All Forum Posts by: Sam Leon

Colleen many smoke & fire alarms have remote capabilities.  It's very handy if it's a ceiling mounted alarm to not having to get on a chair to press the test button.

Some alarms actually work with ANY infrared remote control devices.  For example, the First Alert SA302CN Remote-Controlled Smoke & Fire Alarm

"Simply use the VOLUME or CHANNEL buttons on any infrared remote control to test or silence the smoke alarm from up to 20 feet away. It works with virtually any infrared remote control, regardless of the make or model - no special programming is needed!"

Get a smoke/fire alarm with a remote.

Install the smoke alarm with a line of sight through a window.  You keep the remote.  The remote works up to 20' away.

If they don't answer the door, you set the smoke alarm to test mode.  That should drive them out.

@Loren Thomas, I guess I am not following you.  A combo switch is like two individual switches, only that it's more compact.

In some cases I do use two individual switches if the junction box has room.  I typically buy older homes with conduit wiring and most of the time at the wall is a one gang metal handy box so that's what I have to work with.  There are times I would open the wall up a little to put in a bigger box but that's not always possible or practical.

However the number of switches on the wall, 1 vs 2 does not change any of the common issues.

Does everyone offer ceiling fans in their properties?

Being in Florida I offer a ceiling fan in every room.

As I turn over a property the first time I would verify every breaker every circuit and pretty much open all the switch boxes and junction boxes to give me an idea of the state of the electrical wiring.  At that time if a room is not already wired for a ceiling fan I would run the wiring for it.  Most times there is already wiring for a light but not for a fan, so I need to either add bracing or secure a fan rated box, and add an additional hot conductor so I can control the light and fan separately.  I like to control the fan and light individually with a wall switch, with dimming and speed control for both the light and fan.  I pretty much use exclusively this Pass & Seymour / Trademaster light and fan combination control switch for all my rentals.  One compact switch with preset and toggle for both.

That has worked pretty well for me over the years until recently.

The problem is more and more fans now come with a remote.  Most times the remote don't work well with wall switches.  It's one or the other.  If you use both, say turn the remote fan speed to 2 then use the wall switch to turn it off, next time you turn it back on depending on how you do it it may go bananas.

The same issue with pull chains, but when I have a pull chain fan I typically remove the pull chains after I get the fan wired to the combo wall switch.

I could do the same for the remote - disable the remote and the controller and wire it directly to the wall, the only problem is more and more I find the fan would "hum".  When I call the manufacturer they all say I HAVE TO use the remote, the fans are not designed to work with third party wall switches.

OKAY...

But the problem is remotes do not survive too long in a rental.  They are dropped, stepped on, battery fluid leaks out, or even get lost - sometimes behind the couch, sometimes under the bed, who knows.  When I do recover a remote after a move out, more often than not it has "bio matter" on them.  One remote I got back I thought it was dipped in BBQ sauce.  At least I hope it was BBQ sauce.

Add to this complication more and more fans are now equipped with E12 bulbs, CFL bulbs, LED bulbs and most of those are not dimmable by traditional dimmer switches.

So the bottom line is, are you a fan or remote controlled fans?  Pull chain fans?  Wall switched fans?

Have you found a fan that works well with wall switches AND the remote?

What is your most favorite fan?  One that is competitively priced, good as a rental "workhorse" fan, easy to install and wire?

Finally, is there any advantage to buying the same fan for all your rental so it's easier to install and maintain?

I am not sure if they would be expecting.  The landlord tenant relationship has definitely gotten "chilly" and my patience has been tested one too many times, plus there are upgrades I want to do so I can raise rent, upgrades I can't perform while the property is being inhabited.

If you have decided, say 4 months before a lease is to expire, to not renew your tenant's lease, when would you inform him/her?

I don't mean when you have to legally inform the tenant. which I believe in my state it is 30 days prior to lease expiration and if not done then it automatically kicks into a month-to-month.

I mean would you let your tenant know say 3 months before lease expiration so that they have more than enough time to make a move out plan instead of being surprised 30 days out?

Or would informing them sooner could turn the relationship more "toxic" sooner and invite more troubles?

Sometimes there is no clear case of "cause".

Plumbing is always a tough one.

If you have a obstructed branch line because a tenant's kid flushed a rubber duck down the toilet, but it would have made it through if the pipe were not partially obstructed by tree roots.  So whose fault is it?

If you lease has provisions for these situations then go by the lease.

Otherwise it goes to whether the tenant used the dishwasher "properly".  If they put dishes in the dishwasher with slobs of butter, fatty chicken skin and artichoke hearts and these things got pushed down the drain and caused an obstruction, you have a reason to sit them down and have a conversation.  You could pick up the bill and say next time it's yours, or you can offer to split the bill, or try to put it on them.

Handling tenants is difficult.  Kids gloves and iron fists...somewhere in between, often times both.

It depends.

I have absolutely no issue showing a place when it's being fixed up to potential tenants.  I can go over the upgrades I am doing and explain along the way and in most cases I came away with the impression they appreciate my being proactive in making improvements with attention to details.  However there are times I don't.  For example if I have a door with a chunk bitten off by the previous tenant's dog. or if I have some roach infestation, or if I have the toilet pulled to snake a clog...things that makes the applicant think "what kind of a tenant and dog were here?  Is it possible an AC line or a wire was bitten and the landlord didn't see?  Was the guy real dirty to have attracted so many bugs? Ewww what's wrong with the toilet?"  In those cases I would wait.

On the other hand, I never show a place while a tenant is still there.  I wait till they have vacated.  I know many landlords show ASAP.

Whatever works for you.

so...

I just realized today that I had the hot water heater for the laundry room washing machine off.

FOR LIKE TWO MONTHS.

I was trouble shooting something and turned the breakers for the hot water heater off.  Now this is a small 20 gallon just for the washing machine.  I forgot to turn it back on.

None of the tenants have complained about the lack of hot water.  There are five people who wash their clothes there.  No one said a thing to me.

So they never noticed.

May be they only wash in cold cycles?

May be they don't care?

Does this mean I can just leave it off for good...or better yet, remove the HWH and free up some storage space?

LOL

Well, I am waiting for the day when we can buy really cheap hurricane proof impact resistance windows, those windows can withstand 200mph hurricane force winds and a cococut projectile coming at the window at a speed of 200mph, and the glass is made of a material where you can use a remote to adjust the transparency level to control how much light is let in, and you can set it so that it is totally transparent, 50% transparent, turn itself into a mirror on the inside or outside only, or make itself into a screen for me to surf the internet or watch a show.  No blinds, no shades, no hurricane panels, no burglar cage...

All this for $50 at The Home Depot for this fancy multifunctional window.