All Forum Posts by: Samuel Mallery

Hi there,

New to home owning and to rental property owning. What are routine (monthly, quarterly, yearly) maintenance stuff I should do to make sure my rental is in good working order.

I'm looking for preventative maintenance to make sure things last as long as they can. I believe the hot water heater should be flushed once a year but past that I don't really know.

Any advice as to what others do on a seasonal or yearly basis would be super helpful.

Thanks in advance!

@Sam L.

Thanks! I'll check them out

Looking for recommendations on property managers in Howard County Maryland from others who have had positive experiences.

Thanks!

I've been told that a home warranty is a smart decision for landlording. I can pay the monthly amount for the service (~50$) and then when anything breaks I can have the tenant pay the deductible, making issues pretty low stress.

Is there anything I'm missing here? Has anyone else used a service like this and have opinions?

I bought a property recently that has a chimney. In order to get licensed in Columbia this needs to be inspected and cleaned every 1/2 years.

I had one quote from giross for 400$ but was wondering if anyone had suggestions for people/ companies they use or any idea if this is a reasonable quote. All in all I would rather pay more for better quality work but wanted to poll the crowd first.

Thanks!

Where can I find a lease for renting a house in Columbia maryland? Do I really need to find a lawyer for this or are there other options available?

I have read the maryland and Columbia landlord tenant laws but I want to be confident that a lease I write up is solid to protect me and the tenants.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance

If I'm looking at a house with a voucher tenant who has the state paying 100% of the rent and the tenant is looking to resign, how much do I allocate for vacancy? Still go with 8% to be conservative or can I drop this to 5%.

In the long run I figured there will be vacancy at some point but wondered about what to allocate when running numbers on it now

Thanks!

@Gayle Melnick thanks for the response and good note about needing the rental license and lead inspection.

If I'm planning on purchasing a row home, I think I probably don't need to worry about the outside paint (since it would be brick). From your experience would you say that most houses have issues with lead paint? Or is this more of a house specific thing depending on what I purchase?

@Ali Boone when you say expenses are really low, which expenses are you referring to? Capex, vacancy or other ones? Only asking since taxes are high

@Stephen Kehoe

Thanks! Yeah I have noticed the high property tax rate for Baltimore.

Question on water, wouldn't the tenant pay that?