All Forum Posts by: Dan Kelley

I'm currently considering the same move on a 6-unit building I'm closing on in just over a week.

I've actually been looking at Cadet electric heaters instead of traditional electric baseboard heaters. My understanding is that the baseboard heaters are terribly inefficient at disbursing heat throughout a room because they rely solely on convection, whereas a Cadet heater has a built in fan, yet is no louder than when a forced air furnace is blowing through the vents. They have options for the heaters that look just like a register for central air, and they have them in many different wattages.  If I do end up using the cadets, I'll likely put a large one in the main living space and then a smaller heater in each of the bedrooms. They can be daisy chained to run off of one thermostat or can have individual unit-mounted thermostats. Check out my recent posts and you'll see a thread  I started on this same topic. Several people gave some great advice and input on the subject.

@Kelsey Roddick Welcome to BP! My wife and I live in Dubuque, but she grew up in Dyersville... small world!

I'll definitely keep you in mind if you guys are truly interested in offering "handyman services." I'm hoping to develop some contacts of people that I can call if I need a repair done that I don't have the time or desire to repair.

@Dana Dunford Thank you for the reply. I like your perspective and I think the $25 raise would be a good starting point. It's a step in the right direction and will be a good stepping stone to inform the tenants that it's to be expected to have rent raises occasionally. Thanks again.

I'm owner occupied in a duplex. My tenants that live below me in a large 3bd/1ba unit have been there for almost 3 years now. I rent the unit for $700. I've never raised their rents. When I purchased the property, I think the rent was only $600 or $650. I ended up evicting that tenant but I raised rents before I accepted the new tenant. My current tenants are AWESOME. Very rarely complain, pay rent on time, are respectful, are understanding when things need to be fixed. I don't really want to lose them.

Here's my dilemma: The apartment is decent, but the kitchen is getting pretty rough. It's got 20+ Yr old peel and stick tile that's chipping up all over the place. The cabinets are hideous old walnut colored particle board and the corners are chipping. It really needs a full kitchen gut and rehab. I don't really want to do the rehab while my tenants are living there though. The subfloor is somewhat wavy, so I really want to take my time when I do the kitchen and try to fix the floor properly so I don't have any issues in the future.

My question:  Would you raise rents without doing any repairs or improvements to the property? I think this unit could probably support atleast $750-800 even in it's current condition. I'd really like to rehab it and get $900+ out of it. But I don't want to raise rents out of nowhere and lose my tenants either. They're currently on a month-to-month lease agreement. 

What are your thoughts?

I'm also closing on a 6-plex in 2 weeks, so I want to get out of any habits I may have of just letting things slide simply because my tenants are in the same building as me. I need to treat this like a business.

@Aaron Desimone Thanks for the input. What had drawn me to the cadet heaters rather than a conventional electric baseboard is that I've read that the cadet heaters do a better job of heating a space due to the built in fans, whereas conventional baseboards are relying on convection. 

Have you noticed that your electric bill is excessively high? I see you're in New York, so I know you get the cold, though I'm not sure if it gets quite as cold as Iowa (we usually always get to -18 or -20 at least a few times during the winter.)

My bank likes to see 1.25. Not sure why you'd want to take negative cash flow? Even if it's managed excellently and there are no vacancies, you're still negative or, at best, break even. I personally don't like the idea of purchasing negatively cash-flowing properties in the hopes that it will appreciate. You can likely find plenty of properties that will appreciate AND cash flow at the same time.

I'm in Dubuque and used a local business who shopped around and got me set up with West Bend Insurance. He said they generally always have the best rates and best customer service. For my auto repair business, he saved me $1200/yr.

Thanks for the input.

@Jassem A. I did look into the ductless option, though it sounds like they may have trouble keeping up in the really cold Iowa winters where it can sometimes stay 5-20 degrees below 0F in the winter. 

@Gino Barbaro I've briefly looked into RUBS, however it seemed to me that sometimes tenants can get upset as they feel it doesn't accurately account for their utility usage? Maybe that's not really an issue. I will look more into it though.

@Dan Madden You are correct- Iowa is quite cold in the winter. I could see electric heat being a problem if it was conventional electric baseboard heat where there is no fan, but it seems that when using an electric coil heater with a blower on it as well that it can be a very efficient way to heat a space.

@Pat L.  Thanks so much for the detailed information! I was thinking that if I did end up going the route of the individual heaters that I would somehow chain them all to 1 thermostat. Or at least the main living areas would be on one programmable thermostat. Maybe I'd leave the bedrooms separate if I end up putting individual heaters in there. I suppose maybe I'll pick up a heater and test it out at my house. After all, my living room gets pretty cold during the winter months.

I may be a little late on this one, but I recently finished the floors in the upstairs unit I'm occupied in. It used to be an attic, so the flooring is old nasty pine boards like in many of the pictures above with large gaps. I ended up using a Java Gel Stain (looks black after applied a couple coats). I also sealed all the cracks and gaps with a black flexible caulk. I then sealed the entire floor with a semi-gloss high traffic floor sealer. The end result looks pretty great for how crappy the floors were to begin with, but it's by no means a "high end" looking floor. But I'm definitely happy with how it turned out.

The caulk in the floor cracks seems to be holding up really well so far. I didn't use wood filler for fear that it would crack and fall through the floor during expansion/contraction of the wood. I'll try to post up some pictures as well.

I'll be closing on my 6-plex in the next couple of weeks, so I'm starting to plan out my remodel for the 2 vacant/semi-gutted units. I need to do flooring, cabinets, bathroom, wall repair and paint. My goal for this property is to slowly transition as many of the utilities over to the tenant as I can. Currently, I will be responsible for paying for Gas, Water/Sewer, and Trash. All 6 units are heated by hot water baseboards. Here's my question for you...

1. Would it be crazy to remove the baseboards and install something like a Cadet electric wall heater? They have a 4,000 watt unit that's supposed to be able to heat 1,000 sq ft and it's only $172. I've heard really good things about the Cadet heaters and they seem to have great reviews. Since the tenants have to pay electricity, that would be 2 units that I can remove from the boiler load. Then everytime a unit is vacant, I can do the same process until I eventually have all units on electric heat. Then I would only be paying water.

2. If we determine that this isn't a crazy idea- How many of those cadet heaters would I need in a 2bd apartment? I was thinking that I could potentially even get smaller ones to put in the bedrooms and then a somewhat larger one to heat the main living room and kitchen.

3. If I did such a setup, would the electricity bill be astronomical for my tenants? 

As I'm remodeling the 2 units, I may look into seeing what it would take to submeter the water as well while I'm at it, or split it to a separate meter though I'm afraid that may end up being too difficult/ not cost effective.

What are your thoughts? Look into converting the setup or just live with the boiler and face the facts that I'll have to forever pay gas and water?