All Forum Posts by: Elliot Cole

My wife and I own and operate a medium term rental that we rent on furnished finders with utilities included. It’s the middle of winter, and the tenant called us the other day to say the air conditioning wasn’t working. Not the heat…the AC. We checked the power bill and it’s more than double month over month and more than double our other rentals in the same neighborhood. We have some ideas on how to manage this moving forward, but I’m curious if anyone else has gone through this and what tips/tactics worked for you.

@Matt Dingus

Unfortunately I don’t fly in until Friday. I’d love to connect with some local investors though, so let me know if you’d be up for meeting up Sunday evening!

Hi all. I’m a long distance investor with rental properties in Pittsburgh. I’ll be in town the weekend of Oct 22 and would love to get to know some other Pittsburgh investors. Anyone know of any planned meetups or just interested in getting together for a few drinks?

@Elise Bickel

Thanks! It’s in West View.

I should add that this is in Pittsburgh, PA

I have an up/down duplex and the entry door for the upstairs unit is on the back of the property. The stairs and the deck in front of the door need to be replaced and with current material costs, I’m having a hard time estimating the expected cost. The deck is roughly 8x16 and all new supports would have to be installed. It’s a complete tear down and rebuild. Any help here would be appreciated!

@Caroline Gerardo

Yeah, that’s been my obstacle so far. I’m hoping someone found a way around it!

I'm looking at am out-of-state fourplex and would like to finance it with a 30-year fixed mortgage, but the bank I've worked with for the rest of my properties only offers 20-year adjustable mortgage. Can anyone recommend a lender who would finance this type of acquisition?

Lots of really good info on this thread. I ended up putting an RFP out there (HomeAdvisor/Angie's List is really helpful for these situations) and received a few bids already. Strangely enough, the unlicensed guy is NOT more cost competitive than the licensed, vetted contractors. If he was way cheaper and had good insurance, I might consider it, but there's something here that doesn't make sense with his pricing and unless something changes, there's no reason not to go with one of the other contractors.

I have to replace the roof on one of my properties and received a quote from a roofer. He sent me a copy of his insurance, but he doesn’t have a license because him and his partner split (the license was with the old company) and he is in the process of getting his own. My realtor referred him to me, so i don’t want to totally discount him, but it still makes me nervous. Should I consider using him or is this a show stopper?