All Forum Posts by: Ting Lai

Thank you for all great tips and advice! I've got some useful ideas for the next steps. 

I am still not sure what's the best approach to appeal - The home warranty company used another company (local HVAC firm) to take care of the AC-related claims. To my understanding, they have refused repairs / coverage (due to a variety of reasons) for my AC, along with other investors' ACs (a total of 5+ units at least) this summer. We plan to, altogether, walk out of this home warranty contract (decide not to renew), leave a bad review of the HVAC firm, and appeal to get a second opinion. Altogether we will have at least 10+ units business discontinuing with this home warranty company, but not sure they will care. Still we think this is the right thing to do.

Interesting idea to get a lawyer involved, @Jim K. I guess you're right that we need to have a legal counsel in our team to deal situations like this. 

Thanks all!

Thanks Nathan! This is super helpful. I highly appreciate your words of wisdom!

Best,

Ting

My friends and I have a small multi (12 units) in Tucson, AZ, and would like to look for a property manager who is experienced in managing these type of properties. We have some local connections / names but would like to expand our research and please message me if you have good contacts / names! 

Thank you!

My friends and I owned a small multi (12 units) in Tucson, AZ and have had the home warranty that came with the purchase since last year (Nov). One of the units recently had AC issues and the home warranty company sent one of their network companies to assess. They commented:

"the compressor breakdown was a result of secondary damages due to the poor maintenance conditions of the evaporator coil and therefore will not be covered by the company service plan" and they quoted a ~$2700 out of pocket repairs, or even a brand new AC. 

The main coverage definitely included the AC but it was shocking to receive this notice. Is this legal / reasonable? Does anyone have such experience with home warranty company?

PS: in my previous posts I also had suboptimal experience with this home warranty company and am finding alternative companies / solutions once the contract is over. I appreciate the advice from many experienced folks here and would highly appreciate your thoughts around: 1) whether you have encountered similar experience and how did you overcome this 2) what are other suggestions / action oriented solutions? 

Look forward to your feedback!

Thank you for all your comments and advice. I took it to my heart and continue to improve the efficiency of my investment / approach of managing my portfolio.

I do plan to offer concessions before I even asked the question, and was trying to put together a solution to expedite the process. Now the water heater has been fixed, the key learnings I had:

1. 48 hour rule for essential appliances - especially HVAC / water heater. I got very "lucky" for having another unit's AC compressor to stop functioning in the middle of this / at the same time. My PM immediately got a portable AC while reporting to home warranty for repairs 

2. Home warranty + reliable network of technicians / handymen dual strategy: I am utterly underwhelmed by the speed and quality of the services provided by home warranty. My true cost is not just home warranty + service call fees, but the prorated rent concessions, plus furious tenants. I will be much better off paying a technician to replace it OOP

Now I am wondering if I can seek compensation from Home Warranty company about this painful experience...

Thank you again for sharing thoughts and experience. Truly appreciate this. 

@Leonard Caron thank you for your reply. Yes I am considering concessions after this is over!

@Kyle J. & @Paul Welden - interesting comments on home warranty. I thought by purchasing it, this will save me money in the long term. Are you suggesting I am better off not tapping into this service, or only certain categories of services (e.g., water heater). I am concerned about bigger ticket items such as HVAC thus the purchase. 

This situation is in Tucson, AZ. My tenant reported a malfunctioning water heater a week ago. Immediately my property manager has contacted home warranty and scheduled a technician visit. The technician brought the wrong part for his first visit, and concluded that he needed to order the new part in his second visit - now still waiting for the parts to arrive. This has resulted in no hot water for tenant for a week (and counting). Tenant now is threatening to "talk to his lawyer" for the pain he / his family (wife + baby) have been through, and that he is "collecting the evidence". 

For the past week my property manager and I have been discussing what else we could do to help. We also asked a second technician to visit the house today (Sunday) to see if he can fix it, but he couldn't because the first technician has taken out key parts for the water heater. 

I am concerned about the consequences - so I am seeking BiggerPocket's advise:

1. From your perspective, do I have a legal stance on this case (if it comes to the worst)?

2. What's a better approach / alternative approach to address this issue? 

3. Usually what's a reasonable amount of time to allow repairs? 

4. What's the responsibility of the home warranty provider? 

5. In thinking about long term / strength of my RE portfolio, should I also have a legal expert in my team? [Note: I am just a small player and have <10 units but I see how important it can be to have a legal expert in situations like this]

This is a very stressful situation for me and I appreciate the potential implications and learnings I can take away from and strengthen my system. I look forward to hearing from experts in this forum. 

Thanks,

Ting

Yes.

@Account Closed Please give me the phone number. WE are conducting due diligence for each PM. 

My partners and I are on track to close a multifamily unit (fingers crossed!) in Tucson, AZ and am looking for a decent PM for the 12-unit small multi. Two came up as potential leads:

1. https://www.rpmpin.com/ Real Property Management Pinnacle 

2. https://www.bluefoxproperties.com/ BlueFox Properties 

Does anyone have any experience in either PM? Or do you have any other good PMs that have done great job with multifamily management in Tucson, AZ?

Appreciate your thoughts! 

Thanks Johnny for sharing your experience. Very inspiring and would like to know more about your experience!