All Forum Posts by: Johann Jells

Quote from @Manny Vasquez:

 Often time, these guys have a "clearance section" where you can find some pretty cheap granite deals.

Problem is that at this point much of the cost is labor in cutting, delivery and sink installation. So even a free piece of stone can still cost quite a lot by the time you're done. The whole market can be weird. There's a place here that advertises "free installation", meaning they build it into the per sq ft price.  I usually tell them to show me their remnants, since my counters are relatively small and as long as it's dark I'm not really picky.

Granite all the way! Relatively cheap, and bombproof. I used to DIY granite tile, but slab has gotten so cheap. I have a tile top that's 17 years old in a rental that looks brand new. Don't use light porous colored stone, it can show stains. My own 'Brown and tan' counter has had bottles of oil broken on it and looks perfect. 

I'd estimate the yearly use, divide it by 24 and add that as a fixed utility 'surcharge' on the rents. This works better than just including it in the rent since then the listings will simply show you as having higher rent compared to similar places that do not include utilities. I've learned this one the hard way.

Your utility should be able to tell you the average monthly use for the past year. Remember, the cost of the utilities to you is not the bill, but the difference between the estimate and the actual. Keep an eye on it and revise when renewing if it seems off. That difference would have to be HUGE to justify the cost of splitting the HVAC. You could talk to an electrician about the wiring, it could be easy to separate, or not. If the gas is just for cooking I doubt it's worth messing with.

As a multifamily owner I have a different perspective, and allow cats but not dogs. Dogs can destroy the quality of life for a whole building with their barking, and to a lesser extent noise in the hallways going in and out. Some people don't even know their dogs bark all day when they're out. My neighbor's 2 dachshunds actually start baying in their yard several times a day!  

I've had many cat owners over the years, but even the messy hoarders I had did not create a lasting smell. None of my units are carpeted.

Quote from @JD Martin:

 Ceiling fans in rentals are a PITA anyway; we always take them down when they die. Tenants never clean them so you end up with dirt pancakes on top of the blades, and unless you get good ones they end up wobbling or squealing. 

I've read this here many times, and yet have very few problems with the many low end ones I've installed. Tenants seem to like them, I think they're a plus when showing the unit.

Jeez, just replace the fan with one with a 3 or 4 bulb light fixture and put in bright bulbs! Depending on the mfr you might be able to just add it lights to that one. I love ceiling fan fixtures for this reason, they throw a lot of light all over, makes a room look bright, I hate ceiling cans. Funny thing is most of my tenants either don't replace bulbs when they burn out or put in dimmer bulbs, they don't like it as bright as when I show it! I'd replace the sconces with some directional fixtures that can be reading light. 

Hi Mary Joe, We're getting our umbrella written by Mike at https://milesquareinsurance.co... in Hoboken. He's been a personal acquaintance for years, and we just switched all our RE insurance to him after our old agent couldn't write an umbrella. He had a deep background in umbrellas before he opened his own shop. We feel we've gotten excellent advice about our whole insurance picture.

Quote from @Mohammed Rahman:

Quote from @Mary Joe:

@Jose Moya   

Someone mentioned that his/her ppty tax skyrocketed after transferring the ppty to a LLC. I forgot where I saw that, and not sure which state he/she was in.

I came across below on how to avoid ppty tax hike for CA:

"To avoid property tax reassessment, do NOT transfer real property from individuals to a legal entity (trust, LLC, Corp, etc) UNLESS the individuals have the same proportionate interest in the legal entity as they did in the real property! Let's say that that you and your wife own a property 50% each. And you want to establish an LLC for that property and add your son to title. So you establish an LLC in which you own 35%, your wife owns 35% and your daughter owns 30%. This method will trigger a reassessment of your property taxes! The way to avoid this is to FIRST add your daughter to title as 35%, 35%, and 30% owners. THEN establish the LLC with the same proportionate ownership interests within the LLC. That will NOT trigger a reassessment."

copied from this link https://santaclaritamagazine.c...

 Wow this is really good to learn and know, thanks for sharing! 

Pretty sure this is specific to Prop 13, which locks taxes to a very low increase for owners while it goes up tremendously for new buyers. Horrible market distorter.

Quote from @Bill B.:

It looks like they added coin less. 

https://www.mqtekindustrialsup...

Wow, that makes it really tempting. For many years I've simply 'built in' the cost of laundry into the rent and used cheap, easy to repair, classic machines you can buy off CL for a song. But the way the rental search engines work now really puts me behind, especially when I have to build in the heat too on one 4U property. My last lease there I created a fixed surcharge for heat and laundry, and it seemed to work well for the listing. But this would simplify things, making the surcharge just for heat.

Any thoughts on whether you actually need them on both the washer and dryer, or perhaps just the dryer would do? No one would be using the dryer without using the washer 1st, right? The few loads of delicate stuff they might dry on a rack in their apt I wouldn't worry about. 

It's funny, when I saw 'Smartcoinbox' I assumed they were set up to use some sort of phone app as payment! Now THAT would be smart, no coins to steal.