All Forum Posts by: Michael Raposo

@Nancy DeSocio thank you for your response. The home im purchasing has just been remodeled so it is vacant. I’ll be finding my own tenants. Ive had people tell me not to touch the snow. The minute i touch it I become responsible if anyone falls. Then ive had people tell me the landlord is responsible to remove all snow. Seems as if theirs no clear cut answer. Maybe i need to speak with the city itself. Seems far fetched that a landlord is responsible for the trash but their are instances where it can cause problems. If their are 6 barrels and only 4 apartments. Ive thought of giving someone a $50 rent credit and have the same tenant do it every week.

Im about to buy a four family in fall river. I get mixed answers when i talk to some landlords on this matter. Is it the landlords responsibility to take the trash to the curb and remove snow or are the tenants responsible for themselves.

@Mike McCarthy i like the idea but on a four family that would take $1600 per year off my bottom line. Id have to think if it would be worth it or just move on to another house.

@Shelby thank you shelby. I really like the house but I really think the seller hurt the value of this home by doing electric heat. Im guessing 95% of homes in the area are gas heat. Tenants will have that to chose from. Im going to try and find out what these tenants pay. This wasnt even a bad winter this year.

@Nancy DeSocio thank you. The only reason i can see someone installing electric heat is the installation cost savings as furnaces are expensive to buy and more maintenance. I can see why you would do it but my concern is the effect on the rent value and keeping long term tenants.

@Theresa Harris i could reach out to the realtor but not sure how much she’ll wanna help me. Its obviously not a good idea to do electric heat in New England. Im sure it was done to save on installation and equipment costs

@Colleen F. The four family is 3/4 leased. I dont feel I’ll have a problem renting it out but my concern is keeping them there. I feel most people at first will be ok with it until they see those first winter bills. Id love to know how much extra it really is compared to baseboard heat powered by natural gas furnace. If its only a 25% increase i can live with it but im seeing equations as high 150% higher.

@Michael Noto its 2 three bedroom apartments and 2 one bedroom apartments.

@Eli Lederman my only concern is that most tenants aren’t familiar with electric heat in my area being Massachusetts. An overwhelming amount of people go with natural gas which is much cheaper on the utility bill. My concern is a tenant will move in and the more expensive heat bill in the winter months might make them want to move to another apartment. Which will force me to lower rents to compensate for that.

I’m interested in buying a four family where the current owner installed electric baseboard heat. I’ve heard that electric heat is very expensive on the tenant. Should this keep me from buying this house?