All Forum Posts by: Matt R.

@Marcia Maynard@Daria B.@Michele Fischer@Dawn Anastasi@Account Closed@Frank Dimino@Sterling White@Eddie T. @Linda Liberatore

Thanks to all for the ideas and tips!

I get possession in the middle of March, so I'll get some better business cards fired up before then.  If things go well, maybe by May I'll have a happy tenant and happy neighbors.

Thanks!

Thanks!

I'll take a look at the Smart Things stuff.  I took a quick look at their site and it at least looks interesting.

One of the challenges I have is that before I got into real estate, I wrote software for a living.  I figure that if *I* lash up the software with a Raspberry Pi, Beagleboard, or equal, it *might* be insecure.  If I *buy* the software from somebody, I *know* it's insecure.  :)  So that's why I was thinking of rolling my own, and also limiting myself to just monitoring at first.

Sometimes you can get a hint from looking at USGS topo maps.  Zoom in on that map to the area of interest, then click the "Mark Points" button and click anywhere near the lot to set a marker.  Click on the marker and you should get a list of available maps, which you can then view or download for free.  For Malvern, there are fairly detailed maps back to 1955, and ones at a larger scale (Phoenixville) back to 1906.

It seems weird that the township would tell a buyer that there's a sinkhole, but then clam up when you ask about it.  Maybe look at the surrounding properties and figure out if they belong to the township foreman's brother-in-law or something.  :)  Or, get a friend that the township has never talked to before, and have him or her pose as a potential buyer and call the township.  (Extra credit: record the call and then give it to the local paper if it's interesting...)

@Roy N.

If you don't mind saying, what kind of hardware (CPU, sensors) are you using for this?

I am interested in doing something like this for a house I am under contract for.  The water meter already has a transducer on it, and I think I can talk to that to get meter readings.  (If not, I'm pretty sure I can use an rtl-sdr stick to talk to the remote reading device.)  I've thought of adding a temperature sensor (freeze sensing) and maybe a line current sensor on the furnace.  The moisture sensing is something I hadn't thought of.

For connectivity, I was looking at using a cell-phone module (Adafruit Fona or similar).  I'm pretty sure the tenant will have some kind of Internet service, but they will pay for it, and I'd like to avoid having to depend on their Internet/WiFi.  My idea is that the CPU could upload routine logging data to me maybe a couple of times a day, and send me a text message for alerts (water running for a long time, temperature falling near freezing).  This would all go over the cell-phone network.

I don't really want to *control* anything yet, like the HVAC or the door locks.  I feel like that's maybe a little too intrusive for the type of property and tenant I hope to have.  (Ask me again after I have to drive over there at 3 AM to turn on the furnace. :) )

Thanks!

Here's a twist... have you thought about installing RGB LEDs?  That, plus a RasPi, lets you do tricks like orange light at "dawn", getting whiter during the day, and then going back to orange and then off at "night".  Or flicker the orange for a fireplace effect.  (Note: if the neighbors can see in, maybe alert them before doing this, to avoid unwanted 9-1-1 calls. :D )

Here's another suggestion... unless your wife is also a coder, maybe give her a simple toggle switch and a knob in or near the pantry.  The toggle switch goes "automatic, off, manual" - automatic lets the RasPi drive, off turns all the lamps off, and manual tells the RasPi to read the position of the knob and set the light level accordingly - just like a $5 Leviton dimmer.  This gives her an easy method of control without having to flip through an O'Reilly book.  :)

Hello all!

I am in the process of buying a SFR to rent out. It is currently owner-occupied; the present owner is moving out. As far as I can tell, the neighborhood is mostly owner-occupiers, with a few rental homes here and there. It's probably a B-class neighborhood.

I'm sure the neighbors will see the current owner moving out, and me and tradespeople going in and out (it needs a few repairs), and some of them will probably say hello.  I plan to say hello and tell them the basics: I've bought the house, I'm fixing it up, and I plan to rent it out.

My question: Do you give the neighbors your phone number / contact information when you've bought a house?

What I hope to do is reassure the neighbors that I'm going to be a "good neighbor", and make them comfortable enough to give me a call if they notice something odd with the property that doesn't warrant an immediate call to the cops, fire department, etc.  Like, "Hey, the mail has been piling up over there for a week", or "I haven't seen their car for a week and the grass is a foot high", or whatever.

What I don't want is to sound like I'm asking them to spy on my tenants for me.  Like, say I rent it to a single lady, I don't really want the elderly neighbor calling me to breathlessly report that *one* man visited on Tuesday night but, heavens above, a *different* man visited on Thursday night!

So... how do you all do it?

Thanks!

I've seen, but not used, thermostats that let the tenant set it to whatever they want, but then a few hours later, the thermostat automatically resets itself to a lower (or higher) setting.  The tenant can then walk over to the thermostat and change the setting again if they want.  These are strictly based on time, not occupancy sensing.  Google "landlord thermostat" for a couple of different vendors.

I can think of a way to do this with two thermostats, a burglar-alarm type motion detector, and a couple of relays, but that's kind of a science project.

Since I will be replacing a furnace soon, I've been looking around at thermostats.  One thing I've found is that at least the Nest, and possibly other "connected" thermostats, get software updates pushed to them from the manufacturer.  Sometimes the updates work and sometimes your furnace is shut down in January.  I think I'll be installing a "dumb" thermostat, and adding my own monitoring to it if I think I need it.

Trivia: I've been in a circa-1955 AT&T building that only had switching equipment in it - no offices.  It had two Honeywell round thermostats at different settings (inside one of those clear plastic vented boxes), and a spring-wound timer switch that ran for an hour or two (easily accessible). With the timer off, the "50 F" thermostat kept the equipment warm.  If workers were there, they turned the spring timer switch, and bought themselves two hours of time on the "68 F" thermostat.  If they were still there in two hours, they could turn the timer switch again; if not, it would automatically go back to the lower thermostat.  Cheap phone bills for all.

Disclaimer: I am not a professional electrician.

I live in Missouri, which is warmer than Iowa, and nobody has electric heat if they can avoid it.  Either straight forced-air gas, or heatpump backed up by gas, seems to work out the cheapest.  On the other hand, if you don't have ducts now, you probably don't want to pay for installing them.

One important thing to consider: how big is the electrical service to your building and to each unit?  One of those 4 kW heaters is 16 A at 240 V; two of those are equal to a clothes dryer.  If the units also have an electric dryer hookup and electric hot water, and they only have a 100 A service, adding electric space heating might pop a breaker.  Also, if your breaker panels are at all sketchy (Federal Pacific Electric, or maybe Pushmatic), you might think about swapping them out before adding the load of new heaters.

As to how many heaters you need... you can go by the square footage they list, but also think about how people are going to use the apartments.  I think your idea of smaller ones in each bedroom and then one for the living/kitchen is good; if there's just one for the whole place, the tenants won't be happy if they like to sleep with the bedroom door closed.  If the heater is near where people will sit and watch TV, and it's noisy, they'll have to keep turning the TV volume up and down.

Also, talk to your electric utility.  They may be able to put the apartments with electric heaters on a different rate plan.  It's still not as cheap as gas, but they will give you a little bit of a break to get the business.  Occasionally they will have other incentives for you to switch fuels; they might send a guy out to inspect that the hydronic heaters are there, and then later to inspect the electric ones, and then give you a rebate.

I've never had to deal with hydronic heat, but you might ask an HVAC guy if anything needs to be adjusted on the boiler / water tank if you permanently remove some of the apartments from the system.

If you have any of the exterior walls open, now is an excellent time to put in as much insulation as you possibly can.  Sometimes you can get rebates for doing that, too... the utility companies and maybe the place where you get the insulation will know about it.

I just went through this on a house.  To me, it falls under the category of "never ask a barber if you need a haircut".  The box they leave in the basement is *always* going to say a number greater than 4.0, because that's what the testing company - which is also the remediation company - needs it to say to sell the work.

I'd really love to call for a radon test on a house, let them put the box in the basement, and then move it out into the fresh air and sunshine in the back yard after they leave.  A few days later, right before they come back, stick it back in the basement.  If the box still magically comes up with a number greater than 4.0, scam confirmed.  (On the other hand, the report I saw *claims* that the box has power-failure and tamper sensors - maybe just a tilt switch, maybe an accelerometer - so this trick may be a little harder to do.)

Disclaimer: I am not a professional electrician.

Yes, you have to provide a GFCI outlet in a bathroom.

For new construction, I think the bathroom has to be on its own 20 amp circuit, but I'm not sure that's always been the case; it may have been 15 amps in the past.

Like @Donald Howaniecsaid, you can get a combination GFCI and switch that fits in the space of one "regular" switch or outlet.  Home Depot sells a Leviton one for about $30.  However, this will only work if the feed from the breaker panel comes to the light *switch* first.  If there are two cables coming in to the box where the light *switch* is, and one cable coming in to the box where the light *fixture* is, then this is probably what you have.

If the feed from the breaker panel runs to the light *fixture* first, you're probably in for fishing some new cable.  If there is one cable coming in to the box where the light *switch* is, and two cables coming in to the box where the light *fixture* is, then this is probably what you have.  If you don't understand what you need to do to make this situation work, call an electrician.

If not cutting into the wall is an absolute requirement, you can get surface-mountable two-gang electrical boxes.  They exist in both plastic and metal, but I think I'd use plastic in a bathroom.  Home Depot sells a plastic Wiremold one for about $10.  The back of this box has a place you can knock out.  You would then take out the existing switch plate and switch, feed the wires into the back of the Wiremold box, and then screw the Wiremold box on to the existing box.  (I'd also use a couple of drywall anchors on the side of the Wiremold box that isn't over the existing box, but that's me.)  Then, you can wire up the switch and GFCI and install them in the Wiremold box, with a new faceplate.  Again, this will only work if the feed from the breaker panel comes to the light *switch* first.

Note that Wiremold boxes are available in various depths.  GFCIs tend to be deeper than regular receptacles; check in the store if the GFCI you are buying will fit flush into the Wiremold box.  If you end up needing a deeper Wiremold box, you may have to shop around a little, or go to the electrical supply house.

If it were me, and the bathroom is drywall, I'd just sigh deeply and set about getting the existing box out of there, cutting the hole wider to one side of the existing box, and installing a two-gang plastic old-work box (about $1.50).  That way everything sits flat on the wall, looking nice, and probably makes the inspector happier.