All Forum Posts by: Justin Escajeda

Im very surprised that none of these posts talked about Lowes and Home Depot's higher prices... I DO shop at Lowes and Home Depot strictly out of convenience (they're always open late, you can find one pretty much anywhere, and 9 times out of ten they wll have a specific item you need).  However, they are expensive.  Find your local wholesalers and buy in bulk.  Buy from the places they get their deliveries from.  These places also sell a lot of DIY products that your should steer clear from.  I respect the two great home improvement business's strategy, but most of the time you are paying marked up prices.  Tip: find your wholesalers, a lot of those places have things on discount too that they are trying to dump that is either extra or cannot get rid of.  In those cases, I am all over that.

Exactly, see that is what I was afraid of happening.. The tenants that I get in there, if their contractor does things incorrectly or worse, they attempt to do things on their own, I do not want to have to correct the problems they created.  This will make double work for me and loss of rents..

Trying to gather some information on this...I have recently purchased a commercial building that I was going to conform into another small indoor facility.  It is a 3 story building built on a hill side.  The main entrance (top floor) in the most accessible, and is also where most of the units are now.  The 1st and 2nd floor are really only accessible by an outdoor staircase running down aside the building.  My partners and I had the intention of keeping the 1st floor our office and extra storage for our masonry business equipment. 

The middle floor is fully laid out for some kind of office (dentist, chiro, professional, whatever).  I want to advertise this for office space, but was wondering if anyone has advertised build to suit?  Does that mean I, as the landlord does the rennovations for them, or does It mean they do the work?  I am also wondering if renting to a business, is it standard for them to pay utilities (I am used to residential)??  Any feed back would be appreciated, as well as what you thought about renting to a business..

At first glance, this looks decent man, but are the tenants paying all  utilities?  (Gas, Water, electric, perhaps sewage?  Stacked duplex or side by side?  Separate utilities?  Can rents be increased a little?  If there is long term tenants, increase it by a number that they woulnt move over (50-75$).  Just some things that I would look at if it were my place.

@Kyle Hipp is correct, walk throughs are not meant (for me) to nail the tenant for violations, but to save yourself money in the future by possible stopping large problems, and not spending unnecessary cash is the name of this game. 

Tenants by nature can either be lazy or ignorant.  Lazy in the fact that they know the bottom line is that the landlord WILL eventually have to fix any problem weather or not they caused it even if it far exceeds the amount of security deposit.  That's the renters mindset, they are just used to having their stuff fixed by the landlord.  They are ignorant in the respect that they just do not know certain things because many of them have not owned a house before.  They cannot foresee something becoming a big problem, so they do not say anything about it.

I have a problem with walk through's anymore because I am managing all of my own properties and things are slipping through the cracks because there is too many for me I feel now.  I need to bite the bullet and hire someone, or things will start causing me money.

I use laminate flooring and stand by it.  The reason I started using it was a few years ago my mom was remodeling her kitchen.  She had pergo flooring in her kitchen for like 8 years, also had 5 kids and all their friends walking on, spilling, skateboarding, etc on it.  It was taken out in tact and I put it in a duplex of mine.  The floor  still looks amazing.  Ceramic is best for kitchen and bath, but if you can get a deal, go for laminate for sure!

This is kind of a touchy subject, I agree with Eric when he says not all inspectors are nice OR friendly, haha, but sometimes they are very easy going, depending on the municipality.  Ive encountered every kind.  I very rarely pull permits on work within the confines of the property.  I will always get a dumpster permit if needed parked on street.  However, I am a masonry contractor and my business partner is a general contractor superintendent.  Therefore, we are quite confident what to do in most all aspects of moving a wall. 

My question to you is, how familiar are you with remodeling a property?  Are you able to identify if a wall is load bearing or not?  If you are not very comfortable with it, Id say better safe than sorry, and get a permit and a licensed contractor.  If you compromise the structural integrity of the property, you will have a multitude of problems that will far exceed what your going to be paying for a permit (and what may come along with it). 

Hope this helps..

Awesome man, I get excited for people when I hear things like that!  I haven't had 100% occupancy in the last 3 years!  In my mind that's a good thing (kind of) though, because I keep buying rental units.  Out of my 22, I have 5 unoccupied, but they are also not 100% livable yet.  Its my fault sometimes buying more when I do not have things done on the last one yet.  Live and learn I guess.  Congrats though man!

In my opinion man, you have to take things on a case by case basis.  Obviously, heat, electric, leaks, structural, etc., is for sure things you need to address immediately.  However, if things start to get nit picky with one particular tenant, you should draw the line at some point, but you have to make that determination. 

If one of my long term tenants (that pay consistently) are asking for more than I would normally do, Im probably going to do it.  Just like @Troy S said, customer service.  At the same time I believe if you give 9 out of 10 tenants an inch, theyre going to take a mile.  Most renters have entitlement issues and feel like things are supposed to be handed to them on a platter (esp if they are somewhat savvy on tenant/landlord rights/laws). 

On the same hand, I am not their servant, and I am not have my life run by anal tenants who need their bathroom walls wiped down after a shower (does your exhaust fan work properly, or is there a window in bathroom?). 

Be cautious in multi unit situations as well, I have a 4-plex, and I know they all talk about me (not always positive), and I have 14 mobile homes in one community where I know that's all they do is talk (because most just sit around all day and hang out).  You do not want to be taken advantage of, you know. 

At times, you just have to be stern about your limits, but still be a good landlord.  Its a fine line to dance at times.

Scott, thanks for the advice. I know I spoke with you about this a bit when I originally made this post, you came to the Pittsburgh REIA with Josh Caldwell, we were talking a bit after the meeting. I had a contract with UHAUL for about a year and discontinued it only because my facilities are more self running, and I do not want to have to go there everyday to rent a van to someone new that is not even renting a unit off me. I have been targeting school districts in the areas where my facilities are in, and that has really paid off.