All Forum Posts by: Paul Sandhu

Know how to turn off your water, gas and electric service; and keep the necessary tools in your vehicle.

Know how to do basic roofing: shingles, 2 part roll roofing, flashing and tar.

Know how to replace an electric breaker, light switch and outlet.

Have a RUP license (Restricted Use Pesticide).

Know how to do basic welding (Stick, MIG or gas; no need for TIG).

Have a box type animal trap, and know what to do with a trapped feral or wild animal that is a problem.

Know how to do common repairs to major appliances (broken air circulating fan in a fridge, thermal fuses in a dryer, agitator dogs and transmission coupling in a washer, blower motors & capacitors in central heat/air, gas thermocouples in water heaters and space heaters, know how to clean a pilot light orifice, etc).

Know how to do concrete and asphalt work.

Know how to do small engine repair (mowers, chainsaws, weedeaters).

Know how to detect and remedy gas and water leaks.

@Mindy Jensenundefined

Last year there was a group of boilermakers staying in the house.  They saw plenty of paranormal activity, but none of it phased them.  They actually came up with a name for the spirit/ghost.  They named it Stanley.

I have 22 furnished houses and apartments in my town.  82 beds total.  21 of the units have no complaints about paranormal activity.

My biggest house is a 3 story, 4 bathroom, 6 bedroom house with 9 beds. It was built in 1908. A person fell to his death when it was being built.

 Half of the people that stay there have nothing unusual to say. 

The other half say...things move across the mantle over the fireplace, pictures move across the room, water turns on on its own, locked doors are found wide open, lights turn on on their own, shadows of a person walking up the stairs when there is no person, etc.

The last in there was 6 people.  They stayed there for a month and they moved out.  Their food was disappearing and the locked doors would be found open.  I heard this from the other contractors they work with.  $1050/week is what they paid.

This activity is going to continue, IMO. 

Questions:

Should I tell new renters they may see strange activity? This will give them a mental bias.

Should I just rent out the place and let renters use their own untainted judgement about the house?

I have a16 unit apartment complex.  10 units are weekly furnished rentals to refinery contractors (welders, pipefitters, electricians, etc).  I put 2 gas grills and 2 charcoal grills in the area of the 10 units.  They are shared.  The renters just need to move whatever grill they want to use about 12' to be in there carport, or they leave it in the middle of their property and both units share it.

I have 22 furnished houses that I rent specifically to refinery contractors.  (Welders, pipefitters, electricians, boilermakers, etc).  Read some of my old posts.  I also charge $175-$200 per bedroom. 

Some of the things that you should provide:  cable, wifi, 1 smart tv with BluRay, regular TV's in the bedrooms, a gas or charcoal grill, a poker table, the sofa in the living room should be a sofa bed, washer/dryer with starting detergent, soap, tp, paper towels, cleaning supplies, vacuum cleaner.

Your dining room will never be used as a dining room.  Put a bed there.  Now your 3/2 can sleep 5 and you can charge for 5.

If you want to get fancy like I have done, put an outdoor picnic (beer drinking) area with a fire pit and fire wood, an archery or small arms shooting range, a kegorator. access to a garage with tools. When you have 5 paying people in the house, buy the house a keg each week they are there.  The extra rent from the 5th person pays for the keg.  You can also offer once a week housekeeping for an extra charge.  If there are day and night shift people sharing a bed, offer extra sheets but don't charge double.  Don't put up artwork of ponies, kittens or flowers.  Put up artwork of, men playing sports, muscle cars, wild game, those sorts of things.

The contractors generally have a mobile trailer at the job site where QC, GF, Safety and other higher paid workers stay.  Go to the trailer and put up a flyer about your house.

On rent day, go there with a box of small goodies (6 packs, small liquor bottles, candy, beef jerky, penthouse magazines, etc.).  The first person that pays gets to pick the first goodie out of the box.  Also, cash their paychecks if they need it.  I once was cashing about 15 paychecks a week, my charge was 1 beer per check.  Also offer them a fax service, and offer to check mail for packages.  Flat tires are another thing.  There is no place in my town to fix a flat before 8:00 and after 5:00.  They normally work from 7 am til after 5.  Fix their flats.  It also helps if you know how to weld.  I once had to weld a cracked rim of a flat tire.  Know where all the emergency walk-in clinics are.  You might need to pick someone up and give them a ride to and from the clinic.  Keep a weeks supply of penicillin or other antibiotics in the bathrooms.  Keep a skin stapler there too, you can get one from a veterinarian supply.  Be prepared to buy someone a one way bus ticket on your credit card, they pay you with cash.  Be prepared to drive them to the bus stop. Explain certain rules and regulations unique to your town so that they don't get in trouble.  For me, I tell them not to park on the grass in the front yard or else its a ticket.  Side yard and back yard parking are fine.  It's ok to drink beer on the porch, but if they go on the steps or in the yard its considered public consumption.  No indoor furniture (sofas, recliners, etc) can be on the front porch or else the owner gets a ticket. Warn them about house whores (that's what we call them).  Local women that offer cleaning, cooking & companionship in exchange for being robbed or otherwise parted with their money.  Don't let stray animals come in the house.  Strays carry fleas, the house will have fleas.  Round toilets bad, elongated toilets good.  Put a fancy cutlery set and a good set of seasonings in the kitchen.  Don't forget about a big stock pot.  Learn some Spanish.  Put a laptop computer in there.

I think that about covers half of it.

I do short term furnished rentals to refinery contractors. 

During the regular season I charge a regular rate for each occupied bedroom in a house.  A 2 bedroom house is $350 per week.  2 guys split it.  If a 3rd guy stays on the bed in the living room there is no charge.

I have some nicer 4 bedroom houses, they are $200 per week for each occupied bedroom during the normal season.  2 guys = $400. 3 guys = $600. 4 guys = $800.  There are 2 extra beds in the house that I don't charge for.

When there is a turnaround, I charge for every occupied bed in the house.  Regardless if it is in a bedroom, in a walk-in closet, in the dining room, or in the living room.  I charge the same amount per bed as I do during normal times, but now I charge for every bed.

There is a 120,000 bpd refinery in my town of 10,000 people.  A cheap motel is $350/week, and it's a roach motel.  A nice hotel is $600/week, serves breakfast and has a pool.

My rental houses are the equivalent of a nice hotel, with a kitchen and washer/dryer; at the price of a cheap motel.

22 houses, 82 beds.  As I am typing this, 20 of the 22 houses are rented out.

What's not rented out?  A 3 story house with 9 beds, 4 bathrooms, 2 washers, 3 dryers, and 6 cable TV's.  A 2 story house with 5 beds and 2 baths.  Bigger makes more money, but is harder to rent out.

Have someone drive by every motel several nights a week and count the cars.  If the occupancy is greater than 40% you've got a really good market to steal from.

There is a refinery in my town here in Kansas.  I focus solely on the blue collar workers that come here to work.  They are welders, pipefitters, boilermakers, electricians, insulators, scaffold builders and such.  Here, a cheap motel room with 2 beds goes for $350/week.  I charge $350/week for a 2 bedroom furnished house with 3 beds.  It'll have a washer/dryer, cable/wifi, and kitchen with everything in it.  

82 beds in 22 houses, that's what I have.

As far as promotions go, I have a banner in the contractors parking lot.  I have pens with my info on it that I give to everyone that gets a drug screen.  (Contractors must pass a drug screen before they get through the gate.  I do drug screens.)   If it's local people that I'm drug testing, I tell them about my houses and offer them a finders fee (half the 2nd weeks rent) if they refer another contractor to me to rent.  I also have a dump truck with my information on the side of the bed.  I park that near jobsites of other construction projects.  My daily driver has a magnetic sign for furnished houses on both doors.  I put up flyers and business cards on the bulletin boards of all the convenience stores and gas stations.  I also wear Bulwark FR shirts with my advertising on the chest 5 days a week.  Every day I bump up my Craigslist ad so that it's fresh.  I have not had good results from AirBnB or Apartments.com 

The better tenants get a home cooked meal once a week, or they are invited to my house to shoot guns and enjoy a kegorator.  My biggest house has a kegorator.

My rentals are furnished, bills paid, and rent by the week.  A basic 2 bedroom house goes for $350/week.  My biggest house has 4 bathrooms and 8 beds, it rents for $1400/week.  The typical stay is 2-3 months.  The houses cost $6-$8 per square foot, they are bank foreclosure sales.  The only people I rent to are refinery contractors.