All Forum Posts by: William Nohmor

I am looking to hire someone to do bi-weekly cleanup, grass cutting, basic yard maintenance on a property in Boston/Dorchester MA.  I am looking to pay around 30 - 35.00 per service visit.  Does anyone know anyone who does that?  I would also hire the person for snow removal in winter

I bought a 3 family house in East Boston and am confused about lead testing and looking for some advice.

One unit is occupied and not renovated.

Two units have been renovated and everything is new.

Appropriate notices were given to the tenants about the renovation and lead safe renovation practices were used by a certified contractor.

My question is about lead testing.

The units have common stairwells and porches.  What is the sequencing for lead testing and who do I call to get it done?

The renovated units will most likely not have lead as they are all new walls, trim etc.  

The common stairwells may have lead.

The outside of the building may have lead.

So what do i test and 

when do i test? and

Who does the testing?

Thank you

 yes, each tenant can have their own code.  You can have 100 codes.  There is also an audit trail which holds something like 1000 records but  you have to have a special machine to access it.

 with the smartkey, you can key as many locks alike as you want.  So in my case, I have the front and back door keyed the same for each apartment.  It is a simple 2 minutes or less process for each lock. you insert the working key, then a tool, and do a couple of turns in a certain sequence, put the new key in and turn it and you are now re-keyed. So at the end of a lease, the tenant gives you back the keys, and you take a kwikset key you already have (or you can buy pre-cut keys for cheap) and rekey the apartment to that new key.  The old turned in keys  dont work anymore.  You can save the old turned in keys to use on a different kwikset lock (not in the same building! for security) or toss them which is probably a better idea.  I only recycle kwikset keys for times when I am refurbishing an apartment and temporarily rekey it and give spares to workers.

I just posted a similar question before seeing this thread.  I have a Kaba e-plex which is a heavy duty commercial type of keypad lock.  It is non-internet connected.  The one question I have is a concern that the tenants could give out the code for parties to strangers.  On the other hand, the Kaba will auto-lock, which provides security over a tenant forgetting to throw the deadbolt.  

Those are good thoughts.  My lock has a 3 year battery life with heavy useage and has a lever handle.  You can set the combo for between 3 and 7 digits and also have multiple backup codes and override codes and it is pretty easy to change them.  You cant buzz anyone in with the system I am referring to.  It is simply a pushbutton lock.   My maintenance guy tells me that in his opinion, he does not like the idea because someone could have a party and give the code out.  I suppose that is easier to give someone the code than it is to give them a key. On the other hand, any tenant who gives a code out is compromising their own security.  

I just set up my 3 family with Kwikset smartkey locks for all of the apartment locks.  They seem to work very well and the newer ones are grade 1 security (and seem sturdy) vs the key-control which advertize as grade 2.  Just by look and feel the grade 2 locks i examined do not seem as sturdy as the grade 1.  They are really cheap (slightly over 20.00 each) on Amazon.  I started with 5 kwikset 980s for 108.00, then bought more.

One drawback I considered is that the tenant can re-key the smartkey locks themselves if they wanted to, since you only need the working key to re-key the lock.  I figure so what. If they really want to lock me out, then I have a bigger problem.  I also put a notice in the lease saying that if they do that, they must give me a copy of the new key, and if I ever have to hire a locksmith to get in to do repairs, or whatever, they have to pay for the locksmith fees.  

On the plus side, it sure is easy as hell to re-key the things.  I think that the grade 1 security claim by kwikset and the fact that they advertize them as bump-resistant resolves my concerns that I am providing good locks for their security.

I am not a lock expert but it seems like this type of lock can take away a lot of business from locksmiths (nothing against locksmiths!) so it would not be surprising if locksmiths are critical of them.

I am sure someone will criticize my thoughts on this but I am cool with that and may learn something by listening.

Hello - I have a 3 family rental house and I acquired a Kaba e-plex lock which is a commercial quality pushbutton lock with lots of codes, long battery life, etc.   My question is to landlords who have installed electronic or push button locks on 3 families.  As compared to a conventional deadbolt, has it been a good idea, or a bad idea and why?

Thank you!

 i have 2 quotes and they are high, but i dont want to put them out on here because i dont want to spread the impression that they are the norm.  I am a new investor in the middle of the first of i hope many projects so i dont have a good baseline for estimating electrical costs.

 Thank you Ray.  My quotes are higher both for the rewire and  for service upgrade.  I am also in Dorchester.  If you know of anyone who works there who is more in line with your quotes, please let me know via pm.