All Forum Posts by: Nicole Marshall

Invest in a quality underlayment that will help adjust for any imperfections in the subfloor. However, if the subfloor is really out of level, then you need to fix that. Any tongue and groove, locking flooring may come apart over time with an unlevel subfloor. Imagine doing all that hard work and having to rip it up only a year later.

I recently put laminate flooring in 2 of my upstairs bedrooms. But I do second the vinyl planks... what's amazing about those is that you can re-use the flooring if you ever have water damage. Just rip them up, dry out and lay back down!

I'm still in the early stages. I bought a fixer upper, because it was in my price range in the area I wanted to live in. I didn't have any plans to invest in RE when I bought the house, I just knew that I didn't want to waste my money by paying someone else rent when that money could be put towards a mortgage. I ended up with a 4/3 with a pool. I rent out the other 3 bedrooms now, which more than pays for the mortgage and utilities every month. This helps tremendously while I fix the house up, so I don't have to worry about borrowing more money. So some version of a house hack, whether it's MF or SF or maybe some SF with an ADU? That will give you a leg up in your journey. Good luck!

@Steve Balinski If you will be living in the house, a roommate lease is the way to go. You can find a template online and tailor it to your specific situation. Make sure you outline house rules and screen your potential tenants carefully! Also best to do a M2M lease... just in case things don't work out, you won't have to wait so many months to get a new roommate. Sometimes personalities clash and that may not be something you can see before they move in.

If you're up for a drive, 321 Cabinets in Melbourne, FL has great solid plywood cabinets. They have the typical white shaker style and then more traditional wood-look styles. Check out their website. They are priced very competitively.

@Sean Rhodes Have you verified that you're on par with the market rents in your area? You might be overpriced without realizing it. 

Also, furnishing a room helps a ton, even if it's just a bed. I have beds in all my rooms that I rent out... renters find it easier to find a cheap dresser or just put their clothes in the closet, buy an Ikea stand or something for next to the bed. The bed is the hardest thing for a renter to obtain. And then what happens when they move out? They lug this heavy thing to their next place? Rent a truck just to move a bed? Sometimes yes but a mattress is a big purchase for a lot of people - they like to take their time researching if they are going to spend a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.

I agree with @Greg Gaudet about staging. Like I said, even a bed with a nice bedspread (could be yours just for the photo) makes a lot of difference in an ad. Once I started adding photos of the room (after I remodeled) and the pool, I got a lot more responses.

Definitely don't lower your standards. Heavily screen every applicant. It's also harder to rent this time of year. Whenever I have a tenant move out, I'm usually able to find a new one within 2 weeks, but all my rooms are actually vacant at the moment - it's just market timing. Keep at it, you'll find a good tenant!

@Kevin Phu If he is violating the written house rules on your lease agreement, then he is in violation of the lease. I believe with a month to month contract, you really don't need a reason, as long as you give him whatever notice is stated in the lease. Sometimes tenants don't work out. If he asks for a reason, I would just state that he repeatedly violated the house rules, even after the violations were brought to his attention. 

I have never actually terminated any of my roommates' leases, but I have been lucky with respectful tenants. The only noises are my creeky floorboards (which I am fixing as I re-do the flooring in each room) and the occasional dropped item.

@Justin Heitter Will you be living in the garage? I don't see how living in the garage would be against the rules, since you'd still be living in the property. Lots of people AirBnB their bedrooms and sleep on the living room couch to make some extra cash. As long as your mail is going to that residence and you are technically living there, I don't see the problem. HOWEVER, definitely check with your loan officer! You are just starting out, you want to make sure you start off on the right foot.

Write up a lease - look for roommate lease examples online. There are a LOT out there. Tailor your lease to your specific situation. You'll learn as you go. Issues will pop up, it happens. Modify your lease for the next roommate, because there will be a next roommate. I have my roommates pay via check or venmo. I don't accept cash. I have proper documentation so it will be easier come tax season, AND so it will be easier for a future lender to go through approval process (i.e. more likely that they will approve vs deny). So aside from legal ramifications, it is within YOUR best interests to have your roommate pay you in a way that is traceable, and have them sign a lease agreement. 

I also have a tri-level house in Florida. The upstairs 3 bedrooms were always hotter. I had extra insulation blown in and gable vents installed (there were none before) and that seemed to help a little. I also closed the vents downstairs about 2/3 so the air is diverted upstairs. The A/C unit is closest to the main (first level) so that gets the flow first. The upstairs bedrooms are at the end of the line. 

Try closing the downstairs vents and see if that helps at all. Also, heavy window coverings may help keep some of the heat out. If you have good attic access and can put up a radiant barrier easily (I have a super low pitch roof so this was near impossible), that is also probably cheaper than insulation.

Attic fans work well in perfectly sealed houses. I actually bought a Remington attic fan to install, but ended up returning it before installation. My house was built in 1960, so it is very, very likely that the attic isn't properly sealed from the floor below. If an attic fan is installed in an attic that isn't properly sealed, it will actually pull the conditioned air from the floor below into the attic. So you will be essentially being paying more on your energy bill to cool your attic. You can seal your attic, but for me this was too labor intensive and not easy given the low pitch of the roof.

To my knowledge a ridge vent is almost useless if there are no soffit vents. The soffit vents pull the cooler air in from outside and push the hot air out the ridge vent. I believe in colder weather, you are at risk for ice damming if you have no soffit vents, but not sure.

Anyway, that's just from my research a few years ago trying to cool my attic. Hope it helps!

@Adam M. Updated my location. Space coast of Florida...lots of, well, space stuff going on around here. Partly why I switched from chemical to mechanical engineering, lot more job security in this area. There are some good deals to be had in the Cocoa/Titusville area but those are also the less than desirable areas. I'm taking my time and entering the buy and hold market when I'm more confident. Plus the market has cooled down here immensely (for the time being) so I'm going to wait and see if prices drop a bit.