All Forum Posts by: Paul M.

If you have them in a different LLC then potentially yes the less intermingling the better, though you can do intercompany billing for credit cards if you have alot of them as no one is going to carry 9 credit cards. For bank accounts you should have separate account for each LLC. If you have them all in the same company or all in your name then you just code in your accounting software.

I'm not sure how working from home drives up rents, except that potentially everyone is going to want a bigger place and of course because of NIMBYism the market won't be able to respond to rents could go up.   Utilities costs go up too.   Potentially it makes it easier to rent 2-3 bedroom units because people want extra space for office.

Just a venting/commiseration post.   I'm sometimes frustrated with changes brought by covid, such as tenants working from home all the time makes doing maintenance harder.   Now the product I offer is fundamentally different, a 24 hours active service when I used to be able to do maintenance anytime I wanted during business hours for the most part.   Also the political anti landlord atmosphere is now out of control.    There is also the chance that demand will be sucked away to less expensive areas, still waiting to see how that plays out, but I accept market changes are a risk one takes.

In my market plumbers are expensive and often difficult to schedule.    We can go into the reasons for that but that is outside of the scope of the question.   Take it as a given.

My tenants aren't demanding instant resolution to problems, it is just my business model to provide class A service that exceeds expectations especially when materials to do so cost $50.  Every real estate investor has their own niche.

The attitude that multiple days without hot water is not a big deal is not consistent with providing class A service.  Ball valves are cheap.

Looking for ways to provide short term relief for hot water tank (or combi boiler) failure so tenant has temp hot water while I seek out fix.

When a hot water heater fails it is a big problem because the tenant has no hot water heater and you are scrambling to get a plumber, who are harder and harder to get and when it is last minute you are forced to take the most expensive option and still it is a long period without hot water.   With heat, I can bring in space heaters temporarily, and in some cases I have redundant heating methods eg a minisplit that also heats but isn't primary heating method.   With cooling, I can bring in window ACs.   I try to provide class A service.

To avoid disruption, of you say have a 2 unit building, is there anything unsafe about having a set of ball valves to act as a bypass setup so that when one hot water tank fails, you could direct water from the other hot water tank to provide heat for both apartments?   Obviously if tenants pay utilities you'd have to pay tenant whose tank is providing the backup.   Otherwise if someone made a mistake with shutoffs the unintended outcomes would be 1) fixture fed by 2 water heaters, doesn't seem like issue, except water may not be hot enough and you will see that 2) broken hot water heater fed by working hot water heater (could create flooding if broken one leaks similar to regular flooding whenever a hot water heater leaks) 3) fixture fed by no hot water heaters (will be obvious issue to tenant and no harm done).     Other then #2, I don't see any risks, am I missing anything?      

Other solutions I've looked into:

have on demand hot water heater-too expensive at like 3-4k unless there is a cheaper easier one out there?

tenant boils water-well that is what I say now, trying to avoid that

a second hot water tank, say if you replace early-too expensive for tenant to operate 2 tanks at once, and you can't turn down the temp for one while it is not in use because it has to be hot to kill germs

Replace tank early-you can do this, but how long the tank will live is unpredictable could be before end of warranty or long after.   Ball valves are cheaper

Booster-seems to be just for supplementing, not clear if it can heat by itself?   Also not sure of cost.   

Is the rental market cyclical over the course of the year in your area?   Where I am winter is dead, 9/1 is by far the best, 6/1 is good, and other non cold months are alright.    But regardless, a 6 month lease gets you to where most people have been vaccinated for covid, so I would just take that option this year.

Echoing what was said before.   Venmo and Paypal are no gos-they don't allow commercial transactions.   Cozy is probably the best option nationally.

You have to use whatever advantage you have in the business.   I have heard of police officers having luck in Class C because tenants will behave.    And regardless you have to provide good service, keep things maintained!   

Are there legal reasons not to give a reason for raising rent?   I can understand why there might be tenant relationship or business reasons why to do so not do so, but that is not what I'm talking about.   I often hear of rumors of legal reasons not to.  Certainly you don't want to give a reason that could be construed as retaliation for something the tenant did.    Are there other legal reasons?