All Forum Posts by: Elliot Cole

@Eric Wilkinson, I have mine through Home Warranty of America, and yes, they do offer standalone external sewer line protection. They have a basic option for $9.99/month and an upgraded option for $15.99/month, so it just depends on how much coverage you want. 

I’ve scoped the sewer lines in each property I’ve bought, except one. At that property, the geometry of the access point meant company wasn’t able to get the camera into the sewer. There hadn’t been any issues in the neighborhood, though, so I moved forward with the purchase and took out a $10/month warranty on the sewer line. It’s a small price to pay for leave of mind.

@Costin I., that other thread is really helpful. Thanks for sharing.

@Cassie Montalvo, good info. Thanks!

My wife has a condo she's owned since before we got married. She bought it with an FHA loan and it used to be her primary residence, and the plan is to keep it as a rental property. I have a number of rental properties in an out of state LLC, but given this is the only property she owns and it's in state. Does it make sense to create an LLC and transfer this property into it? Would it affect the terms of the FHA loan?

@Chris R.

Same here, and the thermostat is with a tenant who isn’t too energy efficient. Thanks for the tip!

That would be ideal, especially given I could add AC and market the property at a higher rate, but that's something I'd hold off on until I renovate one or both of the units. 

Thanks, Chris. This feels like to most cost effective approach. Do each of your tenants have their own thermostat or is there one thermostat for the whole property?

@Charles Carillo

I like the suggestion, but your point about the expense is my biggest concern. Adding a second boiler and splitting the gas would be great, but it’s upwards of $20K+. I’m not sure the payback period justifies it. 

I own a duplex where I pay heat for the property. As an added quirk, the downstairs unit contains the thermostat for both units. The boiler is the only thing in the property using gas and last year my bill was over $2600. I've priced out upgrading to a high efficiency model and the quotes vary from $5,000-$11,000. An alternative proposed by a recent HVAC company was $1100 to flush the system, bleed the radiators, and leave the existing boiler in place, but install an ecobee wifi thermostat where I can set the max allowable temperature remotely. Which options make the most sense and what sort of pricing is reasonable?