All Forum Posts by: Sara Kumar

 Hi Bruce, I was just in the process now of looking for a contractor who does remodeling. I am doing new construction somewhere else, and that contractor in that state suggested finding a person who is willing to work on someone else's mistakes in order to reconstruct a home, add on another room, stuff like that . They will not walk away. Every time I call a siding person, water specialist, window specialist, they come and leave and say it is beyond their "scope of work." 

 Hi Alexander! Checking back a little late on this thread. My broker told the the policy I have will not cover bad construction from the contractor who built the home and if these items resulted from that, then it is not covered. That seemed odd to me. He said they would cover secondary damage though from this situation, like replacing drywall or floors becoming damaged as a result but they would not fix the membrane, siding, window installation, etc.

The windows were very cheap, and not good quality, and the wrong flashing, nails, and caulking was used, with many things "not to code." I hope I can one by one fix the leaks as they pop up. Right now, I just finished the ceiling on the middle floor, and I have 3 other window sills leaking.

I would in a perfect world like to repair the leaking around window sills, and keep renting my home and use my current windows. The home is located in TN but I am not, which is why I put Nashville, I was wondering where to go from here, and was searching google reviews which to me, generally lead nowhere half of the time.

 Thank you so much for your response! I also did not feel new windows were the answer. My neighbor did share additional info last night that through his own research he discovered the membrane under the siding, on most of the home, and the flashing is not done to code and siding needs to be removed, and this needs to be redone. This sounds very similar to what you are saying. At first I was concerned, because the home is large and can be over 200k of work. Which I do not have currently. I am in a medical bind right now, so someone I work with is flying there next week to meet with a GC who knows siding / flashing well, (they came highly recommended) and we will see from window sills leaking if they can identify what needs to be done. My neighbor had a very expensive inspection happen, and we have the same person who built our units at the same time so the likelihood of mine being different is slim to none I guess.

Hello,

I did an inspection when this property was purchased a few years ago. There was no water damage reported at that time. The contract has a 1 year limit for taking legal actions against the contractor after the sale of the house. I am out of that time period. My home was right under the 1 mil range, and a little over 3 years into owning the home, I am having sills leaking on multiple windows, and just replaced the roofing material on the second floor balcony due to poor flashing, and a membrane that was not run all the way up, but cut off right under the window according to the roofing company that fixed the balcony area. 

Does anyone have a suggestion for an honest and great company that knows siding? This company does roofs, and looking at the other window sills leaking in the home is not their thing due to it being the sides of the home, but they said most likely there is also a membrane issue on all those other windows. My neighbor is suing the contractor, and retained an attorney for 10k to have someone come in and do an inspection that holds up in court. I do not know who to contact who can do any real inspection like this and am reluctant to pay a retainer, when I have no interest in spending 50k on a lawsuit to collect the same amount. Replacing all the windows is 40-50k (Pella windows) and they said they will warranty their work and the construction, but that would not fix the membrane that seals the window that could be an issue. I do not want to waste money on windows that do not solve a sealing issue.

Looking for a company recommendation or perhaps someone who does this kind of inspection and can tell me exactly what the issue is. I have done two, where water detection devices were used and all they do is confirm there is water damage, and leaking from one area or multiple areas, I have no idea if it is the window still, or the membrane.

Thanks for reading! 

The issue was that the management would not properly manage and there was liability involved. It doesnt look great its pretty banged up but I have been great to the tenant and am letting it be most likely with paint and putty. If someone attempts to fix and gets hurt in a larger way I felt I could be liable. Thanks!

Funny enough, I ended up renting the property to 2 different parties this summer, both of which commented that it was exceptional value for the price point. I usually use agents, but in that market, it was not worth it as the agent did not do much in the previous year saying he had 3 inquiries and they all had pets when I was no pets. I had 56 inquiries, and discovered that this market in particular is similar to Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard, and the type of person I am dealing with in that area has to be handled differently. I took a business course in which he discussed negotiation, and in the process of that, found 2 great parties willing to pay the listed price for what they were asking for in a property/ location/ price/ decor.

I actually remodeled in that specific area and rented because as a renter myself, there was nothing in that value / price point so definitely knew it was not ownership bias. I had a professional photographer shoot the listing photos and the place where it was advertised is the main website out there, and my photos were one of a few professionally shot listings. In general, I found that when you do this as a "homeowner" people are more likely to try to haggle with you over pricing unfortunately.

This is one doorway. A few were in this condition. I sent a licensed person yesterday who does repairs on doors and asked if we could somehow cut out the wood that is bad and replace. He told me when the damage is like this it has to be replaced meaning door jamb, and door which is sold together and you can't cut out just a section of that wood and to bond it back to the way it was originally is not possible when it is that dinged , it is just white now, with dings and some corners fixed here and there. He then said the tenant did not say what they did put on it other than they hired someone to fix it. He said that it was clearly bonded or puttied, and just painted white and looked ok but had some still visible wear and tear. 

I am unfamiliar with how long bond lasts, how sturdy it is over time, and will I be replacing this door jamb in 6 months even with a patch job done like this because it will look the same way and all wear down? 

Would love to know.. 

When the tenant moved in 2018 the entire home was new, molding, carpet, everything. Turnkey. No damage except for 1 spot on the kitchen counter. I asked him for a quote to replace the door jamb  today and am putting a lien on the deposit. He said he noticed a few other things and this management company person has a history of not disclosing damage from tenant that exceeds normal wear and tear until I get the key back and the deposit was returned. I don't want that happening here until I can view the house myself after tenant vacates and I have the person I use to fix things present. I'm relieved I have a lawyer, he suggested the lien in this situation because they were being uncooperative down to providing us with a recent fully executed copy of the lease with updated contact info for the tenant. 

I read the HUD link in full and am fully understanding now my rights, and as I understand it if a tenant requests a door be widened, they must pay for that, a contract is in place, and it is returned back with a deposit made that is large enough to cover the full construction costs. In either circumstance, the door must look as it did when they moved in. Reasonable accommodations I guess is the act of simply allowing a tenant to pay for a door widening among other things.

There were a few other things I believe which are destroyed including carpet which was newly installed a week before she moved in, but b/c it is 7 years, I can't do anything about it from what I read on this forum and other people asking these questions. 

I am debating whether I want to restore the door to what it was, (I wanted to list this home for sale and I will surely get dinged on this on the inspection in terms of wear even if it is bonded and white). I have kept the rent relatively low for this tenant for 7 years due to the ongoing pity story and pressure from the management. I received all the information on what was going on with the tenants constantly, someone died, someone else now died, now you increased the rent and their extended family has to move in to help pay it. I actually to date did not charge what I felt the market rent was, because I genuinely felt uncomfortable. It actually got to a point where recently I told them I AM increasing the rent, this is the market price, and I gave them 2 months notice to sign a new lease at that or move and they are moving. So this has been going on for some time. . 

 In my humble opinion, the management person is pro tenant. I was also told this by someone else who experienced something similar and has property listed with them.  After this experience, I do not feel they simply are "managing both parties fairly." Lesson learned and would definitely like to know if I can report this company for this type of practice, and to whom?? 

I have not had any bad experiences with other management companies . The costs over covering fixes their tenants were responsible for over the years has accumulated to a large number. Those small costs add up and they do not follow though with holding security, or communicating with tenant as I would like but play God rather in deciding how to apply the law. That is up to a LL IMO as you bear the legal risk there anyway.

This was my last listing with them. Thanks for the advice checking in because it is greatly helpful this week.

The nature of the remodel would make it somewhat hard to inspect if it was done right without being removed. A licensed professional told me that it is not one of those kinds of repairs. I am concerned about it being done improperly, prettied up with paint, which many people do with even house flipping as I did this for a number of years, and then a short time later after everything is done and everyone exits, it all comes apart and you are left fixing it. If I had a penny for every time something looked okay and later learned it was not done correctly. So I am having a professional go today and take a look, and take photos, and give a quote, and I am sending the tenant a legal notice as well as the PM that no other fixing is permitted on their own besides paint, putty, and any hiring must be approved by myself first.