All Forum Posts by: Rob Cee

The other thing is that tenant (and her daughter who was on the lease) will never be able to buy or refinance a house without paying any recorded judgement against them. A lot of people who go to buy a house have a rude awakening when they see that judgement from 6 years ago pop up in a records search and has to be paid before they close. Ahhh sweet revenge.

I have known landlords that have successfully garnished wages. But for what I'm owed I agree it's not worth the effort. I have heard for like $16 you can report this to their credit without a judgment. Anybody know the name of a company that does that? It's just a personal satisfaction to know I dinged their credit.

I have a former tenant that owes me about 6 weeks back rent and left the place a mess. I have never filed a judgement before. How much will this cost me? This property is in another state far away from where I live. It's about $2,000 I'm owed, is it worth the cost of going after? I do know where the tenant works for wage garnishment. Also, I have heard there are companies that will report this to a tenant credit without even having a judgement. Anyone know of these services? Worst case it would be a moral victory for me to put a ding on their credit even if I don't get any cash.

Looking to move all my IRA and 401k money to self-directed. Can anyone recommend the best company to use? I have heard of Entrust and Pensco as the larger ones. Looking for one with reasonable fees with solid reputation. Thanks!

That seems a little high on carpet. Carpeting a 800 sf area would cost you $2,000?

Brandon what is the labor cost per sf for vinyl in your experience?

Thank Michael for the info. $15 sf for tile labor??? Is that a typo? Really Vinyl is that much? You can get decent Vinyl for .75-$1 a sf...so you are talking $4-6 sf labor costs for Vinyl installation? You seem closer to what I've seen with carpet and laminate.

Thanks J Scott that is excellent info.

I also don't think labor varies as much as people think it does per market. I have been able to get labor a lot cheaper in San Diego CA then in Albuquerque NM for example. If you shop around you can get things done low cost, even in places like San Francisco.

Also, I walked though dozens if not 100's of your standard middle class type neighborhood flips on the market in my areas. And they ALL had the same beige carpet, same 2 tone paint jobs (light brown walls and white ceiling), same type of laminate floors, similar tile, same kitchen cabinets, same stainless steel appliances, same fixtures. You can't tell me that there aren't rules of thumb for costs that high volume rehabbers use.

Thanks Jean. But I have networked with a lot of rehabbers at my local investment club and a lot of them have narrowed it down to a rule of thumb cost per sf. I actually don't think it varies that much. My guess is there is a standard of what people spend on flooring for a standard middle class type of house. We are talking about the lower end of the scale (but still decent) carpet (standard beige), laminate, tile and vinyl.

I have heard $1-1.50 is a good price for laminate labor cost (I think you can get materials for .75-$1.25 laminate + under layment.. $2 sf good price tile labor. Not sure on vinyl have never done that. Vinyl material I've seen is .75-$1 a sf I have done carpet on my rentals for $1,100 total labor + materials (including ripping up and halling away old carpet) for 710sf hallway and 3 bedrooms & stairs.

Just wanted to get some rules of thumbs of what others are paying for this stuff who do it a lot. It can help to quickly estimate costs when you have a good rule of thumb for costs on a per sf labor & materials cost.