All Forum Posts by: Mike Palmer

Hey Josh:

Nice to 'meet' you. Welcome to Utah, and good luck!

I don't mean to hijack the thread and I hope this will be useful info that ties into this thread as well, but what is your take on bedroom flooring for rentals in our region? 

I currently have carpet in all units, but I have heard a lot of good things about Allure vinyl plank flooring--more durable, lasts longer (so cheaper in the long run), and does not need cleaned between tenants. It is waterproof and can be used in any room of the house including basements. It seems worth looking into, but would it turn off potential renters to have this in the bedrooms? Do you all just go with the standard carpet? If not, what do you do on stairs and vertical surfaces where I have heard Allure and other options do not install well?

Thank you all for the insight. I was planning to mention that it was the kids, so good to know that is a bad idea. But how else do you let them know specifically what the problem is and how to stop it?

The up is 3 bed 2 bath and down is 2/1 and they have a lot of stuff, so it is not feasible to have them move downstairs. I think the option would be to not renew their lease, but it is exactly 30 days from the end of their lease, so I likely need to give them notice today if I am not going to renew. They have never missed or been late on payment and even had the carpets cleaned a few months ago (been there 2 years now), so I hate to not renew them, but I fear I will talk to them and of course they will say they will take care of it, but if I renew them and they don't take care of it I am looking at eviction. Is it worth the risk for otherwise mostly good tenants? I suspect any time you have kids in a unit with shared walls you are going to hear some noises, but I also expect that they can keep the noise down after a decent hour. I plan on having them sign an agreement that they will keep quiet hours after 10 pm and I am sure they will agree, I just don't know if they will follow through. What would you do?

Hey all:

I found out that my downstairs tenants have been having noise issues from the people upstairs. They mentioned this casually once before and I talked to them and hadn't heard anything since, so I assumed it was taken care of. Apparently the kids upstairs like to run around, yell, jump off the bed, etc., and it makes a good deal of noise. To top it off, they say it happens a few times a week as late as midnight, even on school nights (these kids are about 2-7 in age)! 

Question is, what do you do to incentivize them to keep the noise down, and what do you do to penalize them if it continues? I am going to talk to them again and have them sign a noise rule to be quiet after 10. Is that sufficient? How do enforce it? Can/should I charge them a fee if it happens again? Should I not renew their lease (I think they really like the place and want to stay)?

The downstairs tenants are moving out at the end of their lease. Mostly due to a change in commute and wanting to move closer to work, but he said the noise was a factor. He thought anyone new moving in would certainly complain, but didn't think it was necessarily a deal breaker. I typically try to stay out of tenant to tenant issues, but how should I handle this? Any ideas (preferably not involving them calling the police to come talk to them)? I don't think this would be loud enough for neighbors to complain, but being in a bedroom right below I can relate to it being fairly loud and definitely hard to sleep through. 

Thoughts?

I have seen some that say carpet is the way to go in bedrooms, but others that say it is too expensive to replace and there are on-going costs of cleaning between tenants. Personally I have the tenants pay for cleaning, so this is a non-issue for me other than a few minutes to schedule the cleaning. 

I have heard others say tile flooring because it lasts forever, but I hardly ever hear anyone talk about cleaning and sealing grout as a routine expense. I also hear people saying tile is too expensive and it breaks. I would go with a good quality tile and charge any breakage to the tenants. Cleaning is another matter, because in my area it is not customary to charge the tenant for tile cleaning as it is for carpet. 

I have heard to only use linoleum in kitchens and baths because it does not crack/break and is cheap to replace. 

Seems I have almost always heard NOT to use wood floors, but I have heard a lot of discussion recently on using Allure or similar wood-looking vinyl flooring. I have heard both good and bad things about Allure, but it is fairly cheap, lasts longer than carpet, and is water proof. I have heard of some people that use this in the entire house (bedrooms and basements included) because of the cost to durability, no cleaning, does not crack/break, and doesn't require cleaning like carpet does. 

I went and looked at the Allure at Home Depot. It seems very thin. It is also a floating floor. This makes it easy to install, but doesn't seem as good for durability. Overall I think it might work well though and I am really considering making a switch to Allure or equivalent vinyl type flooring. Has anyone else done this? Are you doing the entire house? Are you happy with the results? How do you do stairs and vertical surfaces, or what do you use there? Carpet always seems to wear quickly on stairs because a lot more force is put right on the edge of the stair a lot more often, so I am looking for something other than carpet on stairs. What do you use? 

So again, what is the consensus on the best flooring to use (where and why)?

I can't speak for John directly, but with Obamacare you can get on private insurance if/when you leave your job. With the beneficial tax advantages of real estate to offset much of your income, it is also likely that you can get subsidies to cover much of the cost. 

Awesome story!

Can you share (or maybe PM me) who this savvy investor from Utah is? I am looking for someone to partner with and/or learn from out here...

[email protected]

Where is the property located? What are the numbers? Is it a good enough deal that a cash buyer would want it? Will seller carry or is this strictly cash buyer?

Anything new come of this yet?

I didn't quite catch it, but is this just vacant/bare land with a shed on it, or is there a building or any improvements on it? What would happen if you turned on a high powered sprinkler aimed at the shed and flood him out? Or set up a bunch of fans around/at the shed to stir up a lot of noise and dust (or anything that would help him want to leave)? Or better yet, go to your local Home Depot and pay cash to some illegals to come remove the shed from the property...