All Forum Posts by: Nancy L.

Please contact me as well @Jessica Roberts . How many units are you looking to convert it into? Is this a full gut out job? What needs to happen to divide the space? I'm just wondering about the 50K rehab price.

 True! Guess the question is the overall lifetime/maintenance costs of each type of floor. My gut feeling is that the nail down hardwood may be cheaper over, say, 20 yrs... But that would have to be costed out and would obviously depend on those installation and maintenance costs, usage, if you actually plan to keep the place that long, etc.

I have done DIY installation of both nail down and floating floors (laminate, bamboo, and engineered hardwood). Did not do anything differently from one to the other with the trim. Still had to undercut doors for floating floors... Nail down is way harder, and I had a lot of help from someone who's stronger than I am on that. Floating floors are a pretty reasonable DIY if you're into that sort of thing.

No matter what, my advice is to keep extra flooring for making repairs!!! In one of my apartments, I moved a closet, and of course under where the old closet wall was, there was no flooring. I had only saved a few scraps and that type of flooring was no longer available! Turns out they're very specific in terms of the way the tongue and groove fit together, as well as color and style. I was able to take up the whole corner of the room and weave in the scraps, getting the gap down to just one plank in the corner. Then a good carpenter friend of mine cut a board to size (somehow ripping it to make it the same height as the other flooring using only my circular saw!) I polyed the board, and it actually blends pretty well, but lesson learned, always save extra flooring!

My concern about floors and pets: I think potty accidents are unusual (have always have pets of my own and have had 0 accidents, except in housebreaking a puppy)... But if they occur, carpets are easily wrecked, for any kind of snap together floor, the urine can soak in between the cracks and be there forever... A nail down hardwood with its coats of poly gives ppl a better chance to clean it up. And they can be refinished if scratched or mildly stained.

Hi @Geoff Eldringhoff and welcome to the site!! I recommend completing the initial reading/research phase, then jumping in to avoid getting stuck in the planning stages ("analysis paralysis"). If you have any questions, feel free to ask me! I live and invest in rentals in Philly.

@Andrey Y.  Sorry, some kind of weird issue with the tags merging together... Let me try again...

As pointed out by Andy Gross, Philly has a great market for investment properties. I live and invest here. Feel free to contact me if you are considering that route.

@Andrey Y. , as pointed out by, Philly has a great market for investment properties. I live and invest here. Feel free to contact me if you considering that route.

@Chris Martin Welcome to the site! I live and invest here in Philly, in SF and multifamily properties. If you have any Philly related investment questions, feel free to contact me! Same goes for you @Michael Klein @Billy Maloney and @Larry Fried !

@Jay Hinrichs don't know if a paddle would help my cause any, but do want to try either/or at some point! :)

@Aaron Mercer Thank you, that's so nice of you, and sounds amazing! I'm PM you.

@Ali Boone That sounds great!

THANK YOU everyone!!!! It really was nice of people to give all these suggestions! I'm really excited for the trip and have so many great options now I doubt I'd have thought of.

@Matt R. That looks amazing!! This is going to be the best trip ever!!! I tried surfing once in Long Beach Island but it didn't go very well... It seemed more like trying not to drown while tethered to a surfboard... Maybe it would have helped if I took a lesson! Not this trip, but next beach trip, I'll have to try again.

@Tony Cavalli Thanks, but I won't get there til Late March! Try to have one while I'm there. :)

@Kimberly T. Thanks for all the great suggestions! I'll have to plan a return trip... As for landlording, I hear you about the laws there. Perhaps I'll build my Philly rental portfolio and just keep it if/when I move... Or as @Ali Boone suggests, focus on the fix and flips. In any case I do have to think about a personal residence, so all my explorations will be helpful I'm sure! As for camping, hadn't even thought about cabins, which sound like a good idea. I was thinking of tent camping, either trying to find someone local to borrow things from, or yes, lugging my stuff to AZ and being the only wedding guest to show up with a tent along with my cocktail dress.. :-p I'm an occasional backpacker so my gear is generally pretty light/minimal. I'm also just cheap when it comes to my vacation planning lol. Saving all my $$ for investments....

@Ryan Jackson and @Marni Epstein Thanks for all the good stuff to add to my list!!!