All Forum Posts by: David Krulac

On Zillow there are 120 four bedroom rentals listed in Princeton, Texas. Most are in the same price range as yours, $2,100 to $2,400.  Since there are so many, you need to distinguish your place from the other 120 listed. If you can't distinguish your rental from others on features/amenities, then you can always distinguish your place on price.

I bought 3 brand new houses in February 2025 from a builder that were listed in the MLS. The new home builders have lots of inventory for sale and sales are slow, so they are offering incentives. In this case they were offering below market interest rates in connection with a lender. Was able to get 4.75% interest fixed for 30 years and 4.25% interest fixed for 10 years and variable thereafter.

The rules vary so much that even in the same states there are different rules at different counties.  Some won't accept cash. Some won't accept personal or business checks.  Some require that bidders rergister weeks in advance of the sale and must be vetted before being allowed to bid.  About half the states are Lien styates and the other half are deed states.  Some states have redemption for the owners losing their property.  In some states there is no redemption.  In some states all liens transfer to the high bidder at the sale.  At other states all liens, mortgages and judgements are wiped out. 

I have bought hundreds of properties and have read every book that I could find on the subject. Because there are so many different varients, its difficult for any book to cover the subject completely.  And in addition the rules are constantly changing.  Covid caused even more changes, one sale was in a parking garage, another was outside in a park, and another only admitted 10 bidders at a time. If you weren't one of the ten, you could not bid on the ten properties offered at that session.  Every ten property sessions, ten new bidders were allowed in the room.  Some sales are done online, otheres in person only and some others are both online and inpersonal simutaneously.

I've written here on BP many times on Tax Sales.  It is the most hazardous way to buy real estate. From the list 30 days before the sale, I've found that about 90% do NOT make it to the sale for various reasons. Its hard to do and many people don't do the necessary work to succeed.  Here are my rules for the sales:

1. Know the rules for each sale that you participate.

2. Do your due diligence, including title search, code violation, and zoning rules.

3. I want my own eyes on the property, no online substitution.   

In Pennsylvania, there is a requirement to have a "plain language lease".  I have never had a lease challenged for plain language, but suppose it might come up in an eviction hearing if the tenant is represented by a free legal aid attorney.  In PA, the tenant may waive notices in the lease, so all of our leases have a clause to that effect.  And our lease is an ever changing document as laws change or circumstances dictate.  One time upon departing a tenant left 22 missing or burned out light bulbs in a 3 br house.  The next time we had a new tenant we added a light bulb replacement clause, saying that when they leave all light bulbs must be of appropriate wattage and in working condition.  At a house we jusat bought, we went for a final walk through before the settlment and none of the lights worked.  I commented at settlement, that they must have already contacted the electric company and had the service taken out of their name.  They laughed and said no, they removed all of "their" light bulbs. 

Depends on the unit that we are renting. Basic apartment say 1 BR, we usually supply refrigerator and range, and nothing else.  Luxury condo or luxury house we supply more, dishwasher, frig, range, and sometimes washer and dryers.  In between medium houses might not have a frig, nor washer and dryer.  We never supply window air conditioners, most all places have central air. 

I like when tenants bring their own frig, washer and dryer, the more heavy items they bring, the longer they stay.  "Can I bring my grand piano?" Absolutely!  We have had tenants stay in some cases over 30 years, and currently have a 25 year tenant.  My experience is that lots of house tenants, particularily moving from another house have appliances like frig, washer and dryer and like to bring their own.  If we have a place where the former owner or a former tenant has left frig, washer and dryer, we tell the tenants that we will NOT repair or replace those units, but they are free to use if they wish, and we will remove if they don't want them.  One time a dishwasher broke and was unrepairable, I aksed the tenant whether they wanted me to fix/replace the dishwasher OR reduce the rent by $10 a month?  They chose the later. Sometimes we have bought used appliances from a store, wqhich caries used, scratch and dent models.  Often times they are half new price, have a 1 year warranty, free delivery and free take away old appliance. 

@Jarret Jarvis  Boiler or Central air conditioning does not have to be an either/or situation.  We recently sold a Bilevel house, where the entry is between floors and you have to go up or down upon entry.  The previous owner had added central air for the upper floor, installed in the attic with all ductwork in the attic and defusers in the cieling of the upper floor.  Relatively simple installation as no walls were damaged.  The result was that the lower level which is partially below grade did not have central air.  We remedied the situaiton by installing 1 mini-split on the lower level.

At another ranch house with boiler heat, which the previous owner had updated with a newer high efficiency unit shortly before our purchase, we added central air with the entire unit and all the ductwork in the attic.  No ductwork was added to this basement which is totally below grade and naturally 15 degrees or more cooler in the summer.

At a third house which was 2 story with boiler in the basement adding ductwork to the first floor was easy in the unfinished basement, and running ducts to the second floor was not all that difficult.  We ran supply and return truck line from basement to attic then diffuser in the second floor ceilings.  We were able to run the trunk lines in closet spaces and not distrub the walls in any rooms.  Worked out well and retined boiler heat with central air in a 4 bedroom 9 room house.

So its not either/or; you can have boiler heat and central air together.   

We have used a screening process, where the floors are not sanded but screened with a material like a window screen.  It the equivilant of a very light sanding, then poly and looks good as new.

Orangeburg is an inferior, out of date product, made out of essentially paper and tar. We had a property with this type of sewer and replaced it with PVC, a much improved product.  The Orangeburg tends to narrow over time limiting the flow of sewage.

Because I started with no money the first 11 properties that I bought were all 100% financed in one way or another. I used bank/credit union mortgages for 80% to 97% of purchase prices. To make up the difference of the total price, I used seller credits, lines of credit, and second mortages on other properties. One was FHA financed (97%) another was a VA mortgage assumption, and one was seller financed first mortgage. The first house I bought, I lived there rent free, AND mortgage free, while renting rooms to other people. Real Estate is wonderful! I told the story of that first house in Bigger Pockets Podcast #82

We've added central air and ductwork when we were also doing other remodleing that already required wall demo or wall replacement/moving.  We have converted oil boilers  to gas boilers to reduce costs.  At one large single family house with 4  bedrooms the yearly oil was $5,900, as the boiler produced domestic hot water also and ran 24/7/365.  When replaced with a gas boiler and seperate gas hot water heater the yearly gas bill was $1,700. 

On another 4 bedroom house the oil boiler itself needed replaced, since the boiler itself exploded, and only about 50% of the rooms had radiators and piping.  We replaced with a gas hot air furnace and added, of course all new ducts.  Since it was 3 stories it was economic to run a main truck line from the basement to the third floor and a main return duct from the basement also to the third floor; and several other smaller runs.  The main supply duct and main return duct each supplied 6 different rooms. We framed out the ducts with drywall, and painted the same color as the rooms.

Some of the heat interruptions this past year have been caused by power outages.  One lasted 3 days caused by storm damage taking down tress, that knocked down power lines. Because of the high operation costs we never add electric baseboard heat.  Our preferred heat is gas hot air, gas boilers, and heat pumps.