinance says a landlord must test the detectors in the common areas once a month which I guess I need to start doing. @Greg Laux what are your thoughts here? Do we need to be testing once/month?

On the 10 year battery, it's just convenience for me. Much easier to just push the button to test versus carrying around a bunch of batteries

I'll be honest, I read your post and smugly went to look up the Cincinnati code to prove that you heard the direction incorrectly. Every bedroom?!? Seemed like overkill.... then I found it and you heard the guidance correctly. 

https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/fire/fire-prevention/smoke-alarms/

For clarity, it looks like the law is "all rental properties have photoelectric smoke alarms installed outside the structure’s sleeping quarters" but the guidance included "inside every bedroom, outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home". 

Last year I made sure all my buildings met the law, including the photoelectric sensor as most of mine were ionization, and installed them in each unit by the bedrooms and then in the common areas. I did a CO/Smoke version in the basement where the boiler is. 

Here is what I used with the 10 year battery. 

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Kidde-10-Year-Sealed-Battery-Smoke-Detector-with-Photoelectric-Sensor-21027434/203525026

I think they offer a slight discount for multi-pack order but they are basically $20 each. I like them because they are impossible to disconnect and I shouldn't need to worry about replacing batteries for a long time. I did get one complaint that it was going off and wouldn't turn off so the tenant disarmed it... which is permanent. I have a feeling he was smoking and learned that hard way you can't just pop the battery out.

@Clayton Smith's Option 2 is definitely a good take. I will add that you should make sure you look at the total picture of all your investments. Negative cash flow may seem counter intuitive but if it enables you to make a different high cash flow deal it would make sense. I did just encounter something along these lines with a cash out refi and the numbers made sense to maximize the financing. When you consider that rates are super low right now, financing is tax deductible, and I found a decent savings account interest rate (~2%) it quickly closed the gap on the interest payment. I'm making a small profit for doing nothing and now I have the cash ready for the next deal.

@Rich Somers I responded. Let me know if you aren’t seeing it.

@Rich Somers I started making calls yesterday... just left voicemails. I'll send you a PM and we can team up. 

@Rich Somers I am in Pleasant Ridge so we are close. 

I'm pulling in ~$100/year per unit in revenue on my laundry. Factoring in that I had to replace a dryer $900+ this year and I'm sure I've got some other machines that will have to go soon I'm thinking a 50/50 split is a decent deal. Then I can quit messing with quarters and the worry/hassle of needing to maintain anything. 

I'm guessing the 70/30 splits are bigger complexes that get a much better economy of scale.

Can I ask how many units you are managing with the service? I have 3 buildings in close proximity but it is only 12 units. I'd love to transition out of managing the coin machines I have.