All Forum Posts by: Pat L.

Excellent point. Our Nephew bought an older (family) home on Longboat Key & NOW they are required to install hurricane windows/doors 'to code' & for insurance coverage.  $75k was the lowest bid so far, this was after his wife splurged $14k just on window coverings :)

Having owned & still own property in FL since '91 & having owned & still own a LOT of older homes up here I would go with the new build. Financing the difference in price @ todays rates (for myself) would be negligible. However, the long term operating/repair cost different between the two would be obvious.

Good luck .... 

@Ali Boone Enjoyed the 20 points you make. However, I don't believe the Property Tax deductions (Point 2.) on a Rental is restricted by the 2018 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).

Specifically Section 212 says:

One of my favorite pics, though not the pic of ours when it happened to one of our tenants. He said the TV bracket was installed by the Geek Squad & he did pay for the wall repair. So I refuse to allow the tenant to do it.

The same tenant also MOVED an upper kitchen cabinet & when I noticed it askew I found only one 1 5/8 drywall screw was holding the thin plywood backing into a stud the rest were just imbedded in the 1/2 drywall.

& I'll raise you a beautiful white carpeted kitchen floor. Once the husband had died she redid the place the way she wanted. We did buy the place & the stains were impossible to remove.

On another property I just finished laying 18x18inch floor tile in a kitchen 12x18. Wife shows up with our excited rotund Weiner dog who comes bouncing across the still setting tile. It took a couple of extra days to remove the imbedded tile. 

On a similar job, we had just installed floor tile in a 7x12 bathroom. An hour later my 275lb partner remembers he left his cell phone on the window sill, so he nimbly walks over the tile to retrieve it. The window was OPEN, so he could have got it from the outside of the home. I left him to tear it all up & start again. 

Maybe you need to lock the houses down on flooring days!

upstate NY Niagara, Erie, Orleans 

Up here if we win the bidding we get clean 'foreclosed' title within 30-60 days. The only con is if an old IRS lien is lurking in the background or there are owners/tenants to evict. We used to pick up a couple of great properties a year from each county until everyone & his TV addicted REI cohorts bid beyond intelligent margins.

So far we've been lucky & have several very good tenants that responded & were accepted...but you'll always get those that are never satisfied & they are usually asking for someone else or a family member???

Fire Sprinkler systems. Ours was mandated 2 years AFTER we closed after an apartment bldg fire in the town had the bldg insp enforce all the IROC2018 fire protection codes, no exceptions. I was permitted to design & install it all myself so that saved us $$$$thousands. Now its 24/7 1st responder monitoring $100/month & the tenants appreciate it.

Had to learn the idiosyncrasies of a hydronic heat boiler system. Then learn how to swap out a $162 boiler blower motor after being quoted $975 by HVAC guys. Then learn how to replace $118 Honeywell solenoids on the fly onto an octopus of very hot piping, HVAC quote $425. Had to retrofit (love Pex) new hydronic baseboards as old one were very large, leaking & disgusting. Picked up a lot of new ones for 1/10 of retail price at an auction. 

Good luck it's a blast

So we put the availability out on 'NEXTDOOR' a social media format, which has had a great response for us. I get 2 responses & immediately 'private' message them both with all the details, the showing dates & times etc etc. 

A couple of days later I update the post saying that the vacancy is filled. One of those asking for information, (let's call her KAREN), reams me out on the post for NOT letting her know any of the information & giving them a chance to see the apartment. I simply responded that it had been sent to her & she may want to "check her messages". Crickets !!!

Another mutt fires back telling me the post is 'expletive' BULLSH_T because the property listed sits in one town but the (mailing address) encompasses another larger area. I explained this, so then they asked for an application. DIDN'T HAPPEN !!!