All Forum Posts by: Mark Berge

I have the same situation but the tenants pay for utilities. The problem is the son who is on the lease keeps his window open in his room which has the thermostat. The older father who is in the room across the hall does not have a thermostat. The thermostat in the sons room is set to 68 degrees. With the window open, the fathers room is 79 degrees. I told the father to tell his son about the high temp in his room. I have thought about moving the thermostat to the fathers room which I could do.

Thanks for the info John. I could do hard money and then refinance. I would want to be very sure that I could refinance once the property is stabilized. I guess the worst thing is that once it's fixed up if I can't refinance for some reason I could just sell it. I am doing this full time, not a w2 employee, am self employed with a llc set up.

I forgot to add that I invest in North Jersey only. May do other areas but not yet because I self manage.

Hi All, wondering how most small time land lords like myself finance their rehab houses and after property is move in ready, paying off the note into a 30 year fixed rate rental property loan? My first rental was able to pay cash. I have the 20% down payment now. Do most use regular banks or other lenders. How do you vet the other lenders. One that I have talked to had horrible ratings with the better business bureau so will keep looking. 

I only have one rental and my primary house with a room mate paying me rent. Both pay by check. I have offered online payments, but he ignored my email and he sends me a check in the mail by the 1st. My room mate just hands me a check on the 1st.

This is an older house. I have already spent $40k on repairs and to go with forced air is not in the budget. Heat pumps, I don't have experience with them. I am trying to find another fixer upper rental house so am saving my dp money for the next deal. I have a great tenant in place who pays on time and takes care of the place.

Sorry, the $11k estimate was for a high efficiency combo boiler. That was for heating and hot water. The latest quote from the same plumber was $9691 for a 105K BTU Hydronic Boiler- cast iron. 

I am getting estimates on replacing a old oil boiler with a new gas boiler to heat the rental house. House is 1000 square feet with baseboards. Have gotten estimates $11,000 to replace with a gas high efficiency boiler. I'm thinking maybe cast iron boiler would be less expensive and simpler to maintain? Any feedback. The house was built in 1964 and has 3 br, 2 bath sfam det in north jersey.

You could put in your rental application form that rental applicant cannot owe previous landlords rent? I'm not an attorney but this is your unit. Once you give them the keys and they move in, it can be very hard if they say pay one month and then stop paying. If they have a track record of being difficult tenants then you could be stuck with them. Someone said, "Tenants have problems, property owners don't that's why they own property." My present tenant had a previous bankruptcy and divorce but he has a very good job with verizon and pays on time, he renewed his lease with a slight bump up in rent. The real estate agent who marketed the property for me had forwarded several applications. I didn't have to deal with the applicants, the licensed real estate agent did. I didn't talk with the applicants, I just told the agent which applicant I wanted to move in. 

I think I'd rather use a licensed hvac contractor. This is natural gas and if not done right could be dangerous. On the other hand installing a electric water heater is not as complicated but also has to be done right. That's why I used a licensed electrician to put in the line and a licensed plumber to install the new electric water heater. I have used the plumber before and they are not cheap but they do good work for the most part.