All Forum Posts by: Samantha Klein

Thank goodness I don't use online rent collection like ERP. I tried it and it was not working so well because tenants didn't always have all of the money when Cozy would pull it and it would cause delays in whether rent payments failed or not. I wouldn't know until the 6th or so if rent was actually paid.

 I decided to open a rent collection bank act locally and have all of my tenants deposit rent on their time. It has been working much better and now I spend less time chasing tenants and more time growing my business. 

I just replaced 23 windows in a duplex and total cost was about 5k. I used Jeld Wen windows from Menards and had a friend who is a GC install them at $40 a window.

I would only go with someone licensed due to liability. If they mess it up, you could be held liable I imagine 

Home depot and Menards are basically everything I use for my rental rehabs. I use 15% movers coupons at HD when I plan on spending over $1,000. It usually saves me alot of money. 

My post applies more to traditional rentals and not student housing.

The tenant being responsible for repairs under $100 is IMO not a good idea. Tenants will let small repairs go because they aren't going to want to spend money fixing YOUR house up.

They'll let it go until its a much bigger and more expensive problem to fix and you won't know about it until they move out or there's water pouring through your ceiling when it started out as a very small leak. In my market, that would not work.

I'm not a slumlord and I fix things no matter how minor because doing so keeps goodwill between you and your tenants and in turn keeps the property filled and rent checks coming in. 

This question is for the landlords here,

I have 6 properties, some with wall furnaces instead of traditional HVAC units in the basement or attic. How often do you have these checked on and cleaned? What is the cost per unit?

I just visited a local HVAC company that has a yearly maintaince program and they said it was $98.25 per unit. This is per furnace unit. One of my properties has 4 wall furnaces. They wanted $98.25 EACH unit. That seems high to me. What is everyone paying?

@Cody M. I have a commercial policy that @Jason Bott helped me set up and I love it. It lowered my costs per property and it's nice having just one payment and policy. I would recommend Jason. 

That's why you should have ordered your own inspection and fixed any issues then. Some buyers freak out over minor issues so best to handle those before even putting up for sale.

I'm sure he'll tell you not to send him a 1099 otherwise that would defeat the purpose of him wanting cash so he doesn't have to claim it. For this big of job, I would pay by check or card only.