The older and crustier a house is the better so it naturally leads to the replacement of most if not all major mechanical systems. 

One large regional bank is offering a 1.61% HELOC special for new customers, most are offering a prime minus 0.25% for customers that also setup a checking account for auto-draw.In swapping one HELOC for another I was told that you do not need to pay off your current HELOC, at closing the new HELOC provider will pay off the former HELOC holder.

I'm doing it yourself kind of guy and currently working as heavy duty diesel mechanic. 

That's our starting point - we underwrite to those averages, and we make adjustments for specific mechanical make-up and other issues relative to specific property.Bottom line is that regardless of what the other guy says he's done in the last 3 years, we know that on the average things should cost xyz, and since this is a numbers game, all things equalize over time.

I am going through the phase of gobbling up information from podcast/blog/forums and I am kind of started to be on auto-pilot at home and sometimes at dinner parties as I am thinking of REI at the back of my mind (it sometimes sucks but I guess it’s part of the process).The only experience I have in real estate is - owning my primary residence = "asset" and probably the thousand miles I racked up on MileIQ just visiting properties, driving for dollars meeting other people etc.I am interested in primarily buy and hold SFRs and probably in flipping few SFRs as I go to pay my rentals off or reinvest.I was thinking of organizing a meetup in Columbus for the sake of me and all the newbies in Columbus.

It is one of the common topics on BP.Beyond the mechanical process, if I had to boil it all down, I believe that my tenant is my REAL investment and that the property is just something necessary to find that tenant.

I am a Mechanical Engineer at a local utility.

So the maintenance worked went back again, put a new locking mechanism and handle on the door.

It is relatively easy to file a mechanic's lien where I am, so there's really no such thing as not having any recourse by the contractor.

A claims adjuster will likely be on your side for all the reasons you mentioned above, but a crappy thing that can often happen is--you need your roof fixed, your insurance carrier wants to help you so they decide they will pay your claim, then pursue subrogation with your neighbor's carrier...x,y or z happens, the subrogation is delayed, the other carrier has a better attorney...whatever, next thing you know, you are stuck with the claim on your record costing you increased premiums for insurance (in potentially multiple ways-auto, rental properties, umbrella...etc) and waiting (indefinitely) for the point/blemish to be wiped.