All Forum Posts by: Terry B.

Actually, Lowes does provide a wide variety of installation service said. It is true that "vendors" (sub contractors) perform the installing, but Lowe's vets the installers, provides financing, and provides warranty on the vendors work. In addition to being a real estate investor, I also am a Project Specialist - Exteriors for Lowe's. I do in home sales of installed exterior projects. Our categories include Windows, siding, roofing, gutters, decks, fences, blown in attic insulation, HVAC, and whole house generators.

As everyone is saying, the emergency heat is an extremely inefficient way to heat a house (think $1 of heat for every $1 spent on electricity). Which is why typical electric systems are installed with a heat pump, which are much more efficient ($4 in heat for every $1 spent in electricity). BUT... A heat pump is only effective when the outside temp is above 32-35 degrees. Many times, HVAC contractors will install a switch that turns the heat pump off (emergency heat on) when the temp drops too low. This is to save energy... No point in running the heat pump if it's not helping!! Another reason for emergency heat kicking on is an issue with the system. For example, at one of my rentals, the tenant started complaining of extremely high electric bills. It turns out the coil was bad, causing the refrigerant to leak out. If the system is low on refrigerant, the heat pump will not work properly and possibly freeze into a huge block of ice (which mine did!). If tenant isn't doing anything out of the ordinary (turning on emergency heat at the thermostat, running space heaters, etc), I'd recommend having an HVAC contractor come check the system. Best of luck!

Tia Rubadeau I use American Modern for most all of my flips, as they tend to be the most reasonable for vacant properties from companies I've shopped (well, my agent has shopped!). I've only had to file one claim. About a week before closing, someone broke into a flip and an appliance package was stolen. In the process of getting the appliances out, some doors and floors were damaged. The thieves were nice enough to turn the water off on the fridge and dishwasher lines before cutting them (I had one thief who wasn't as nice and ruined about 900 sq ft of carpet when they stole my fridge). American Modern was great. They handled the claim very quickly and gave me a fair price for damage done.

@Jeff Copeland it was fraud if they said they were an owner occupant because the house was listed, marketed, and sold as a rehab!! It wasn't a hud or fannie property.

Deanna McCormick there was a nice property I bid on 3 years ago and did not get. I assumed the bank received, and accepted, a higher offer. Fast forward 6 months... While working on a different project, I drive by this house every day and see a for sale sign pop up in the yard. Curious about listing price, I call my realtor so he can give me info. Come to find out, the people who purchased the house paid $148,000 for it. That is $17,000 LESS than what I offered!! I was confused as my offer was cash, included no contingencies, had proof of funds, and $10,000 ernest money... So their offer couldn't have been better. Even if there was a way the bank could pay $0 in realtor fees on the other offer, their net would have been higher accepting my offer!! Only thing I can figure is someone had a connection to the bank to get them to accept a lower offer... Or a connection to the listing agent and my offer never made it to the bank!! Needless to say, that was frustrating as I would have made $70,000 on that house... But no reason to dwell...on to the next!

Yulia Kaygorodtseva I'm not sure how the social security checks are set up, but you may want to get some legal advice if, without the social security, you wouldn't rent to this perspective applicant. Reason being... If the checks are made out to "Jane Doe (your applicant) for the benefit of Billy Doe (child)" or made payable to Billy Doe (applicants child) with Jane Doe (your applicant) listed as the custodian, you may not have legal recourse to gain access to these funds to recoup any unpaid rent or damages. Not intended to be legal advice, as I am not a lawyer... Nor do I play one on TV ;) I just have some experience in banking where we ran into situations where custodians weren't allowed to do certain things with these types of checks because the money is technically the child's and doesn't belong to the custodian. It could be completely different in this instance... Just wanted to share!

Micki McNie any assistance you can provide this gentleman?

Marci Stein Pretty much anywhere... Just shop the sale ads. I've got a friend who is a commercial territory manager for a large appliance (and electronics) retailer. He gives me pretty good prices with or without a sale, which is fantastic. I have shopped the prices he gives me against other retailers and he isn't that much cheaper if I shop the sales.

Retail, not resale! Sorry!!

Marci Stein I pay $1600-$2000 for a new stainless steel appliance package that includes a fridge (ice and water in the door), range (electric or gas), dishwasher and OTR microwave. That being said, I focus on houses that resale in the $120,000-$150,000 range and those appliances fit well. Buyers of higher end homes will expect higher end appliances.