All Forum Posts by: Sam Leon

 Hmm...I know I have seen framed mirrors repainted as chalk boards.  I am not sure what kind of primer I supposed it is possible to paint over that.  I am trying to visualize what it would look like.

 Yes the bar and the 7' long 4' high giant aquarium are already gone.  He even plumbed in a 2" drain and a 1/2" water supply line into the aquarium cabinet for changing water in the aquarium.  Those I have to cap / disconnect.

The issue with removing those ceiling is it will be a lot of work.  Especially in the kitchen area where the top of the cabinets are less than six inches from the ceiling.  There is no way to demolish the ceiling without damaging or taking down all the cabinets and built-ins.

I need to do something to a property where a portion of a property was extensively redone by the previous owner with a VERY different taste then mine, and that fits his lifestyle at the time.  Now that I am about to rent it out, I wanted something that is appealing to as many people as possible.

Property is located in South Florida in a class B neighborhood.  It is a duplex with each unit about 1200SF.  Unit B is fine but unit A was the one lived in by the previous owner.

About 400SF of space, which included the entrance foyer and the kitchen, requires some "tweaking".

The owner has lined the walls from floor to ceiling with dark wood panels with some elaborate trims.

To the right, you can see a bar.  The bar has already been removed.

The floor is the same wood, in laid with stone tiles.

But the ceiling is the main issue.  The ceiling is broken into multiple "trays" with each tray about 3.5' X 3.5'.  There is a mirror glued onto the ceiling in each tray, then wood trim all around.  In the middle of the each mirrored tray is a 6" recessed light.

I have had a few friends came by to visit while I was doing a bunch of repairs and the comments I got as soon as they stepped into this area were:

"wow...man cave"

"speakeasy?"

"was this once a brothel?"

"this guy was into some funny business...you may find drugs hidden behind walls or in the attic..."

...and the mirrored ceiling got the most attention.

Oh, there was also a seven foot long aquarium in the same wood trim dividing the foyer and the kitchen but that was removed.

I have considered removing the ceiling and just go back to regular sheetrock.  But this would be VERY laborious and expensive.  There are all together 24 of these ceiling trays.

If I can removed the wood trims - don't think this is going to be too difficult, the glued on mirrors would be a real pain to remove.  Not only that, there are custom cabinetry in the kitchen that is very close to the ceiling, that would make the removal of the trims and mirrors very difficult, unless I remove those cabinets too.

I am leaning towards keeping the walls and floors but change the ceiling.

Any thoughts as to what I can do to the ceiling that would make it appealing to most renters?

Is ripping everything down the only option?

Or are there creative alternatives?

I ran into the same problem.  Did not encounter it on my desktop, but seems to be fairly consistent on mobile whether I am using mobile Firefox or Chrome and I even tried Opera Mini to use BP on the go.  When you try to type a BP forum reply it gets slugglish and eventually it's type one letter and it appears literally10 seconds later.  I end up not logging into BP on the phone anymore.

Google (and Facebook too) is building a profile of you whether you want it or not.  It takes your internet history, and search history and everything else, to try and figure out what you might buy.  That's why so many ads are appearing and some tells you these ads are "inspired by your search history".  If you use gmail and many of the free services, your terms of history gives Google the rights to access your data.  You have allowed them to access your address book, your contact list on your phone, your email content, your pictures and galleries, if you buy a new microwave oven and reviewed them on Amazon, there is nothing that prevents Google from contacting everyone on your email and phone contact and say "hey, your buddy Sam really likes this microwave, wouldn't you want one for yourself too?".  Facebook is probably worse in many ways in trying to pry into your data, including location data on your phone, to try to "find you friends you might want to know".  Windows 10 is a big ad virus all my itself.

Well...

Today I got a call from Jill about August's rent.  She doesn't have enough to pay August's rent in full.  Her mom is sending her some emergency money and she said she is going to work overtime to get her finance in order.  My rent is due on August 1 but there is a 4 day grace period before I charge a late fee and 10 days before I begin the eviction process.  I hope everything works out for her.

I didn't ask her about the BF, but the fact is her BF's name is on the lease and they are jointly responsible for rent.

I am inclined to leave things alone.

I just don't want to get to the end of the lease when I return deposits to both of them she would ask me to put it in her name only because she has already paid his deposit back and they are no longer speaking blah blah blah and wish she knew she could have avoided this by removing him from the lease way back when...

Guess we'll cross that bridge then.

I have a lease with an unmarried couple, say Jack and Jill for apartment B.

Good tenants, no issue, no hassle, pays on time.

On one of my visits to repair something in apartment C, the tenant says "...so did you know Jack and Jill broke up?"  I said no I didn't.  After that I began to pay attention and sure enough, I no longer see Jack's car.  When I go by to do regular maintenance, Jack is never there, nor his car.  The lease we renewed in April, with both Jack and Jill.  I can't recall seeing Jack since the lease was signed.  Even emails I sent to all tenants in that building, which includes Jack's email, are no longer responded to by Jack.  Emails such as an announcement that on this day and time the washer is being replaced and plan on no washing in the morning, or that day there will be pressure washing of the driveway between 9am-11am please move your vehicle etc...and Jack in the past always respond with a quick thank you for letting us know reply.

I never asked Jill where Jack is.  The rent is being paid.  For all I know Jack could be on a 3 month expedition to the Everest or they are still working things out.  As far as I am concerned if she is OK with Jack having access to the apartment it's really none of my business.  But at the end of the lease I will need to return the deposits with a check to both of their names and not just Jill.

So, should I just let things be?  Or is there any reason for me to find out so I can do a formal drop tenant addendum if Jack is truly "gone"?

It might be best to have your attorney draft you the addendum that's applicable to your situation that you may be able to reuse again.  A basic one page add/drop tenant addendum.

Here is one that seems to cover some of the potential issues.

http://www.cityparkusc.com/documents/118_adendum_t...

Are these students on fixed term leases or month to month?  I mean are they all on say 1 year leases starting and ending at the same day, and you have a new one in the middle of  a lease term 4 months in that is looking to end the lease the same time the rest of them do, or is he/she intending to sign up for say a full year?  That would change how you would handle deposits and damage assessments.  If you have a fluid arrangement like students A & B are staying for 2 years, students C for 1 year, student D for 3 years, and student C drops out 6 months in, and student E wants to come in for 3 semesters, you will never you leases starting and ending at the same time...in that case you might consider individual leases for each tenant based on a room plus shared areas.  If its always one lease for all occupants, then you do an add drop addendum.  Make sure you lay out how deposits are to be returned to the tenants as a whole and damages are assessed as a whole.

This is obviously not an issue for someone who lives in one unit and rents out the rest.

Probably not an issue with an easy going tenant who volunteers to take care of the trash set out...and I had one tenant who did that all year until he moved out.

Some tenants are more petty then others.

The carts are on wheels and we are talking about 15 feet over paver bricks.

But I need to think of a more permanent solution.

 I am considering the same approach like offering a $25 rent credit for doing this chore.

The other option could be to request from the city two more regular trash carts and label them #1, #2, #3, #4 and have each tenant take out and retrieve their own.  But then I have a similar issue with recycled waste and yard waste.  The yard waste is only used by my lawn guy.