It's not the cost of the bulb, but the fact that I had to get the ladder, take down the globe, clean the globe, wait for it to dry and put it back up.Picking up piles of dog poop out of the yard-$5 per pile.

If this has been happening for years you've probably got a rotted sill, which is the where the wood sits on the concrete.The wood will wick up water above the water line, inside the wall and you'll get rot and mold in and on the walls.I'm going to guess that over the years, erosion from the hill has left the ground level behind the garage higher than the slab elevation, and you've probably got a negative grade, meaning the dirt from the hill slopes to the garage, not away from the garage.

i try to cover everything because, like you said, they see me as great landlord. just last week i rented a gas log spliter, split lots of wood and build a firewood rack for one of my houses. this way they can have some wood for the firepit in the back yard.they never asked, but since i cut 2 trees earlier this year, i was tired of seeing the wood just rot away on the ground.

So, get your own estimates for the work.That said, every rehab is different and every rehabber is different, but I flip a lot of properties built in the 1998-2001 timeframe, and routinely do a lot more work than that:- Replace cabinets/vanities- Replace countertops- Replace appliances- Paint inside and out- Replace all flooring- Replace all finish plumbing fixtures- Replace all fans/lights- Replace front door- Replace any failed windows- Repair rotted/damaged siding, soffit, fascia, gutters- Replace all outlets, switches, plates- Basic landscapingWhile you may not *have* to do all that stuff, it certainly makes it easier to sell properties in this tough market...Btw, all that stuff typically runs about $20K in my area and with my contractors and basic level of finishes.

When that traffic dried up, I listed it with a flat fee service about Feb 15th.

For example I would have bought a shop vac wet and dry with the hepa filter, and then throw away the shop vac afterwards.By the way, always disclose whether it's the law or not.

Once the first side was dry (didn't take long), I would spray it.

While recognizing that there are always two sides to every story, this one sounds pretty cut and dried, and tough to defend on his part.

You have made several posts suggesting that through both instituting both wet and dry flood proofing flood insurance premiums may be reduced.

Good to have that instead of say 250K because the insurance company could defend you for a few days, then decide to write a check for 250K and walk away leaving you high and dry, but they won't be walking away from a million bucks.