All Forum Posts by: Scott Radetich

I purchased a 2016 Titan 440i sprayer on Craigslist  recently and used it this weekend.  How do you clean this thing?? I watched a few vids online and did what they said, but it took me forever, i mean like an hour plus while flushing the system out to get the color of the water to look a lot more like water vs the color of my paint.  Was i just overdoing it?  I mean i gave up and just packed it in after an hour, the water was still colored when flushing it out of the system but a lot closer to clear than an hour ago.   Day 2 and 3 i let the water sit in there several minutes between flushing it out to let the water do its trick, that reduced the amount of water i used, but my cleaning time was still an hour plus.

How do you normally clean out these sprayers?  Any tips appreciated.

Sunny, i think you just made my point about who has the best interest in mind.  i had to reread your first post.  9 people in a 3 bedroom?  Would you allow that if you were the one taking the applications?  Here's a quick story for you.  There is a small 2 bedroom 1 bath home that rented really close to my home to a couple with i don't know how many people they had living with them (kids and adults)...  My wife and i would walk by the house almost daily (it was on the way to our gym), we'd always comment about how many people were in there, it was never less than 6...  Well, not  a year later cops were there (we don't know why) and then the family was gone.  Next few weeks, the owners were there doing a lot of repairs.  We could tell from the get go it wasn't going to end well for that home, just too many people.  Now there's a youngish couple living there which is much more appropriate for a home of that size.

I am curious to how much work you had to do with the application process?  I find after talking to the perspective tenants i pretty much know if id rent to them or not.  All i require is an application, have them run a report from freecreditreport.com and provide me with their current pay stubs.  I hate to say it but there has even been a time or two when i didn't even check their references, I just knew.  And so far,,, its all worked out.

If you want a PM that's fine, i get it life is busy.  But if your first PM is thinking of putting 9 people in a 3 bedroom, i'd seriously reconsider using them.  I'd get another company, pay the 8%+.  You will probably end up ahead, cause the wear and tear of 9 people,,  that's going to add up. 

 Anyway, good luck with your rental, and in a year or three you might realize you don't need a pm anyway and give it a go on your own.

I do have to ask, why are you using a PM?  If you just have one house and you live in the area, there is no reason for you to have a PM.  Renting a home in Portland is as easy as putting up an add on Craigslist and talking to a couple of people.  You can get all the docs you need from this site, they have applications and leases.  I use the application from this site, I already had a lease so i didn't look at theirs, but i know you can get solid leases online if you feel what's here isn't good enough for you.  For collecting rent i have them deposit it directly in a checking account of a bank that's closest to the house.

I've told several people this, being a landlord on a single family residence in your town is very easy.   Both my wife and I are working professionals and spend plenty of hours in an office.  The amount of time needed to manage a fixed up rental is literally hours,,,,, a year.  Biggest amount of time you will spend is getting it rented out, and with portland's hot rental market its not going to be long.  You aren't handy?  no problem, there are lots of people who are that you can hire.  You are afraid you are going to get ripped off by a plumber?  don't be, if you end up paying $149 to unclog the bathroom drain, that's still less than one month management fee, and you only have to pay the 149 once..  That 8-10% management fee is forever.  Seriously, you don't need a PM, i was able to manage my two properties in Portland for two years while i lived in NY.   The list of repairs i've completed over the years mostly comprises of dead appliances and clogged drains.  I mean unless you have an absolute phobia of talking to people, this is something you can do on your own.  

I'd can your PM, take the home off the market for a week and then put it back on.  Personally i'd much rather be the one placing tenants in my home vs someone who just wants it rented for them to collect their fee.  You are the only one who will have your best interests in mind.

Mike

I did this type of deal a few years ago.   We agreed on a fixed price per property that i would get each month ($75 per home, again this was a few years ago).  I then received an hourly rate for any work i did for the property.  Since you have properties you know most of the months you end up not doing any work. The majority of time i spent working on the homes was during a turn. Lots of times i just did the work myself, other times i was busy and hired it out.  

It worked out well for both of us, they got a competent manager and i got a few extra bucks a month as spending money.  My wife and i often lament letting this deal go, (we had to move across the country).  Ha,  so if anyone is reading this and wants a deal like this i could be available!  

So as an FYI the roofs got completed.  I just couldn't do the IKO shingles.  If I ever flip a house then maybe I'd consider it.... But since I'm going to own these places for a long time I had to upgrade. I went with the Malarkey shingle and I also added a ridge vent.  Price was a bit more but now I have roofs with quality shingles and proper venting, they should last for a long long time.   

I've got a roofing quotes for a few of my rentals in the Portland area.  They used the shingle made from a company called IKO.  I hadn't heard of IKO so I googled them.  Terrible reviews, but all the reviews were for roofs put on several years ago (which makes sense I don't expect a roof to fail in a year or two). I talked to the roofer and he said iko has changed their shingles and the new ones are better.  Anyone know if the new ones are any better?  Or what shingle are you using for this area?

Thanks

Anyone using these shingles?   I have some quotes where both roofers had the 30 year architectural fiberglass shingle in it.  I went online and saw that many of the reviews on IKO are abysmal.  I heard they have changed their design over the last few years and the issue is resolved?  Price point is enticing vs. other companies like Malarky, GAP...  This would be for some rentals that I plan to hold onto for a long time. 

I'm not that cheap to where I'd rather save a few bucks today vs. having a roof I won't have to fix for 25+ years. So if anyone knows of a better roofing shingle to use that costs a little more, I'd love to hear about it.

All that was done was the wires for the ceiling heat were unconnected from the thermostats.  I also replaced all thermostats cause they were original and I already had one go bad.  Final electrical permit approval is tomorrow,,, if there's more to it, i'll let you know.

And I forgot to mention, for my personal residence, I always install gas.  But that's because I buy A class homes (in Portland) and if I want to get top dollar when it comes time to sell, people like gas.  So if you have an exit strategy of selling in a year or three and you will have a nicer home on the block, gas isn't a bad option.  I bought my duplexes to hold onto for a while so my strategy is to minimize maintenance, therefore, cadets.  Also I imagine if anyone is looking to buy them from me down the road they will appreciate the Cadets for the same reason.  

I am going through this today.  I installed cadets to replace my 1970's radiant ceiling heat.  I decided to go the cadet route to save on long term maintenance costs.  Though these were done on some duplexes, I'm not expecting any difference in the tenant pool cause of the heating system.