All Forum Posts by: Mike Franco

put your foot down and say no.

at best, I would give her a can of Raid and lubricant, and tell her to deal with it.

everything else is cosmetic or does not affect habitability, and she needs to know that those are not sufficient reasons to stop paying rent, if she's thinking about it.

and to end the conversation, I would tell her she is welcome to move out at the end of the lease term.

nope. I left the drawers as is, with no sliders. It's fine.

You might not need to spend much if your cabinet boxes and frames are good. They don't make cabinets as good as they used to.

I would find the cheapest online cabinet door maker/carpenter, and just buy new paint grade cabinet doors.

I recently replaced ugly greasy 1960s cabinet doors to shaker doors, and painted everything gray. Looks clean, modern, and didn't break the bank.

and prospective renters didn't barf like they used to when they looked at the kitchen.

sure, you can raise it 7%, but will the free market support it?

I would tell them to buy their own security cameras and battery powered door alarms, and they can take it with them when they move out.

you provide a home that has functional door and window locks. Everything else is on them.

a deadbeat is a deadbeat. She could have moved, but didn't. Instead, she waited for the eviction process to drag out.

Make sure this goes on her record and see if there are any assets you can put a lien on (doubtful).

You say we should have some sympathy, but we don't know how old this widow is. 

I do know that widows' SS can be given to a woman of any age. She could be just a lazy person living fully off insurance benefits, among other things, deciding not to work the last 10 years.

 Can you put this townhouse on the market today, as is, and sell it?

if so, then you are exempt.

despite your modifications, it sounds like your townhouse is still classified as one unit for tax purposes, so this would classify as a house hacking situation, which is exempt.

What's the lowest price you've seen?

Not in vegas, but i bought my wood look tile from Lowes. and i used several 20% off coupons for all supplies, dividing them into several $100 purchases. You can buy coupons on ebay, bringing it down to 63c a foot. Used black grout, no worries about stains. 

https://www.lowes.com/pd/CERAMICAS-TESANY-Acadia-brown-Brown-Matte-8-in-x-24-in-Ceramic-Wood-Look-Floor-and-Wall-Tile-Common-8-in-x-24-in-Actual-8-in-x-24-06-in/1000274191

of all the tile supply stores in the LA area, I couldn't find a better deal after discount.

at 63c, of course it doesn't come close in quality to more expensive wood look tile, but it's durable and good looking enough for a rental.

I plan to rip out this tile years into the future, but for now, it's way better than the carpet it replaced.

I was deciding between tile and LVP, and decided to go with tile for common areas, as I don't think LVP will hold up as well in the long run, and the lifetime warranties are a joke, if you read the terms.

Diane, I got tripped up on that as well, but item (8) says if your unit is alienable, under a separate deed, able to be sold separately, not controlled by a corporation/reit, it is exempt.

 In contrast, apartment complexes owned by one owner, where units can't be separately sold, are not exempt.

Builders are completely safe. New construction is untouched, and the bill expires in 2030, which is a mere decade from now.

 wow, every 10 years you spend $6000-8000 on a new system?

The performance of an a/c system really depends on how good and correctly sized the duct work is. An ac system doesn't just stop performing unless there are leaks or something.

You can put a new a/c unit in, and it will still cool like crap if other things are not designed and built well.

Better to spend that extra money on insulation and getting the home airtight, rather than getting a new a/c every decade.