All Forum Posts by: Jacky Johnson

I'm in the process of getting a few free estimates from multiple licensed plumbers for a sewage leak under the house. The issue is that there is a contractor who is thorough on-site but lack follow-up communication after they quoting me a price and left, a contractor who didn't even go inside the house to do inspection but rely on pictures and videos from other contractors to quote me a price but responsive via text after they left the site, and those who didn't even come on-site and ask me to describe the situation through the phone and give me a quote there. Which contractors should I hire if the quotes are similar in price? I'm not sure if sometimes I'm a bit longwinded via text (maybe that's why some of them don't respond to my text) but I just wanted to clarify more but at the same time I want to fix the sewage leak asap. What should I do?

I'm planning on replacing all the sewer lines under my house from the sewer cleanout. I got two bids from two licensed contractors (plumbers) around $6500 and I think they are too expensive (I was thinking about $4000). Should I hire a unlicensed contractor hoping to get a lower price or should I get more bids from licensed contractors? What are the pros and cons of hiring licensed and unlicensed contractors in a long-term risk/benefit analysis? Or how should I handle this situation?

Thank you!

I'm checking on a contractor's worker's compensation status and come across this on Department of Consumer Affairs Contractors State License Board:

This license is exempt from having workers compensation insurance; they certified that they have no employees at this time.

Effective Date: 11/09/2020
Expire Date: None

What does this mean? Should I use this contractor's service? 

 How often one at a time? Every 20 minutes? 30 minutes?

I'm a new landlord from CA and yesterday my tenant sent me a text saying there is a sewage leak under the house (under the bedrooms) and it smells really bad. I've decided to use Angie's List and Yelp to find licensed plumbers who fix sewage leaks. I've requested a few quotes from Angie's List and sent a few requests via Yelp yesterday. Today I'm receiving many email responses (one voice mail response as well) asking me to call them back to discuss the situation and schedule an inspection (some said free). My tenant said he is at free tomorrow, next Monday and Tuesday. Now how should I schedule the contractors for the inspection and quote offering? I'm thinking maybe schedule all of them at the same time or one at a time? How should I handle this? Thank you!

Today my tenant sent me a notice via text that my rental property has a sewage leak under the bedrooms and asked me to check it out. He also mentioned rats are living under the house biting away wood and pipes and he called a pest control company to trap, poison, and got rid of the rats and cost him $465 and he paid. He wants to deduct this amount from next month's rent and asked me to send him my email for the invoice. How should I handle this? Thanks!

Hi. I have a tenant who has been renting several years in my property. I was doing gardening work for him today and he mentioned that he wanted to pave grass in the backyard and plant scrubs in the front yard. He did an estimate for the pave grass job and showed me pictures of how he planned to plant the scrubs in the front yard. Does he need my permission to do this kind of landscaping work? If not, what kind of landscaping work does tenant need the landlord's permission to do? Thanks.

Hi I’m a new landlord and yesterday I received a letter from the department of building and planning residential rental inspection program that I need to pay a fee for their inspector to come to inspect my rental property for compliance in the program. Since this is the first time, I’m a bit scared, how should I prepare? Thank you.

What if I refinance just to lower the number of years on the loan? I don’t want to pay that extra $600 because I want to more cash in hand. Is that ok?

I have a rental property that still has a 22 year mortgage (originally 30-year) at fixed interest rate of 3.125% with monthly payment of $1750. I have encountered an opportunity to refinance at 15-year fixed loan of 2.625% (no point, no fee) for $350K (still owed the bank). I have done a deal analysis and with refinance, my monthly payment is $2354 and saved $38280 total. Should I refinance? If I do, what other things I still need to consider? Thank you.