All Forum Posts by: Kent Harris

Colleen,

The blockage was caused by the broken sewer pipe. When the Plumber fixed the pipe he did not bother to clean the mud out of the pipes. Here is a link to the video. The right side is the top of the pipe and the left is the bottom of the pipe.

James,

I wish it was the bathtub every time. It was leaking out of the base of the downstairs toilet. You can only replace the floor so many times, and ask the Tenant to move to the in-laws so many times and give them a $60 a day credit towards the rent. The only problem is Schedule 20 PVC will only last so long under the foundation. 

John,

It has been less then 90 days. I could do a charge back on my Credit Card. Not sure what the implications would be. The Plumbing company did replace the water heater as well with the $7,500. I asked for the invoice and when I received it they didn't give me an itemized bill. If I did do a charge back I would have to get a new Credit Card since they have the number on the current one. 

The problem has been fixed other then the pipe being the wrong kind. Schedule 20 pipe won't last long under the foundation. 

Back in May I got a call from my Tenant saying that raw sewage had half flooded the house. I had the plumber come out and he showed me with the scope (Camera) the sewer line was broken 8 feet under the foundation.

About two weeks ago the Tenant texted me saying the house flooded with raw sewage again, after the washing machine on the second floor dumped water into the sewer pipes. I called the same plumbing company and the Plumber said there was a break 15 feet under the foundation, this was on a Friday and told the plumber I was out of town till Monday and I wanted him to show me the break on the scope.

Monday rolled around and he told me he had made a mistake and there was just blockage in the line 15 feet under the foundation and that he had cleaned it before I had arrived (He was there for 30 minutes before me and had no access to the inside of the house). At this point I knew he was either lying about the break or lying there was no break at all.

I called another plumbing company who scoped out the lines on Wednesday and they had showed me blockage 25 feet under the foundation, which would have caused the house to flood with raw sewage again! The second plumbing company even made a video of it and put it on YouTube.

It took the second plumbing company an hour and forty five minutes to clean the lines out with a 1,500 PSI pressure washer (they cleaned 3 feet of pipe). The second plumbing company said that the first Plumbing company had installed Schedule 20 on the risers on the cleanout and there was a good possibility that they put Schedule 20 under the foundation which is illegal. I paid $7,500 to run 4 inch PVC 8 feet under the house plus 50 feet in the back yard to the sewer main and I had specified that I wanted Schedule 40 all the way to the sewer main. The reason we replaced the pipes in the backyard is the Plumber told the tenant that there were bellies in the pipe that were also contributing to the sewage problem.

My question is who can I report the Plumbing company to for putting in the wrong pipe? I also want a refund from the first plumbing company for having to call another plumbing company. I asked the first plumbing company for there insurance information and they refuse to give it to me, since I am going to file a malpractice claim against the first Plumbing Company.

The interesting thing is it would take 2-3 weeks for the Realtor to find me just one applicant. I found 6 just in 5 days! Since I am advertising on a national website half the people were from out town and one from Canada. So I picked the Canadian!

A person that cleans AC ducks came by the house yesterday and said the same thing. That he had tried hiring people to help him clean the AC ducts, after a while he quit hiring people and said no one cares more about my business then I do!

In the recent past I have been using Realtors to find Tenants for my properties. The Real Estate agent would have the applicant send over there own information and even though I had told them to use that information to screen the applicant only and run a credit and background once they got approved. The last Tenant that they had approved had falsified the application. The Realtor never ran a background and even admitted to me that they had not. After the Tenant quit paying the rent after 3 months I hired a Private Investigator who found 2 Bankruptcies and 3 evictions. To put salt in the wound I got sued by the Tenants attorney for discrimination which was thrown out in eviction court. I confronted the Realtor and told them they needed to find me a Tenant for free. The Realtor told me they had no recourse and would have to charge me another $1,750 to get a new tenant.

On another Tenant from an earlier time I told the Realtor to look at the prospective tenants Vehicles to make sure the Vehicles were not trashed out which is a good sign the person is a hoarder. I had confronted the Realtor about why they would allow a person with a trashed out Vehicle rent my property. The Realtor said it was profiling and they were not allowed to disqualify an applicant because they kept there Vehicle untidy. The Tenant had told me it took six 30 foot trucks to move into a 1,500 square foot home. (I have a house twice that size and it only took us one truck)! The tenant will not allow me to view the property. Since the person pays the rent on time we have decided that they will probably not do anymore damage then is already done and let them sign another year lease.

I started advertising on my own and using "Transunion Smart Move" to screen my prospective tenants. I had 6 applicants in one week with 4 of them highly qualified to rent the house. Now my problem is picking the right applicant to rent the house. Any ideas on how to do this on my own? I am so done with Realtors. I am very surprised that I am able to find better applicants then the Realtors or is this an exception to the rule?

Beard, Thank you for the advice. I will shop around for local companies and find one that is reasonable. Since I am buying a house a month every other house I purchase seems to have AC problems. The only problem with owner operator companies is if the owner is not their the company does not operate. I guess the best solution for that issue is to find two local people so if one is tied up I can call the other.

Yes my AC guy is very good very pricy however. The cost of the Evaporator Coil was $1,500 or 4 times what he paid for it. It cost $300 for 7 pounds of Freon. I have not had the Maintenance people work on the AC units regarding evaporator coils or AC units since they don't have the equipment to do so. They have been good to tell me when a job is over their head and need me to call a specialist. They have replaced running capacitors, Motors, and replaced and or cleaned drip pans without any issue. I have to keep my prices down on Maintenance or I am going to have to raise the rent on my Tenants.

Recently I had an evaporator coil go out in a 3 ton Goodman AC unit. The total cost for parts and labor were $2,200! When I found out the price for the evaporator coil was $438 I paid the HVAC Tech and no longer give him jobs. My Maintenance people said they could replace an evaporator coil except they do not have the vacuum equipment for the Freon. The same HVAC Tech did a bid on a rehab and told me it would be $10,000 to install a new 3 ton outdoor unit, indoor unit, gas furnace and duct work. I looked online and I can purchase the 3 piece Goodman set for $1,700! How do I go about finding an HVAC Tech that will not gouge me on pricing? $10,000 would be half of my rehab budget on this house!