All Forum Posts by: Katherine T.

Hey @Katherine T.!

You have gotten loads of advice. I thought I would chime in to give you a little more of a local perspective. We currently rent and own several properties in that area. Here are a few ideas/comments:

• That is a great area to rent property. In our experience sometimes it takes a little longer to find a tenant in Pelham because there are definitely more owner occupants in that area verses tenants. Don't let this discourage you because the lack of local tenants should be made up for in the potential capital appreciation you could get in that market. 
• @ $925 I believe you are closer to the average price for a 3/1.5 in that area. Without seeing your property it's hard to say because you have some more excellent features that make it worth more, but most of our 3/1.5s in that area go for around $850-$975 depending on other features. 
• I second the Postlets people on here. This is a great service. If you don't want to do that, make sure it's posted to Zillow and Trulia because Birmingham folks use these a lot. Also make sure you are refreshing your Craigslist post everyday. This is by far one of the most used platforms for our area. 
• The MLS isn't very effective in our market for finding tenants. There just aren't a lot of realtors using this system for leasing unfortunately, so don't be discouraged by the lack of traffic from this venue. In addition, most property managers use their own sites and leasing teams.
• As far as rental demand goes in our market, we've seen an 67% increase in call volume in January verses December, so hopefully you are getting some traffic. For us December slowed down quite a bit, but it has picked back up in January. This will be different for different area property managers though. 

All and all, keep your head up! We buy as many properties as we can for turnkey investment in Pelham. It is a great area, and I expect you to find someone soon. Let us know if we can be of service.

Clayton

I've done both resurfacing/reglazing & replacing a bath tub.  The resurfacing started to peel up in my primary residence after a year or so. I just had that one resurfaced while moving out and preparing it as a rental.  If I didn't get that done for free I probably would've just replaced the tub.  Resurfacing costs around $300-$400 per tub and it can start peeling up if not done properly or if your tenants use cleaners like Comet on it.  We use Mica Magic at work for this purpose and they do offer a 5 year warranty so at least there's that.

We just replaced a tub in our a new house and my husband was able to do it himself.  Bath Fitter I believe has a lifetime warranty but it's incredibly pricey.  Good luck with whichever method you choose!

Sounds like bath fitters is too expensive and Do It Yourself too Messy.  Is there a Plastic surround to the tub or Tiled walls aepid that rub?

I knew someone that when he had a tile surround and had a tub problem he would have 2 rows of tile removed and then have the tub removed and replaced with a new tub and then replace the 3 rows of tile. The tub itself is in

Thanks Barbara, There's always a way around it... Still weighing my options .. I have fiberglass

I used a franchise company called "Mr Ugly" to refinish a cast iron/ porcelain tub last year.  it was brown and they refinished it white.  There are several do it yourself kits but its pretty nasty stuff to work with and I wouldn't recommend doing it yourself. The tech wore a full body suite and respirator and it took 2-3 days for the fumes to dissipate when he was done.  They also refinish fiberglass tubs and kitchen counters. You might want to look up the local franchise before you replace just to compare the cost.  If its  within a couple hundred $ I would just replace it. 

Good luck

Adam