All Forum Posts by: Matt R.

I don't have any student rentals, and my experience is from the Midwest (Missouri, Kansas, Iowa).  Having said that: get familiar with the the city/county/township regulations for rental properties before you spend money.  Some smaller "college towns" have a surprisingly high level of rental regulation.  A little of it is due to the university or large property owners trying to increase costs for the competition; a lot of it is due to problems in the past where someone would buy a 2-bed, 1-bath, 100-year-old house, and rent it out "as is" to 6 or 7 students.

The local PMs should be familiar with the local regulations, but if you are also familiar with them, you can better judge what people tell you when they say certain renovations are required by code or whatever.

@Alan Taylor Let me lay this idea on you: how about just moving the part of the wall between the two tubs?  Essentially, slide the guest tub towards the door wall, into the space that used to be the water heater closet; build a new wall at the control end of the guest tub; build a new wall from that wall back to the original wall; install a bigger tub or shower pan in the master bath.

The advantage here is that you only have to move the two ABS vents that are currently in that wall, and the PEX supply lines.  The main stack stays right where it is.  The new short wall in the guest bath (the one that's at a right angle to the back wall) would be a great place for a towel bar, or a couple of small shelves with towels on them, or maybe a little cabinet for the towels.

The disadvantage is that if you don't move the main stack, I'm not sure if moving the guest toilet to the outside wall will work - since the stack is in the same spot, you have to make sure you'll still have enough slope on the pipe to the toilet, even with the toilet being further away from the main stack.  You'll have to do a little more tile work in the master bath; you'll have walls on (part of) three sides of the shower, instead of two.  Depending on where the light fixture(s) are in the master bath, the "enclosed" space at the control end of the master bath might be a little dark; a waterproof ceiling fixture over the master bath fixes this.

Another comment, based on the new photo from the basement, looking up: if you move the guest toilet to the outside wall, you either have to run the new toilet drain underneath the joists, or cut at least one of the joists.  It also looks like that HVAC duct at the top of the picture might be in the way of where you would want the toilet flange to go.

Also, regardless of whether you move the wall or not: since you have at least the wall in the guest bath open, prep it for grab bars before you close it back up.  Please look up the exact spec on this, but essentially you need to install a 2x6, vertically, on the studs at about waist height, the entire length of the tub.  I think you might have to add some wood to the control wall as well.  If you want to install a grab bar later, the extra wood means you can just screw it in wherever, and not have to hunt for the studs.  

@Jim K. In the photos in first post, he's already removed the toilet and set it back down on the floor, a couple of feet to the left of where it originally was.  If the toilet was still installed, it'd match the 3D sketch.  (That took me a minute of looking to figure it out, too.)

@Charles Goetz I exaggerated the slope of the drain pipes in my drawing on purpose.  Most of the DIY plumbing books I've seen do this too.  I think the idea is to remind people that there has to be some slope on the drains - as opposed to the supply lines, which usually get run on the level if they're horizontal.

edit: added note on grab bar prep

I agree with the other posters - you probably need to talk to a local attorney who specializes in evictions and landlord-tenant law.

In a lot of places, the court records are online.  Sometimes they are free to search, but sometimes you have to pay.  If they are free to search, it might be useful to try to find your tenant's case in the records.  It may list the name of his lawyer.  You can for sure get the case number, which will be helpful when talking to your attorney.

You have to figure out which court it is (city, county, district) to find the right site to search, and then figure out which box his name goes in - some sites have a "search for this name in any case" function, but some require you to know if he's the defendant or plaintiff.  If he's been in court before, you have to make sure you have the current case.

If you have to pay to search the records - see how much you can get for free.  Sometimes it will at least give you the case number, which you should then give to your attorney.  If you can't get anything for free, don't worry about it - let your attorney do the research.  He or she will already have a subscription to all the local court records anyway.

I don't think you're crazy to DIY this.  Then again, I've never tried to DIY a job this big before.  :)  I am not a professional plumber.

Some considerations:

Are these the only two bathrooms you have in the house?  If so, figure out a backup plan (like a room at the Super 8) before you dive in.  Having to thrash to get it done so you can poop tonight, or so you can take a shower before work on Monday, just leads to frustration.

That black drain pipe is most likely ABS.  It's possible to join ABS to PVC (the white stuff) but you don't get to use the solvent that sets instantly, and as I understand it, some jurisdictions don't allow it.  Make sure you know where to get more ABS pipe, so you can join like to like.  (Around me, Home Depot doesn't sell ABS pipe, but Lowe's does.)  Also, make sure the ABS solvent is rated for exposing to water relatively quickly, like less than an hour.

To me, the big deal is that you'll have to offset the main soil stack - the largest black vertical pipe.  What you have now is approximately this, from the side view:

and what you need to end up with is approximately this:

You need to have enough room, and access, in both the attic and the basement/crawl space to put those offsets in the soil stack.  I have drawn both of the offset as sloped, because I know the one under the toilets needs to be.  (First rule of plumbing: poop flows downhill.)  I'm not sure if the one in the attic needs to be sloped or not; it may be OK to have it run horizontally.  You also still need all the connections to the sinks and tubs that you have now.

You might be able to re-use some of the drain pipe you have now, but I would plan on installing all new pipe.  The new wall or layout may be slightly different than what you have now, and the pipe isn't that expensive.  If I was going to re-use anything, I'd re-use the existing vent pipes, because they normally don't have any water in them, and install new pipe for the drains.  

Even after you demo the existing plumbing, don't toss any of it until you're all done. Sometimes using part of the old plumbing temporarily (like to cap off the new plumbing) saves you a trip to the store. (And then when you're all done, for sure, throw all the copper and brass in the corner of the garage and take it to the scrap yard later, or give it to a passing scrapper.)

Sometimes it helps to get some pipe caps so you can do part of the job.  I don't know if you can get PEX caps, but for sure you can crimp a threaded fitting on to the end of the PEX and then just use a regular threaded pipe cap.  For drain pipes, you can get giant rubber caps that fasten with a hose clamp.  Up to a certain size, you can also get plugs that look like a rubber donut between two big washers; tightening a wing nut through the washers makes the donut squeeze out and seal to the inside of the drain pipe.  The way this helps: if the soil stack has a double wye where both of the toilets connect, you put in the waste pipe (under the wye), the vent pipe (above the wye), and plumb one of the toilets to one side of the wye.  You then cap off the other side of the wye with a cap.  This allows you to poop at home tonight, and then finish installing the second toilet tomorrow.  Similarly, on the PEX, you can put in the tees to serve both showers and both sinks, cap off one shower and sink, and concentrate on finishing the other shower and sink.

I don't think you're going to get a plumber to do part of the work for you.  They can make more money by charging you for their labor.  Also, they may not want to stand behind it if they don't do the work themselves.

I hope this helps!

I use Cozy for credit background checks and collecting rent. I don't use the other features they offer (application, maintenance requests, document sharing, listing syndication). I wrote a detailed post about it here:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

Disclaimer: I only have one property so far. I am not affiliated with any sites mentioned.

Sometimes a bank will let you set up an account that the tenants can deposit their rent into. They can put money in, but not take any out; only you can take money out. The tenants can go to a branch of that bank and pay their rent into your account.

If I was going to do this, and if the bank was willing, I'd set up a couple of accounts - one that the tenants deposit into, and another one for my general rental business. On a fairly regular basis, I'd move the collected rent from the "tenant" account into "my" account. This is because I don't totally trust the bank to make the "tenant" account deposit-only; a clever tenant might try to use my name, the account number they know, and the bank's routing number to pay a bill or something. I'd also try to find a willing bank that is relatively close to the property, or where the tenants probably shop - make it easy for them to do.

You've already heard about Cozy.  I use Cozy for credit background checks and collecting rent. I don't use the other features they offer (application, maintenance requests, document sharing, listing syndication). I wrote a detailed post about it here:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

Disclaimer: I only have one property so far. I am not affiliated with any sites mentioned.

Disclaimers: I am not a professional plumber.  I am not affiliated with any companies mentioned.

How old is the property?  If it dates from before the late 80s or so, and the bathrooms haven't been upgraded, you might be rocking 5-gallon-per-flush toilets.  The next step was 3.2-gallon, then 1.6-gallon, and now 1.0-gallon.  Somewhere around the 3.2-gallon-per-flush era, it also became a requirement that the flush size was marked on the toilet - usually it's right behind the seat bolt holes, where you can see it by looking down at the toilet with the lid closed, but it might be stamped inside the tank.  If it's not marked at all, measure the tank and bust out some geometry to figure it out.

If you still have 3.2 or 5.0 gallon toilets, you might consider swapping out for 1.6 gallon ones.  I have had two American Standard 1.6 gallon toilets in my residence for 10+ years now, and they seem to work OK.  It probably helps to buy a notch or two up from the $99 toilet that the big-box store has a million of.  You might consider one of the soft-close lids to help sell it as an upgrade.  If any of your tenants are, uh, mature and experienced, and you think they might stay there for a while, you might also consider a toilet with a higher seat height - they're a little easier for people to get up from.

I personally wouldn't install a 1.0 gallon toilet - they come with a warning that you can't install them where that toilet is the only thing happening (think a small commercial storefront or similar), because they need the extra water flow from a tub/shower drain to actually move all the poop through the pipes.

If the toilets are all recent enough to be 1.6 gallon, how about the valves inside them?  If the tenants don't pay the water bill, they might not tell you when the toilet runs all the time.  New flush valves (the flapper in the bottom) are cheap, and most big-box stores have a pack of 4 or 6 of them for a little bit of a discount.  The Fluidmaster ones have worked the best for me - and when one didn't work after a year or so, they actually made good on their warranty.

If they still have ballcock fill valves, replace them with Fluidmaster 400A fill valves for less maintenance hassle.  Replace the rubber valve washer in them every 5 or 10 years or so and that's it.  I have also seen, but not used, replacement fill valves that give you two sizes of flush - a couple of quarts for light work, or the whole tank for bigger jobs.  I've looked at them in the store and concluded they had a lot of moving parts, so I'm not sure how much I would trust one in a rental.

Shower heads are also available in lower-flow versions.  Since some time between 1990 and 2010, they are also required to be marked with their flow rate, so you might be able to tell what you have now.  On mine, from 2009, it's molded into the black plastic of the shower head, so you need a good light to see it.  If you can't find a marking, and you really want to know, use a bucket and a stopwatch.

A couple of things to look out for: some of the low-flow heads don't give you a very strong spray.  You might buy one and try it at your residence before buying a bunch for your rental units.  Mine is a Delta, 2.5 gallons per minute, and it does reasonably well.  Also, sometimes the low-flow part is implemented by a small nozzle/restrictor that goes into the back of the shower head as a separate piece; a few tenants might be clever enough to unscrew the shower head, take that part out, and screw the head back on.

If they don't already have these, you might "sell" this as an upgrade by installing the kind that have a flexible hose (so you can hold the shower head in your hand) and a bar that the shower head can be hung on at different heights.  These require a little more maintenance than a fixed shower head, though - eventually the hose leaks, and sometimes little kids might try to swing from the loop of the hose.  Or, get the fixed kind that are like 4"-6" diameter, like some hotels have.

Is there an outside hose bibb?  There probably has to be at least one, per building code.  Maybe the tenants like putting up a sprinkler or filling up a kiddie pool for their kids (or pets?) in the summer, so you might not want to shut that down.  If those things don't happen, you might consider installing the kind of valve that takes a four-sided key to open.  Again, some tenants might figure out how to fake it with a pair of pliers, or go buy the key at the hardware store themselves, but it's an option.

I haven't done this, but here's what I think I know about it...

Check on the zoning of the lot.  If it's in the middle of a neighborhood of stick-built houses, it might not be zoned for a trailer.  If it's way out in the county somewhere, it might not matter as much.

Check to see if there is a water tap, sewer line, electric, gas (maybe), and Internet service.  In some places, getting a new water tap will cost you several thousand dollars - the plumbing part is cheap, but the local water department funds their operations off of new taps.  If there is no sewer line at the property, or nearby, find out about a septic system before you do anything else - the lot has to be big enough and it has to pass a perc test.  Any plumber that installs septic systems can advise you on both of those things.

If there is already electric nearby (like, the house next door), then hooking up the trailer shouldn't be too expensive.  If you need to install more pole(s), or bury a line to a pole, find out whether you do that privately, or pay the local electric utility to do it.

You might not need gas if it doesn't get very cold in the winter there, but make sure you buy a trailer with all electric appliances.

In 2019, I wouldn't consider phone company 1.5 megabit DSL to be valid Internet service anymore, but that might be all you can get out in the sticks.  There is also satellite Internet (expensive and certain things like multi-player gaming don't work at all on it), and, sometimes, cell Internet (usually expensive).  Normally the tenant would pay for these things, but you need to know if they might be looking at a $200/month Internet bill when you're setting the rent.

Find out what the local building code is as far as anchoring the house to the ground, and if you need a slab under it or not.  If it's in California, there are probably also some code things like strapping the water heater to the wall so it doesn't fall over in an earthquake.  If you're buying a trailer brand new, you should be able to tell the trailer company that it's going to California, and they can install the right stuff at the factory.

If you're financing the trailer, you usually can't use a regular mortgage for it - you can get a loan but the interest rate will be higher.

In some places, the tax on the trailer will be just like a house - real estate tax based on the value of the land plus the trailer.  In others, you will pay real estate tax on the land, but personal property tax on the trailer.

I can get a "regular" air duct cleaning done for less than $200 on a 3 bed/1 bath, 1000 sq ft house.  I suspect it won't placate your tenant, but you might consider that as something to try.

Other than that, I agree with all the other voices that are telling you that he is trying to get out of the lease.

Another piece of the puzzle - if you did sell the house, what would that do to your taxes?

If you do your own taxes, you could re-run your 2018 taxes, assuming that you sold the house sometime that year, and see what happens.  Or, come up with reasonable guesstimates for the rest of 2019 and do your 2019 taxes now, assuming that you sell the house in the next couple of months.

There is also a thing called a "1031 exchange".  I've never done one, but I think it basically lets you sell one investment property, and buy another "similar" one, and not have to pay some of the taxes on the sale of the first property that you otherwise would have had to pay.  You might find out more about how that would work, if you decided to sell.