All Forum Posts by: Michael Herr

The main skills I'm normally looking for in a contractor is communication skills.

Appliance repair, HVAC repair, plumbing repair. Those are my top repair calls.

Turnover is a great point. In my area it takes 30-60 days extra to get a sec 8 tenant moved in.

They make the tenant jump through so many hoops that they generally dont want to move. Once you get a good sec 8 tenant, never let them leave.

when I had low income/section 8 rentals the main thing is keeping costs down. I went for words like "clean" when describing the look of what i was shooting for in fixing them up.

Give a good cleaning, paint whatever cant be cleaned, use paneling on anything that cant be painted.

Make your rentals bullet proof. No sprayers on kitchen faucets. Guaranteed for life plumbing fixtures.

Industrial style towel bars.

No curtains/blinds.

Absolutely no carpet. Painted floors are great.

Are y stating that when the tank is full the water level is low?

If that's the case, the fix is super easy: it was an installation error that likely can be fixed. Adjust the fill valve/float to get more water in your tank.

Sometimes you can replace to a different flapper to allow the toilet to flush a bit longer.

In my area the new purchaser must honor the existing lease. If no lease exists a month to month lease se is assumed. Look at the lease. It will guide you in the absence if state or ocal laws that would trump it.

In my area and for my lease, I would give 30 days notice.

Note: I'm not a lawyer, this is my best guess, not legal advice

I'm gong to have to look into this thermo fogger. I normally walk around the house squirting dollar general generic febreeze like I'm m shooting two handguns in cheesy action movie dramatic fashion.

I always ask tenants for an email address.

I enjoy having a trail to reference what was said and when.

I also can easily take texts/emails while at work, but don't like phone calls because then everyone in the cube farm can hear me.

I scan all my leases, so I email them a copy.

I remove phone jacks anytime I see them while doing rehab or painting work.

I have had only one tenant call me up wanting a land line. The phone company came out and installed two jacks for free.

What kind of supply hose are you using? I've never had a problem with any hose at any house. I always use braided stainless or pex.

Get the water to stop flowing and causing damage. Either by you stopping it or water company replacing their valve. Whichever is quicker.

Use a shark bite valve or cap for pex, copper pvc, or a threaded cap or plug for galvanized.

Get the water company to replace their valve.

Then get two ball valves and put one on either side of the meter.