All Forum Posts by: Curt Bixel

I wonder if anyone has had any experience with the Sprouse window line from APCO?  

I have a 100 year old property in need of new windows. The current condition of the windows makes the best option to do a full tear out and replace with new construction windows with a nailing fin and J-channels for the subsequent new siding to fit in.

This is a rental property, but I intend to keep it for 30 or more years, so I want to pay enough to get a good quality window that will hold up well over many years.

I am curious is anyone has suggestions.

I see some options at the big box stores, Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Menards. M

Not sure if Big Box stores are going to offer me the best cost vs quality choices though.

I am working on a rehab and need to replace the tub.  A lot of the bathroom will be newly reframed, so we have the opportunity to fit in a one piece tub-surround combo and have plenty of room to actually get such a unit in the front door and all the way to the bathroom.

I am curious if anyone has any suggestions on brands.  It is a rental, so I really like the one piece, as their is no caulk.  I had figured that I would need to pay at least $600 for a good one piece tub-surround combo, but I found one at Menards for $350.  It is the MAAX TS-3060.  I wonder if anyone has any experience with this tub-surround combo who could tell me if it would be a good choice.  

I recently acquired a new rental property.  It was built in 1910, and there are a lot of things I like about it.  It is currently in a C type neighborhood, but things are improving, and I think it will be a B property within 5 years.  Possibly even an A property in the distant future.

I have one issue I would like to get some ideas on.  

All the woodwork in the property has been painted brown.  This brown paint was applied over a cream color paint with a gloss finish, and the brown paint does not adhere well to the cream.  You can scratch it off quite easily with your fingernail.

I am assuming there is no good fix for this, and this will be an issue going forward at every turn.  I have some idea, however.

• 
  Paint it brown.  
  • This way, it will not show dirt, and at each turn, when I get it ready for the next set of tenants, I can just touch it up.  It is, however, not a pretty brown.

• Do good paint prep, and paint it cream. 
  • Maybe if I do the prep work properly, the new cream paint will stick to the brown paint, and when the brown paint comes loose, it will simply reveal more cream paint.

• Somehow remove the brown paint.  (I am assuming this is quite problematic, because it is quite likely that much of the trim paint is lead based.  I have even wondered about cheap masking tape.  I know if you buy cheap masking tape, and leave it on too long, it will adhere too strongly to the paint below and will pull it off.  Perhaps this aspect of cheap masking tape would allow it to be used as a solution to this problem, leaving it on too long and then pulling off the unwanted brown paint.  

Any ideas?  

I have a porch on a 100 year old property.  The current porch flooring, likely original, is getting to be in pretty bad shape, and I am likely going to replace it with new.  I am curious what the best options might be.  I know I can go with pressure treated tongue and groove, I could also go with a more expensive fir tongue and groove, but doubt I would get more rent for this.  A cheaper way would be simply pressure treated 1x6 or 2x6. 

Finally, I am wondering if the recent increase in the cost of lumber has made composite material more attractive.  

I even read somewhere that you can use pressure treated plywood and then use wood look luxury vinyl tile, but my gut tells me that this cannot possibly be a good solution.  

Charmaine.  I think the rationale for purchasing the cheapest stuff possible is that in this area, it is likely that the tenants you are able to get will destroy anything, so anything more expensive than the cheapest option available, is just throwing money away.  

Again, this would not be the way I would tend to go.  

I have recently purchased a duplex in Columbus Ohio.  It is in an area of town where most of the rental properties would be considered C level.  I have a good feeling about this neighborhood, and expect it to improve rapidly.  

Presently, however, no matter how well the property could be fixed up, it will not command a high rent.  Where my rentals in another part of town get $1600/mo for a 3 bedroom property, for this 3 bedroom property, I think $900 per month is about as much as you could possibly get no matter what.

This means the decision about what level of cabinetry and flooring to get for the home when I renovate.  

For example, I can get a 36 inch wide assembled and pre-finished kitchen base cabinet for $150 at Home Depot that looks perfectly nice right now, but will likely not be durable.  I am curious if this would be the cabinet to purchase.  My gut says that I should go with a higher quality cabinet, possibly solid wood instead of cardboard, so that I would be able to stand up to some abuse.  

I am curious what those with more experience might be able to tell me.  

I am planning the complete replacement of a bathroom in a C grade rental.  I am doing some shopping on the internet looking for choices that will make a good balance between cost, durability, and maintenance.  I have good luck finding tenants who do a reasonable job taking care of my properties, so I lean a toward solid, mid-grade rental type materials.  

For example, for a tub and surround system, I would be willing to pay in the $500 to $1000 range and would be looking probably for a 2 piece system that eliminates any caulk, in a basic white color, that screws directly to the studs and is thick enough that it will last a while.  It might be nice if it has a shelf or two, but simple is best.

For the flooring, I would go with good quality sheet vinyl.

I am hoping that someone has already done a lot of thinking about this and has some suggestions of what tub, surround, flooring, toilet, vanity, and sink would be good choices.  Again, I am not looking to go with the cheapest items available, but recognize that there is a limit to the price of items that should be installed in a rental property like this.  

I have recently purchased a duplex in Columbus, OH.  It came with a list of code violations that I am working on addressing.  I wonder if anyone has been down this road before and has enough of an understanding of the process to provide some advice.

The tenants would like to stay, and I think I can honor that request while addressing the issues.  There are some different ways I could solve some of the problems, and I don't know enough yet to make the choice. 

One example is the bathroom.  The bathroom has several code issues that I could fix without too much trouble.  At the same time, a better solution would be to simply do a complete tear out of the bathroom and replace with all new.  Then tenants would be on board with this and are perfectly happy to stay with a friend for a week while we get this done.  At the same time, as the city is involved, I would probably have to pull permits to do a full rework of the bathroom.  I am worried that the inspection process would add so much delay to the job that I would not be able to complete it within a week.  

If there were not tenants, it would be easy.  I would just pull the permits and do the full tear out. 

I wonder if anyone has any advice.

I closed on a property on Thursday.  It is a duplex and comes with tenants.  I purchased the property under the understanding that one of the tenants was currently living in a hotel and escrowing their rent due to the property failing inspections by the city.  This had happened when the tenant called the city after the owner refused to address issues.  

I have contacted the tenant and learned the following:

• Their are 4 months of rent in escrow for a total of $3200
• The tenant is actually still occupying the property
• They had just cause for calling the city

I am curios what the legal aspects are pertaining to the escrowed rent.  This is new territory for me.  Right now, the different possibilities I see are:

• The previous owner may actually have claim to 100% of this money, as they owned the property during the time this rent was escrowed.  
• I may have claim to 100% of this money, once I have remedied all code violations.
• The tenant may have claim to 100% of the money for each month the property had significant code violations.

My real estate investor self would say that I should take 100% of the escrowed rent if it is my legal right to do so.  My "teacher and nice guy" side would want to give 100% of the escrowed rent to the tenant, as they need it more than me, and I didn't even own the property at that time.

My teacher and nice guy side wins out most of the time in these situations, but I certainly don't want to give $3200 to the tenant and then find out later that have to send and additional $3200 to the previous owner.