All Forum Posts by: Matt R.

If it's a big city, there will probably be a hazardous waste collection facility you can take it to.  Where I live, Kansas City, Missouri operates it, and a lot of the Missouri-side suburbs have an agreement with them, so they accept stuff from most suburbs.  They do want to see your ID to verify that you're from a place that they have an agreement with.  It's only open a few days a week, but it's open every week.

Sometimes the city will sponsor a hazardous waste collection day, usually a couple of times a year.  They will set up in a parking lot somewhere and accept your stuff.  Often you need to show an ID or a water bill from that city for them to take your stuff.

Where I used to live, they would collect latex paint at the collection days.  All of the light-colored paint got dumped in one big barrel and all of the dark-colored paint got dumped in another.  They would then sell cans of paint from the barrels for cheap.  Lately, the advice for latex paint in many cities is just to set it outside where pets, kids, and wild animals can't get into it, take the lid off, let the liquid evaporate, and just toss the rest in the trash - but ask your city to know for sure.

The city's website will probably list the hazardous waste stuff under the environmental department (big cities), or probably water and sewer (smaller cities).  If you're out in the sticks, check with the county.

If the cans are steel, and if you can do it without making a mess, see if you can dump the colors together to free up a can or two.  An empty steel gallon paint can is a great place for screws, nails, and other small metal trash you generate while fixing a place up.  Once the can is full, take it to the scrap yard the next time you go, and get a few pennies for it.  :)

I don't currently invest out of state, but properties in my area (Kansas City) get marketed to a lot of out-of-state investors.  So my advice is based on watching that marketing process happen.

Pick a metro area.  If you end up with two metro areas that are more or less equivalent, as far as properties available, rents, rehab costs, cash flow, all of that - then either pick the one that you personally want to visit more, or the one that has the cheapest/shortest flights from wherever you are.  You should go there in person at least once, and you may have to do it more than once, so make that as easy on yourself as you can.

Look at crime maps for that metro to see what different parts of town are like.  Find out what the big city or the suburbs require as far as a business license, rental property inspections, etc.  Look at the Reddit for that metro and search for the "I'm moving to town, where should I live?" threads, to see what locals recommend.  Look at Zillow/Trulia/Rentometer to see what properties are selling for, how long they stay on the market, what the rents are like, etc.  If there is a real estate investors' association in that metro area, consider joining it - the meetings may not be as interesting since you're out-of-state, but sometimes they have leases you can use and knowledge of dealing with local governments.  You may get some kind of newsletter or members' directory that will have attorneys, contractors, banks/money people, title people, realtors, and others in that area that are interested in working with property investors.

Once you've picked an area, and either some properties you want to look at, or a realtor who finds some properties for you - actually go out there yourself and look.  Put the appropriate amount of SPF 45 on your lower regions before they talk to you. Once you've gotten the "guided tour", visit the houses again without the realtor there - like later that day, or the next day.  You won't be able to get into the house, but at least drive by them, and drive around the neighborhood a little.  If possible, visit in both the daytime and at night.  Realtors are excellent at choosing the one way to get to the property that doesn't go by the airport, the train tracks, the dead K-Mart, and the meth lab.  :D

If the schedule works out, and if you joined the local investors' association, consider going to one of their meetings while in town.  Print up some business cards (VistaPrint or even laser-print at home) and trade cards with people who may be able to help.

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

I use Cozy.co for background checks and collecting rent.  The tenants have Cozy pull the money out of their checking account, and then Cozy puts it in my bank account a few days later.  I wrote a detailed post about it here:

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

They did pay cash for the security deposit and first month's rent.  They asked about this ahead of time and I agreed; I printed up a receipt and then dated and signed it once I had the cash in hand.

If you use PayPal, I would highly suggest getting one of their "business" accounts.  I had to set up an account for an organization, and when I had a little trouble with it, I was able to reach a live human on the phone quickly.  I know people that have "personal" PayPal accounts that they sell things online with, and some of them have had trouble with PayPal unilaterally deciding that they are a scammer, locking their accounts, and then not responding to any questions.

Disclaimer: I've done this exactly once.

First, you have to make sure it doesn't fall over or kill anyone.  This is stuff like fixing the foundation (uncheap), replacing rotted flooring, replacing the furnace vent pipe/flue if it's rusted out, replacing old or bad wiring, and so on.

"Fixing it so it doesn't break at 3 AM" and "making it look attractive" compete for second and third.  "Break at 3 AM" includes things like removing the icemaker hookup, installing new shut-off valves and flex lines at the sinks and toilets, and putting in a grid drain instead of a pop-up drain in the bathroom sink.  "Look attractive" is paint, countertops, and so on.

Like @Blake Garcia , I also replace all the switches, outlets, and covers.  The parts end up costing about $2 per location but it improves the look a lot.  Get the "spec grade" switches and outlets that sell for about $1 apiece, rather than the ones that cell for $0.50 apiece - the spec grade ones last longer and are nicer to install.  I like to use the nylon plates that are somewhat flexible; they're more resistant to shattering, and they also sit a little better on the wall if the wall is not perfectly flat around the outlet box. If you're doing a whole house worth, or even a whole apartment, buy the devices and plates in boxes of 10 to get a bit better price.

When replacing outlets, move any "back-stabbed" connections to the side terminal screws; this gives you a better connection and reduces the voltage drop in the circuit.  Sometimes this helps you find previous things that were done wrong (like using lamp cord inside a wall), too.

If you have to do it on the low dough show, replacing a cracked switch or outlet with one of the new 50 cent ones is a step in the right direction.  You might take a 2-prong plug around and try it in all the outlets, and replace any that are really loose on the plug.  If the old wall plates are not chipped or cracked, but have paint on them, soak them in Mr. Clean overnight and you can usually get the paint off and re-use them.

I replaced both the furnace and A/C in my SFR, because they were both about 20+ years old. They worked, but I didn't want the furnace hanging over my head in January in Kansas City, and I had planned some money for this when I bought the house.  The new A/C is more efficient just because it's newer; I chose to replace the 80% furnace with a 90%+ furnace as well.  I didn't replace the thermostat, because it was only about a year old at the time... and it failed last week, requiring a Saturday-night trip to replace it.

The bathroom had been redone in the past couple of years, so I mostly left it alone.  I did do the grid drain (above) and move the GFCI outlet for the sink a little bit, because it didn't quite fit in the previous location and was hanging part way out of the wall.

The kitchen has 1980s cabinets and countertops, but the previous owners had bought a really nice stainless oven, dishwasher, and vent hood, so I bought a stainless fridge and declared the kitchen good.  I did repaint in the kitchen.  The kitchen probably won't hold me back from renting it for a few more years, but new cabinets and countertops are on the agenda down the road a little.

@Patricia Steiner@Bryan Blankenship@Michael Norris

Thanks for the advice!  I went ahead and sent the new lease, with the new amount, to the tenants, without talking about any improvements.

Usually, when we sign the new lease, I do some regular maintenance afterwards anyway.  I might propose a simple upgrade while I'm doing that.

There is a ceiling fan in the dining area, which I have always found a little strange.  I had to clean it when I was rehabbing the house - did you know that ceiling fans accumulate a lot of grease and dust when they're 4 feet from the kitchen?  I might offer to move that fan to the master bedroom, and/or put a regular light fixture in the dining area.  The master bedroom got a fan box and 14-3 cable from the switch to the box when the wiring was done, so it wouldn't be a lot of extra work.

I just have one rental property that I self-manage, but here's what I do.

I have the lease in a word processor file locally on my PC.  When it's time for a new lease, I update the dates and anything else that has changed, put a "SAMPLE" watermark on it, and print everything except the signature page to a PDF.  I then email the lease to the tenant a week or two ahead of time.  This is so they can take a look at it, or have somebody else take a look at it, if they want, before we sign.  (I don't like the whole vibe of "here's this 15-page contract, you can read it if you want, but we're both going to sit here at the table until you sign it", and this is my way of avoiding that.)

I set up a time with the tenant to sign the lease.  So far this has always coincided with a maintenance visit to the house, so I would have been visiting the house anyway.  I bring a printed copy of the complete lease, without the "SAMPLE" watermark.  Once we both sign it, and I do the maintenance work, I take the signed copy home and scan it.  I email a PDF copy of the signed and scanned version to the tenants, and I also print a paper copy and drop it by the house, usually later that same day.  I keep the original signed copy in my files.

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

I use Cozy.co for 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/...

I am not in NJ, so I can't help with a lease.  Sometimes a local landlords' association or real estate investors' association will have a lease you can use, if you are a member.

More and more cities are allowing this.  Often the law is you can't have a rooster, because noise, but hens are OK.  Sometimes the law says the birds must have adequate food, water, and shelter - just like for a dog that lives outside.  Look at the local ordinances to see what they say.

As long as the birds are outside, the coop/structure is reasonably well built, and the tenant keeps up with feeding, watering, and cleaning out the coop, I don't think it's a big deal.

"Reasonably well built" means, like, they didn't try to build a 10 foot tall coop with just a 1x2s in each corner - you don't want something that will fall over in a storm, and damage your house, the neighbors' house or kids or pets, etc.  Some people will buy pre-made chicken coops at the store, but some people that want to keep chickens are also very into DIY.

You might ask what the plan is for the winter.  Sometimes people will put an incandescent lamp or heater in the coop for the winter time.  If you have a GFCI outlet on the back of the house, and they run an outdoor extension cord from that to the coop - OK.  If you visit the property for maintenance, you might check to make sure the cord is in good shape, and ask them to replace it if it's not.  If they used an indoor-type extension cord outside, or if they bought a spool of (indoor type) Romex at the hardware store and DIY'd the electrical to the coop, that might be more of a problem.

Hit up the library or bookstore (new or used).  Look for books on "how to repair your house".  Get a few of those and read them - that way you can start to get familiar with what kinds of things can happen in a house, and how big of a deal it is to fix each one of them.

If there are any new houses being built in your area (like, within bike or bus/train range), and the neighborhood is relatively OK, go over to that neighborhood, after the workers have left for the day, and see what building a house looks like.  Don't trespass, but standing on the street or sidewalk and seeing how the house is put together is perfectly legal.  If you can, go several times, so you can watch it happen from the foundation all the way up.

If you live close to a store like Home Depot or Lowe's, sometimes they have free classes on "how to install a ceiling fan" or "how to paint".  They are trying to sell ceiling fans and paint, obviously, but you will definitely learn some things you didn't know before.  I don't know if they have age limits on the classes, but asking is free.

Look on websites like Zillow or Trulia for houses that are for sale around you.  Look at the square footage, number of rooms, and the year it was built, and compare that to the asking price.  See how that changes from house to house - for example, in your area, maybe a 3 bed 1 bath house built in 1980 sells for $120,000, but a 3 bed 1 bath house built in 2010 sells for $150,000.  Or, the same-sized house sells for different amounts of money in different parts of town - see if you can figure out why that is.

Good luck!

You don't.  :)

The evening after I closed on my first (and only, so far) rental property, I would randomly exclaim, "Oh sh(oo)t, I bought a house!", until my other half was tired of hearing it.  :D  The next day, I piled my tools in my car and drove over there to start rehabbing it.

A few random, specific tips:

Depending on how good the lawn care / other tenants are, the outside of the house may look OK, or not so good.  If it looks not so good, consider doing what you can to clean it up, right after you take possession.  I bought my house in February and the yard was full of sticks, there were leaves from last fall against the front of the house, and so on.  The second or third day I owned it, I cleaned all of that stuff up, just so it would look better in the neighborhood.  I was trying to show the neighbors that I cared about the property.

Once you get the roof replaced, make sure your insurance knows about it.  They may be able to reduce your rate a little.

If the units currently have bathroom fans and kitchen vent hoods that exhaust to the outside, good.  If not, consider adding them - or at least the vents for them - while the roof is being done.  It will take the roofers maybe an extra hour of time and $150 in parts to do now, and you will know that the new shingles are sealed correctly around the new vents.  If you call a roofer out to add them later, you'll pay a few hundred dollars, plus they'll be banging around on the roof again - doing it all at once means the noise only lasts for a day or so.  If you don't install the fans/hoods immediately, ask the roofer to put a cap over the inside of the vents when they are installed, to keep birds, bugs, bats, etc out of the attic.  When the fans/hoods are installed later, you will remove that cap, throw it away, and connect the ductwork where the cap was.

If the bathroom has a window, then by most building codes, it doesn't have to have a fan - the idea is the people will open the window when they run the shower, but nobody does that.  If there is a fan installed and working, most people will use it, especially in the summer.  This helps keep mold and mildew out of the bathrooms.

The recirculating kitchen vent hoods do work, but not as well as the ones that exhaust to the outside.  If you or your tenants cook a lot, they will probably appreciate the outside exhaust, because it keeps grease, steam, etc out of the kitchen.

Go in to the empty units and see what you have.  Take photos and make notes on things you want to fix / upgrade / change. The PM "should" check the units immediately after the tenants move out, but it's also good to check yourself, to make sure they didn't leave food in the fridge and then unplug the fridge, or leave a faucet running, or whatever.

If you can, try to fix things like carpet/flooring and paint in the unit you will live in, before you move in.  These are a lot easier to do when the unit is vacant.  Minor plumbing and electrical things (new faucets, new outlets and switches) you can usually do after you move in.

12-year-old HVAC is not too big of a deal, in my opinion.  If the PM doesn't already take care of it, you might think about scheduling a service call on the two vacant units, just to make sure they are in good shape before you or the new tenants move in.  You can change the filters and vacuum out the blower compartment in the furnace yourself, and you might think about hosing out the outdoor units - but if you're not comfortable doing that, ask the HVAC tech to check the outdoor units.

Good luck!