All Forum Posts by: Pat L.

As an aside, after we had the fire sprinkler system installed, tested & monitored 24/7 our annual insurance premiums were discounted $1,000. Since I did all the design, installation & work the payback for us, (just in premium reductions) will be 2.5 years.

We were amazed that a young couple we know just signed a similar rental agreement that stipulates that they are responsible for repairing/replacing any malfunctioning appliance. 

Rent is $2,400/month + utilities.

Interesting read on rents...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/u...

Our Lakehouse neighbors are having problems up here with the town. One year the town welcomes the new cottage/Lakehouse owners and touts the fact they are renting their properties to help with their (insane) property taxes. A year later the town implements new codes to shutdown STR with the min being 30 days. They cite parking, noise & septic tank o/flows as the major concerns, so even without a HOA running a STR can be tough.

We've been lucky but then again we screen, screen, screen. BUT lately whenever there is a vacancy we see that the mkt rents have increased so much that we just cash-in, staying just under those higher rents & we always get it. Plus we rarely have any down time between tenants. 

In fact we just sold a home we had rented since 2008. They were great tenants & we literally NEVER had to visit the property once. The neighbor told us she taught pole dancing in one of the rooms & the guy who bought the home from us found the solid brass pole in the basement & the ceiling header & floor base firmly attached in one of the upper 6 bedrooms. In retrospect pole dancing is NOW considered a 'sport' & may soon be an Olympic contender. 

We had an older lady tenant complain that the NEW girl who moved in was 'entertaining' & taking up visitor parking. We let it ride & then found it was her brother going through a tough separation so occasionally he needed to get away. 

But back in the day of student housing we had two such ladies (self declared) renting one side of a duplex. NONE of the 5 male student tenants in the front apartment ever complained & the ladies always paid on-time & in cash. 

My daughter in Scottsdale AZ had a simile problem. When temps outside hit 115DegF the upper floor would not cool, in fact the 5yr old dedicated 4 ton system just could not get it below 100DegF. My daughter had an excellent a/c guy confirm that a couple of the upper floor cold air returns were NOT connected to the upper floor furnace & blowers. Home was built around the late '90's so previous owners must have suffered this problem for many years. But my daughters' roommate uses the upper floor for her home office setup so it was unbearable.

The a/c guys installed the missing connection(s) plus another strategically placed cold air return vent, with minimal damage to the walls & now the upper floor is very comfortable. 

We have used a LOT of Lifeproof & no issues. Had a glue down product "professionally" installed & it was a nightmare. We grab any quality LVP that's discounted, the last was enough to do a couple of laundry rooms & a foyer, $12/box of 23 sqft. BUY good quality KNEE pads.

So true, especially after telling us as we gutted & rebuilt the Lakehouse that we wouldn't get it done. He was astounded Monday when he found out I was digging up the inlet/outlet baffles on my Lakehouse septic system to clean them. Then couldn't believe that my Lakehouse neighbor, a surgeon, came over to help, because he loves to dabble in real estate & learning something new. As real estate investors we live in an entirely different reality to that of these skeptics.