All Forum Posts by: Christian Morency

Get some bids and price it into your offer. If they don't accept it, move on. In other words, if the numbers don't crunch, skip it. You can always get it at a lower price next year.

Hi Jeff, I made a jig with two 45 degree edged 1x2's held apart by tacking a small piece of 1/4 inch plywood on each end. I left a 3/8th inch gap between them. Just lay it on your chaulk line and spray it black with those special cans you use upside down or you can use a paint brush.

Use an artists brush and a straight edge to hand paint the parts you can't get to with the "big" jig.

I use screws or crown staples and double up around all edges.

I have done 5 of my own houses and one for a friend. Dare to be different.

Hi Erin, I've found that my low end tenants don't clean their own tub surrounds so I get to. I now have a cheaper and quicker solution than Contact paper. The newer papers all use "removable" glue which basically means it doesn't stick. So I have moved on to one less step.

I just use drywall like the rest of the bathroom and paint it with high gloss latex.

That's it.

Just clean and paint between tenants and it always looks brand new and squeaky clean. Always buy top of the line paints because the most expensive ingredient in paint is the part that makes it stick like glue.

The bottom edge is a problem area which I have solved by using plastic Z-bar and taping the seam with blue masking tape before painting. Z-bar is used to keep water out of the horizontal seams when using plywood as exterior siding. Just ask the guy at Lowes to show you how it works. You'll figure it out.

I could fix that for under $5.00. A hose clamp and a piece of old radiator hose.

Don't make a bid deal out of it. It will last well over ten years. Don't even worry about it.

You have car payments?

Sell your car.

An unpaid car also means you have full coverage on your car insurance.

I have five cars and pay just over $600.00 per year for all five combined.

Also, go to your police department and file a complaint regarding your tenant blackmailing you. That is an illegal concept she is trying to use against you. Just tell them you "feel threatened" and wanted to report it for documentation purposes. Go back later and get a copy of the report.

It will also add more credible paperwork to your eviction process if she wants to fight it in court.

One more thing to think about. As you kneel by your bed in prayer tonight, send her love. Whatever you can muster.

It is not inaccurate to say that I have never evicted anyone. They are evicting themselves. They are only hurting themselves. They don't know that. That's why they need your prayers and loving thoughts sent towards them.

Do not sell the parking lot. That is a big thing.

Evicting a clueless tenant is a little thing.

Years from now, you will be thankful for this steep learning curve you are going through today. Hang in there, we've all been through it.

I use this method with almost every tenant. My add runs at $100.00 more than what I want. When the right tenant comes along, I lower the rent and tell them it is because they are exactly the kind of tenant I am looking for and how hard it is to get good tenants such as themselves.

If I don't want to rent to them, I give them the application and send them on their way.

Later on down the road, when the relationship gets strained, for whatever reason, I remind them that I chose them because I liked them. That diffusses the confrontation, making it easier to resolve the issue.

Even though I have low end rentals, I have found that "Everybody" enjoys a compliment and responds accordingly.

Just another thing I thought about to save money in the long run is to grease all parts of any new faucet install. After I install it, I take it all apart as if it needed new washers and seats, and then use plumbers grease on all threaded and moving parts. Two years down the road, when it's time to fix a dripping faucet, it won't take more than 10 min. and you won't break or scratch it all up.

Hi Brant. It's not particle board. That stuff is junk.

Here's another trick for hardened walls. Remember "Pergo" and all the other copycat flooring pruducts that are basically formica with snap together edges?

I use that stuff on walls too. Go ahead, put your fist through it, make my day.

I've even used it in shower stalls in some of my trailers. I treat the edges with used car oil before installing. So far, so good.

Now I'll see about posting a picture of that OSB subfloor stuff.

Wish me luck.

Whoopee...I did it.

As you can see, the high gloss varnish reflects light real good. It looks real shiny. You could eat off of a newly varnished floor like this, it's so clean. Think of it as "bling bling". It shows

real well to prospective tenants.

There is nothing a tenant can do to this floor that I can't fix. I once had to sand an area about 1x2ft to remove a water mark. ( I'll never use water based floor finish again ) Anyway, I just restained it, painted in the grout lines and varnished it. You can't even tell it was feathered in. That was a good test.

The first time I tried this, it cost $1.85 sq. ft materials and labor @ $15.00 per hour. The second time, it was $3.50 sq. ft. The second guy was way slower than the first. It's still a good price for flooring that will last and last.

My favorite long term money savers are a false floor / drainboard (higher in the back)under all sinks so any leakage will get on the floor instead of rotting out the cabinets.

I also apply poleurathane varnish under all laminate / particleboard countertops and new cabinets so everything is pre-sealed against water intrusion. I do the backs, bottoms and all edges before installing.

I build a 2x4 base that fits perfectly underneath the inside of the base of the cabinets because well meaning tenants tend to spill the mop buckets they use every year or so and the bottom edge of those particleboard cabinets crumbles and sinks and melts into the floor "if" it ever gets wet.

I too use 1x4's to back up all towel rods and such.

I use 3/4 inch galvanized pipe for all shower curtain rods installed strong enough to do pull-ups.

I use contact paper for all tub and shower surrounds. The stuff lasts forever. It's amazing stuff. Cheap too. :) Apply it after painting with high gloss latex.

I'm so sick and tired of dealing with moisture in bathrooms that I have taken to building a six inch or more stub wall starting on top of the tub going up the wall across the ceilng and down the back wall to the tub. This creates a walled in effect so no steam gets out above the shower curtain. Also no more rotten floors from the tenants not knowing how to close a shower curtain.

Hardwood floors are the most durable, (even better than tile because of the grout and cracking) but any deep scratches totally ruins the beautiful grain so I solved that by using 4x8 sheets of tongue and grooved sub floor ( the OSB, chipboard type stuff, [not plywood] and finishing it just like hardwood. I stain it and then paint a 16 inch grid/groutline to camoflage the seems, and oil base floor varnish as a topcoat. Between tenants, stain the scratches to match and apply one coat of varnish to create a brand new floor. $40.00 will do 400 sq.ft. I love it.The finished product looks like "bamboo tile". I didn't know there was such a product as "bamboo tile" until a flooring contractor complemented me on what a great job I did on the "bamboo tile". Go figure.To me it looks more like cork.

I could go on but my two typing fingers are tired.

P.S. My avatar is one of my duplexes I painted, "just for the fun of it".

My friend, who owns over 40 rentals had an issue with a tenant that got rabbies from being bit by a bat. This triggered the entire California State dept of Health and Safety and what-not.
To make a long story short, he was not allowed to do his own cleanup of the bat droppings in the attic of his own rental, so he called me. I'm just a friend who owns rentals too. I vaccumed them up and that was that. The inspection passed.
This is no big dealbreaker. Just hire a flunky for minimum wage and tell him that if you personally find one rat dropping after he is through, you will not pay him.
I spent less than 3 hours in the attic.
I used the droppings as fertilizer for my house plants.
This is not a deal breaker IMHO.