All Forum Posts by: Jason Zeiner

 That is possible but I am not sure it is worth doing in this case. Pine is a fairly soft wood and with this being a rental I would be worried about durability. I also get the feeling this would be much more labor and time intensive and this really needs to get done as soon as possible. 

Don, thanks for the input.

I learned a lesson when talking with a contractor about the floors. Unfortunately, it turns out the "hardwood" floors are really just old pine subfloors. When the house was built there was no OSB or plywood and pine boards were what was used. What this means for me is that I will need a new subfloor to level everything out before putting in vinyl plank. 

I have just begun on my first property renovation and my initial plan was to install LVP in the entire first floor and install new carpet on the stairs and second floor. That was until I pulled up a corner of the carpet to discover hardwood floors underneath. It seems like the entire house may have hardwood floors and now I have to decide if I want to refinish them instead.

Looking up rates for refinishing hardwood floors appears to be between $3.50-$5 per square foot where LVP starts at around ~$2.80 per square foot. The tradeoff is the refinishing rates are for someone else to do the job where the LVP numbers are materials only and I would install it myself.

The strategy for this property is to rehab then rent it out. So I'm not going to for maximum re-sale value like I would if it were a flip. Since this is a rental would you rather have the durability of LVP or is hardwood good enough? Those with hardwood floors, have you noticed any issues with your tenants damaging them, especially with pets?

In my admittedly limited experience it seems unlikely. I've been looking at multi-unit rentals in Bethlehem for the passed nine months or so and 2-units seem to be around the 140-160 range or more and 3-units are even worse. The best conventional lending I could find is 20% down so that puts you at almost 30k down, probably over with closing costs etc. If you find an off-market deal with creative financing you might be able to swing it.

I'm sure more experienced investors know about this already but I know I would have found this information useful when I closed on my first rental property in June. Hopefully someone else finds this useful too.

I found out today that in the city of Bethlehem rental properties must be registered with the tax department. Here are my notes from the conversation I had with them.

Rentals are taxed as businesses in Bethlehem, even if they are individually owned (i.e. not in an LLC).

Currently the tax is $1.50 per $1000 of income.

The tax is due by May 1st and is administered by Tri-State Financial Group.

The fee for registration is $25 per parcel, not per unit. 

The form is online at http://bethlehem-pa.gov/admin/tax.html and it is called "Business Registration/Mercantile License Application".

The direct phone number for the tax department is 6108657022.

Have I missed anything?

You might try reaching out to Rob Jacobs in Easton. He's done a lot of business and real estate work in the area.