All Forum Posts by: Jim Adrian

interested...

I have radon mitigation system in my rental house and had no issues renting it out.  I don't believe I have anything specific in the lease for this.  I did tell them what the piping in the basement and the fan outside was for.  Mine has a hazard stickers on it in several locations  and some instructions.  Since its in plain sight the renters have been informed. Its not like lead paint that has been painted over and you wont know.

One idea... If you have a basic hourly rate for repairs in you lease, you could charge him for your time of processing the lease, place on market and reshowing the house. 

I also like keeping partial rent until the unit is leased again.

I would process it  out with letter and one check when the unit has a new lease.

My tenants had a baby so I sent them a $25 gift card to baby R us when they told me there where pregnant and then bought another $25 of baby stuff when their daughter was born.   This was a high risk pregnancy after miscarriage and a losing a child to SIDs.  In turn I invested the late fee back into them.  

I will also send them some type of xmas gift around $20 range.

Have the realtor provide you with the documentation that you are required to have the washer and dryer in the unit.  The realtor may be getting confused with w/d hookups vs the equipment installed.

It all depends on the condition of the property and the age of major replacement items like a roof or hvac systems.  For me, I want to have surplus cash on based on 5-7% of the house value for anything major.  I have set aside 3 months of mortgage plus $1500 for carpet/paint replacement cost as well.   

I have just started out as well, and now into my second year of renting out my old house with a initial 2yr lease. Before moving out I replaced the hvac system and water heater.  I am not expecting any major repairs soon and if I do have some I bet I can take it out of the deposit.  By Aug 2016 I will be set up nicely.

My rental property has Radon Mitigation system and I had no issue renting it.   I lived in the house previously for 5 years with no issues.  Radon becomes an issue when you have bedrooms in the basement due to breaking in the air all night long.  The mitigation system removes all the radon gases from the house.  Make the owner/seller install the system.  Its up to you if you want to retest the house after the system is installed.  I didn't because no bedrooms in the basement and it was also unfinished.  Its about $700- $1000 to install mitigation.  My average test was 14.  Radon is becoming pretty common in the Midwest. The fan systems are really quite and last about 10 years before needing to replace the fan.  If the hvac system brings in fresh air from outside then this is really a non issue.  Some of the high efficiency system do.

You can always pay the PMI in full at closing. Doing it this way is cheaper than paying it monthly for the next 10 years. We just did this a year ago on our primary residence.

Dishwasher! 

I bought a 2br small house to live in for the next 5 yrs, I was poor at the time!  First week in the place I put a dishwasher in. I only had 10ft of counter and undercounter space.  Best $300 I spent on the house.

The problem will start when the county assessor updates the records for the sale and notice the addition of rental unit and no garage.  They will in turn call the building inspector.  I've never dealt with this but I've seen this issue on several HGTV shows and heard from others on this.  Its a game of chance.  If the county assessor already has it listed with the rental unit then the chances are greater you wont have issues but its no guarantee.