All Forum Posts by: Shaun C.

A properly designed 2 zone system would have dampers to make it work. Paying for 2 systems doesn't make sense unless your house is 5k sf or bigger. 

By installing the junkiest system he can put in. In Michigan my costs are higher, where we use AC 1/3 as much as Florida. You should be looking at least putting in a 16/18 SEER unit or a heat pump model in Alabama.

2000 sf is nothing for a properly sized system. We just upgraded a home two a two zone system and it's crazy comfortable now. Spend the money now for the extra zoning damper system and ducting needed for it to work, or continue to replace 2 separate systems every 15 years...Which would you pick?

I like having nice things, and tenants that put value on having nice things as well. I rarely ever have to replace things due to wear and tear or neglect. However, these are the same people that are 1-3 years away from owning their own homes; not the people who are perpetually renters. If you plan to hold long term, it's all market dependent. In a recently or mid gentrifying area, I'd probably buy low, fix, and sell after having all the numbers work. But if the area is stable then it only makes sense to replace with things that don't bump the rent too much.

My question is, why do you have two systems for a 1,600 sf house? Have you looked into adding a zone damper system so two thermostats can control one hvac system? That is much more cost effective and efficient than having two systems.

 It will. 

You need to call your local building department to see if this is against code, which I would hope it is. I also do not agree with your solution, the problem is the dog, not the tenants, or the front door.

8x8 is incredibly small for a kitchen, 12x13 is also small for a dining room. I'd combine the two into one. Dining rooms are really too common anyway, and certainly not needed for a rental of that size.

You have already been served with the notice to quit. If they served it properly and timely, you have to move out, or you will be a holdover tenant and they will start the eviction process. From what you've said, you should have taken this more seriously from the beginning. It doesn't matter if there is no lease, there is a set duration for how long the landlord must give when on a month to month lease. It is usually one period (in this case, one month), although it may be longer. You should look up the laws in your state to see if you have more time, or move out by Wednesday.

@Anne Smith

It's been tough the past 5-6 months trying to sell the home. We've probably had it shown 30-40 times as well as a bunch of open houses and everyone says the same thing 'Gorgeous home, but we don't like the road next to it.' We've wen't from $650k, which was honestly a stretch and we should have priced it closer to $600-625k from the get go just to move it, but wanted to see if we could go higher. The price is at $585k now and we should either get asking price or $575k, but not anything lower.

Our numbers when I made this post were also off. After tallying up all the final expenses, we put about $210k into the home, which was almost $50k more than we had planned. I stopped updating our budgeting spreadsheet about a month out, and when everything was over it was pretty shocking to see how much the little things add up. That, coupled with the extra carrying costs means our profit now is more like $60k, which is a far cry from the $150k we thought we would get.

So we're taking this one on the nose a little bit. Don't count your chickens before they hatch is all I would say. It's been a hell of an experience, and I hope to take what I've learned with this one and repeat the process this summer with some homes in the $100-200k range and see how much faster I can rehab them and get them sold. I'm a licensed builder now, and in the process of getting my real estate license so those will be things I can save on as well. That alone would have saved us about $12k on this home.

In the end, we're still making money, and a good amount too, but probably not worth all of our time. I learned a lot, got to turn an eyesore of a home into something much nicer, and much more efficient when it comes to energy use and comfort, so I'm still as happy about that as I was when I originally made this post.