All Forum Posts by: Nathan Golding

My wife mentioned this fact a couple days ago.  A bit surprising at first but the more you think about it the more true it is.

Last month we had negative 20 degree weather and a lot of batteries in cars died that where parked outside.  I was shocked to hear how many people could not afford the 100 dollars or less to buy a new battery until their next paycheck.  

Even when I was in college working part time I still could afford a 1000 dollar unexpected bill.  Had it happen a few times to.  Never fails you spend 500 dollars to treat yourself on a rare purchase and your car is in the shop the next week.  

Doing your own repairs.  Unless it is hvac, a new roof or plumbing past the valve I do all my own repairs.  Wish plumbing did not frustrate me so much since I just dropped 4k in the last 2 months on plumbers.

Having the tenants do the snow removal and mowing.  We provide the mower much cheaper than knocking rent down for them to provide their own.  

I combined all my properties into 1 insurance policy.  It knocked down the rates by a couple hundred a year.  

I just renewed my business line of credit in November and it was raised to 6.2% with 35k of credit.  I was a bit upset that it went up half a percent but everything for interest rates went up this last year.  Its the cost of doing business.  

@Joshua D.

Yeah it was suppose to just fund my hobby but grew so much had to do it full time.  Plus it funded the rental purchases.

I specialize in Makarov, Mausers, Mosins and the SKS and dozens of other guns to a lesser extent.  

I tried having my own website but trying to get traffic to it was a challenge.  I found ebay is the way to go.  People are lazy and suspicious of signing up to another new website.  Much less thought about spending 20 dollars on ebay when it takes 5 seconds to buy.  

The last two years once I moved out of the dorms I started my own online sales business selling WWII gun parts which is now my primary income.  

On top of that I worked part time painting houses for rich people vacation homes.  

I just had 12-15 feet of cast iron sewer pipe replace on a rental.  They replaced all but the last few feet with pvc up to the house.  Of course the pipe pitch sunk and a root ball formed in the 15 feet of cast that was left.  They charged me 1200 dollars to replace that section.  So I would say your price is a bit high unless they are digging up more than just lawn.  

Go get a few more quotes.

Also send out a notice that flushing anything besides TP is not allowed and if a clog results tenants maybe held liable for part of the bill.

It depends on the situation.  Hard to give solid numbers with out pictures ect.  So here is a rough idea.

Going the route of just cleaning the structure and replacing the insulation.  

By square foot prices

Remove and replace insulation 1 dollar to 1.30

Kill mold/Clean structure .30-50 cents

Spray structure with sealer 45 cents

Total repair cost 1.75-2.25 a square foot.

Then obviously fix source of problem is extra.

Thoughts from a former Project Manager that worked for Service Master.  Quote is non binding rough estimate which can vary by job size/state.

Cash it out.  Buy somewhere else that is cheaper to get better return on the money invested.  

I would also be hesitant investing with family unless a few where silent partners that gave no opinion on how to run the rental.  

That crack looks fairly wide.  The crack itself would only cost a 100 dollars to patch up to look good but I would be concern about why it cracked.  

I would want to search the whole house for more cracks.  Check the foundation for damage, see if the floors are level, check the roof for it dipping or anything else that suggest structural damage.  

Leave the shed.  Looks like it is in good shape.  

I am actually looking for a piece of land very similar to that in wi that has a few acres to put a small building on to be an off grid type cabin to camp in.

Advertise it as rustic cabin camping area.

Or a shell of a tiny home for the new owner to personalize.