All Forum Posts by: Eric B.

Heck I should have also said that it could have been built that way.  But with the planned addition it is likely that a soils evaluation will be required.  It makes sense to me to prioritize that and see what it reveals about the area of concern and then move into the addition/repair phase informed about the situation and fix(s).  Then you can set your budget and aspirations based on remedial work if any is needed.

Hey Brandon,

So I would start with a geotechnical engineer or a engineering geologist.  They can evaluate the problem by collecting subsurface data then propose a solution based on your site conditions.  I dont know much about Montasano from a geotechnical standpoint but here in the northwest we dont tend to have expansive soils like texas so solutions tend to be different.  Many of the residential foundation problems in the puget sound are rectified by using 'pin' piles which are basically a pipe shoved into the ground untill it reaches a dense "bearing" layer.  That layer could be 5 or 500 feet down so thats why you need sub surface information.  A block foundation complicates the issue because it doesnt have much tensile strength so some other member may be needed to load the pins.  With no information specific to your site its very hard for anyone to give you a ballpark and have it mean much.  You are looking at 1500 to 3500 ish to get a geological evaluation done and some preliminary design work.  The fix cost will depend on what they find.  There will be professionals based out of Olympia/Tacoma that you can get bids from for the soils report and design work.  Ive been out of the full time practice for a few years so I don't have any specific names to share.  If you need any help sorting through the process feel free to get in touch.

Hope that helps.

Eric Brady, L.G.

In.  Love The Ram.

I Love the Smart Keys.  Value your time people!!!! I had a break in (forced entry to a window).  Strangely it was someone who they knew and had told them that they had lived there before.  It was a great feeling to say to the question "Who had the key before us?"  "Nobody you are the only one besides me that has that key".  Boom.

How do you know it's mold?  Are you or the seller a professional with expertise in the area?  Has someone done the testing to find that out?  Usually it's cheaper to fix it than find out what species of mold it is.  In my (our) area it can be a challenge to find a house without "black fuzzy staining" somewhere.  If it's water spots fix it and move on.  It can be a good opportunity.  If someone has hung the "mold" sign via disclosure stear clear or build professional remediation into the budget.  I'm rehabbing a leaky chimney house right now and we had water damage but no mold to my knowledge.

Ok so I called them and here was the deal:

Previous owners tenants (multiple) had not paid their final bills (shocker).  So they asked for the lease to prove that the new tenants were not the old tenant (I suppose that is reasonable) I asked very nicely if there was anyway we could separate the owners and have that work.  The nice service person went on the county records site and found the sale records and was able to see I was the new owner.  She then asked me to have my new tenant call her specifically and set up the new account so there would be no further problems.  Very nice ending.

I basically just took @Marcia Maynard 's advice.  I really like her suggestion of calling the utilities at move in with the tenant (brilliant!).  Only issue that I might have is that the CoOperative water/electric utility is still manually reading meters so it isn't instant.  I also tend to do movein/moveouts on weekends which they are obviously not open durring those hours.

I recently @Jeremy Pace added a fine for failure to hand over utilities..... I rent to college students and we all know how big of procrastinators they can be. 

@Kyle HippYes they have a copy (yikes!) but I understand why they were reluctant to hand over a private contract to a utility it's not really their business.

@Joe CummingsMe either and my tenant is the daughter of a TX landlord and she didn't get it.  In this county it's a government granted monopoly for trash service for better or worse...

@Mark Brogan I agree that they are trying to protect themselves and applaud them for that.  However, I see moving the cost of dead beat tenants to the landlord as another symptom of our society divorcing individual consequences from individual actions.  It's a slippery slope and I am sure we could have an interesting discussion on that alone...

Keep your head down and don't ask questions huh? @Randy E.  I did feel a bit silly for posting when it went away so easily with one phone call.  Oh well hopefully someone else can learn from the discussion.  Macia's tip was totally worth all this typing!

@Mike OstermanOur regional gas utility requires a credit check and deposit but once you have established 12 months good payment history they refund it.  I recently hooked up gas after a 10 year break and they had my payment history saved..... and no deposit!  sweet.  I really hope utilities stay away from this as these additional deposits are hard on my tenants who are usually moving out on their own for the first time!  I actually don't like having rentals with gas for this very reason....

@Steve Babiak I like the idea of alerts as it allows me to jump in and deal with a problem before it becomes an issue.  I havent had any nonpayment of utilies yet but I suppose it's a matter of time.  I have always made sure that the utility has my contact info and I let them know its a rental but I have never asked about a formal process.  The water and electric coOp is always good about calling me to confirm when the billing is changed, they do an awesome job!  Garbage is a little different in my mind as bills are paid in advance and they could not pickup garbage if the bill isn't paid....right?

Well alls well that ends well, now about that vacant unit and the slow rehab.... :)

Just got a call from a new tenant starting her services at one of my new rentals.  The waste company wants a copy of her lease to start the service.  Really?  I have never heard of such a thing.  A year ago this same company did not, to my knowledge, require the same thing at a different property.  What is going on here?  I don't even understand what they would get out of having it.  These utilities are making it harder and harder to move the utilities billing from person to person.  Thankfully the local cooperative that covers light and water is easy to work with (and all my rentals are within its boundaries).  The Sewer District requires a notarized letter to move the bill into a tenants name, I have basically been forced into including it in rent (and eating the 5-10% increases every year).  

Any suggestions on how to make these handovers smoother for my tenants-specifically with the garbage company? 

Thanks,

Eric

Congrats man.  You have officially crossed the 10 property barrier and with ease it seems.  Keep up the good work.  I hope to be you in a few years. 

The comments above cover it well.  I would expect that in our area the wiring would be 2 wire (without a 3rd ground wire).  Electrical service maybe less than 200 amps.  Galvanized pipes.  Asbestos and lead paint/pipes.  A good home inspection should help you sort some of these issues out.  While many home inspectors exclude some of these items they should have been trained to identify them and can recommend next steps if they see signs.  Lead paint and pipes can be detected using home test kits available at big box stores.  I just closed on a 1000sqft 3bd 1ba 1953 ranch that has some of these issues.  Its totally workable but you have to do the work to see if it fits your plan.  Good luck.  If you need any help feel free to pm me.

Eric B

Home Inspector

My sfrs we pay sewer only since it is a fixed cost and pierce county sewer makes it a huge hastle to change the bill.  Water and electric are billed together in my "farm".  Sewer costs have been greatly increasing every year for the last several.  My educated guess is enviornmental regulation.  It is a pass through cost though as all units pay the same rate in my area.  Good luck.