All Forum Posts by: Yannes Chiang

@Chris Seveney

Not really. I just asked him to check what is going on. He never gave me a quote

@Matthew Paul

Thank you for helping to call your friend. I should have stated much clearly in the description. He charged me $3500 to add 15 lbs Freon. It is definitely not right

@Nathan G.

You are right. People will reveal their true color when there are life difficulties. I learned a hard lesson.

Yes he shouldn’t do that at all. I regret so much that I didn’t catch this earlier.

Let’s see whether he will truly put a lien on my property. If yes, I will do my very best to fight it.

@Madison Wilson

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. Definitely a disaster for me.

I just replied to Paul as follows -

I have been working with you for years. I am so sad to see things coming down this way.

1. For the same property, you have added Freon 3.8 lbs on 4/21/2021 $85 , 4.5 lbs on 8/24/2021 $382.50 and then 15lbs on 7/19/2022 $1875 (plus $1200 labor) . Please help justify the cost

2. None of the previous invoices has “labor” as a separate cost. why this time there is $1200 labor fee

3. You have never given me quotes/price to repair. I would never approve this if I were aware of the price.

I have asked a couple times to revisit the invoice because I don’t feel the invoice reasonable. But you rejected to respond.

I am doing my best to have paid you $1000 as an appreciation of all your service. But you are still not able to justify the exaggerated invoice.

If you decide to move forward with legal actions, we have no choices but fight back then

Hi all,

I need help. I am an out of state investor. I have a AC guy (let’s name him Paul here) who worked with me for years in Texas.

Tenants has reported the AC not working. I sent Paul over there in April and August 2021. Both invoices said to refill the Freon. I didn’t pay much attention to the invoice and just paid.

July 2022 the tenant reported the AC problem again and I sent Paul there again and started questioning Paul - what is the problem? It has been on going. Please do a thorough inspection on the AC and find out the true cause.

He said it was due to the failure of the compressor. Luckily it was within warranty so we could be able to get a replacement for free.

One week later, he sent me a bill of $3599.31 stating

1. Make order under warranty compressor $ $60

2. Paperwork charge $35

3. Freon recharge R410 15lbs $125 lbs $1875

4. Replace new cap under warranty $35

5. Replace new condenser motor $120

Subtotal $2125

Labor $1200

Tax : $274.31

Total $ $3599.31

I started to question the bills

1. Freon has been charged three times in 15 months. Why it is $125/lbs?

2. How come there is labor fee this invoice while none before

3. I have never received quotes about this repair. I will never approve this repair if I am aware of the price.

Paul started to threaten me that he will file mechanic lien on my rental property.

I filed an complaint with TACLB but haven’t heard back yet. He kept pushing me and I paid him $1000 only. Now he threaten me again about the balance. I am feeling so bad about all these.

What can I do? Can he truly file a mechanic lien on my property? If yes, can I appeal? What will happen if he file the mechanic lien? How long will it last? Anything I can do to improve the situation?

And a heart advise that no matter how long you have been with the contractor, always be careful about the bills. People will change!

Thank you so much in advance for all your help.

@Mason Klein For SFH, I would recommend putting about $200-$300 per month for repair reserve. Bearing in mind the big tickets items like roof every 30 years, water heater every 7-10 years, AC every 10-12 years and other minor repair issues like plumbing, appliance and so on. If you screen your tenant really well and they got handyman skillset, they will take good care of your property, those minor repair issues will be very minimum.

Thank you all! Your inputs are so valuable! 

Actually the question was raised just from a cost saving prospective. There are 4.278% transfer tax in Philly. Normally seller and buyer each pay 2% of the sales price. The purchase price is about $2m so that transfer tax alone is about $80K. 

Thank you @Jimmy O'Connor you are right. Now it is no longer a strategy to avoid the transfer tax by buying the LLC. We will just establish our own one.

@Joseph Scorese Thank you Joseph. I just google HAPCO, seems nice. But does it offer any online or face to face course? I couldn’t find those information online

@Tj Hines We tried to. But our stay in Philly didn't meet the REI meet time. We will have to figure out a time to do that again

We come from California and just enter a contract at Philly area. We are in need of good attorney and multifamily inspector. Any good ones to refer?

Thank you in advance