All Forum Posts by: Corbin H.

@Will Barnard What an amazing story and thank you for sharing this with us!  I have read through the entire post and I am glad that it is FINALLY coming to an end.  After it is said and done and a lot of time, it will be a story to look back on and laugh about.  

Thank you for your responses on this.  It seems like the water softener route is not the way to go and I should schedule more regular maintenance on the HWH and look into protecting a potential leak. @Stephen S.  and @Pat L. very informative posts and thank you for your insight.  

Hello Everyone.  I just had my water and plumbing inspected in my 3 story town home rental, and I wanted to run the findings by he community to see what everyone's comments are.  The water heater is located in the attic with a potential to cause a lot of damage if it fails.

So, here in Houston we have hard water and according to my plumber extremely high in my case (Hardness: 25 Gr; Total Chlorine 1 ppm).  He has recommended a water softener (about $2.5K installed) and to replace the emergency shutoff valve on the water heater since it seems to be corroded.    

I have done a search here about water softeners and from what I have seen the majority here say that it is not recommended since you have to rely on the tenants to fill it with salt monthly and it is an added item that can break.

The water heater is about 8 years old now.  So, people that have properties and hard water, what do you do?  Should I get a water softener or just accept that I will have to replace the water heater sooner than most?  Also, what about tank-less water heaters, do they have longer life with hard water? Any other recommendations on how to handle this situation?

I appreciate everyone's comments.  Thank you.  

Thanks @Chris Masons.  It is actually 3 singles and the 1 moving out wanted to move in with his girlfriend.  Go figure :)

@J Scott Thank you for the response.  I am planning on signing a new year lease with the 3 people (2 original and 1 new).  So your advice sounds like the way to go.  

I rented my first property starting in February of 2014 and we are coming up on the end of the lease.  1 of the tenants has notified me that he is going to move out at the end of the lease, but the other 2 want to stay.  They are currently looking for a new person to take his spot, and it looks like they are going to fill out an application.  

My question is, if this person is acceptable and we let him move in and have the 3 sign another year lease, how do we handle the deposit for the tenant moving out and the one moving in?  This is probably a very basic question, but I am new to this so any help is appreciated.  

I use Venmo to collect my rent currently and I have no complaints. The renters deposit their money using the app and it is immediately available for me to "cash out" into my account. It takes a few days to go into my account, but there are no fees. I would recommend it. Hope this helps.

Thanks James. I look forward to meeting lots of great people.

Hello everyone. I just joined and wanted to introduce myself. I am just starting out in real estate investment so I am pretty much as green as it gets. I do, however, have 1 rental property that was my previous home and rented it out for the first time starting in February. I have purchased my second home this month and I hope to eventually turn this one into a rental property as well later down the road. My strategy so far to is to acquire rental properties in order to have passive income through retirement.

I look forward to speaking with everyone. Thanks for your help and time.