All Forum Posts by: Dan Frehmeyer

 YES replace the roof, about 250- 275  a sq depending on pitch. YES replace the furnace, 1800ish, ASSUMING is about 1k- 1500 sq ft house

Absolutely- and it sounds like you've answered your own question. Even without the cheap money and the cash flow, I always make the rental as sound and maintenance-free as possible before occupancy. You know you are going to have to fix/ repair soon anyway. Once a tenant is in, those repairs take longer and cost you more money in stress and collateral damage. Suppose, for example, the tenant delays in reporting the leaking roof - then you've got mold, damaged ceilings, etc.  

There are other reasons to take care of things upfront. If stuff breaks, even if you can fix it quickly, you still have an irritated tenant. A well- maintained home will likely cause the tenant to view it positively which will cause them to take better care of it and stay longer. You will also rent it faster and probably at a higher rent. 

Making your rental as sound as you can before listing it is a win-win for everyone, especially you. Good luck.

Definitely do the roof. I know when I did mine, my insurance went down.  For the HVAC, has it been giving you problems?

 I replied in the other thread as well but you need to check what type of provisions you have on your policy to make sure you have the coverage you think you have.

Was there any discussion of the condition of the roof when you purchased the home/insurance in October?

 Thats what insurance is for .  i have 2 properties that had wind damage , Both were covered , both same insurance company and this was 4 years ago and rates didnt go up much at all .  If you are not making claims all the time , you are fine .

DO NOT sign a contract with the roofer until it’s approved . 

If you have shingles missing , thats probably from wind or storm damage . Have a roofer give you their opinion , and make a claim on insurance . 

If it were mine I would replace the roof, including any roof decking underneath the shingles that need to be replaced, and look into the cost of doing a ridge vent at the top.

As far as the air conditioning system , you might be replacing a well built heavy duty unit with something that has a much shorter service life and instead of using freon it uses some incredibly expensive chemical . 

The downside of not replacing it is air conditioning systems fail when it's hot out, when they are needed the most and when it's most unpleasant for the renter to go without air conditioning. 

If you install a new one now it will give you some time to get any problems out of the installation.

Sometimes new installs have problems cooling the house correctly or just other problems- so doing it without tenants gives you some time to address any of these issues.