All Forum Posts by: Qais Attarwala

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to start out by saying thank you to everyone in this really supportive community. Anytime I have had a question or needed a resource someone was always kind enough to jump in and offer assistance which is amazing!

I have a tenant in my Rosewood rental who is saying that the water in the shower is coming out cold even after she lets it run for a bit. She says that if she turns the flow low though the water does start to get warmer but it never turns hot. The water coming out of the kitchen sink though seems to get hot just fine. Maybe this is just happening because of the colder weather but I'm not sure and I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars getting a plumber to come out if a good investor-friendly handyman can take a look. If someone could please be so kind as to refer me to someone they trust to take a look I would really appreciate it!

Thanks again!

I am looking into buying a duplex in Hyatt Park and wanted to get some advice on what contractors/suppliers I could contact that have investor friendly pricing for kitchen cabinets, countertops, and bathroom vanities. This would be my first property that requires renovation. I intend to rent out the units by room to college students (does it sound like this would work in this area and what are some general tips/things I should look out for?). Also what types of cabinets, countertops, vanities would get me the best ROI in this area? Obviously I want to keep my costs low but still want to spring for amenities that would give me a competitive edge compared to other rentals. Thanks so much in advance!

I have a duplex near a Mini Mart gas station and people are constantly throwing their trash on my property. They aren't throwing it within my fenced area but my property line extends to outside the fence as well. What can I do to discourage this behavior? 

Thank you for your help!

I talked with the City of Columbia Planning office and they said I can split the property into 2 separate lots and by doing so I can circumvent rezoning into commercial. Will have to get a land surveyor to draw up subplots and get them approved by the planning department and recorded with the Richland County Register of Deeds Office. I can only put 1 unit on the subplot but it's a whole lot easier than turning the duplex into a triplex and then rezoning. 

I filled out a pre-application form with the Columbia Zoning Department so that I can get a meeting with the committee and discuss my proposal. I will keep everyone posted on the results of that meeting.

I filled out a pre-application form with the Columbia Zoning Department so that I can get a meeting with the committee and discuss my proposal. I will keep everyone posted on the results of that meeting.

 All the county told me is that I'll have to do some landscaping work, add extra parking spaces, but I don't know anything about the stormwater plan. 

Thank you for your reply Max, I'll post on my local meetup group's FB page and see if I can get some more info. Ironically, the leader of the meetup told me to check with the county if I can add another unit on the property and I confirmed that I can but he probably wasn't expecting for me to have to rezone it as commercial.