Are your water bills high in one of your rental units, but you aren't sure why? If you've already ruled out leaky faucets, pipes and outside hoses, tenant's washing their cars (and their friends cars and filling inflatable kiddie pools, etc.), or a bum water meter, then maybe it's a toilet that's the culprit.
You can't always hear or easily see a toilet tank that is leaking. If you look inside your toilet, you'll find a rubber flapper which is normally at the bottom of the tank, over the hole which allows the water to go from the tank to the bowl. When you flush the toilet, the flapper is pulled upward, which allows water to go from the tank into the toilet bowl and "flushes" the toilet bowl.
If the flapper is not creating a tight enough seal when it is down, water can slowly leak into the tank. Slowly enough not to be seen, but over the course of the month it could result in a lot of water wasted, and an excess water bill! The quick fix is to buy a kit which normally runs about $10-$15 and replaces the inside "guts" of the tank.
But before you spend a couple of fivers and a half hour of your time on the repair, here's a simple test you can do to see if this is the problem:
1. Make sure you don't have any toilet cleaning tabs or solutions that color the toilet water. You want to do this test with clear toilet bowl water!
2. Add a few drops of food color to the tank (preferably a darker color like blue or green) .
3. Wait an hour or so and check to see if any of the colored water in the tank has leaked into the bowl.
4. If it has leaked, you can usually replace the "guts" of the toilet pretty easily. The cost is nominal, usually around $10 or $15 bucks for the do-it-yourself repair kit at the local home improvement or hardware store. The time to do the repair is probably about 20 minutes to a half hour if you are handy, maybe more if you aren't.
5. Reap the water savings of a non-leaky toilet and feel good that you are helping to conserve water! (Save green and be green!)
Just another day in SMART landlording!
-Steven Boorstein
Landlord and Author
Friday, July 10, 2009
Water bills creeping up in a rental unit, but you don't know why?
Friday, June 19, 2009
A "real life" example of why even DIY Landlords need a good network
In a recent post, I asked the question, "Do you do your own repairs?"
I don't want to rehash that post, but just give you a personal example of why it's important to have a network, even if YOU do most of your own repairs.
Last Saturday, I came down with some kind of terrible virus. This one hit me hard. I felt like I had the flu ("Swine flu?", you ask. Well, I don't know... maybe. I went to the doctors, but they didn't test me for it. If it was swine flu, I don't wish it on anyone.). The next day, Sunday, I felt even worse. That was also the day that one of my tenants in a unit about a half hour away phoned me to tell me they had a problem with their water heater-- as in, NO hot water.
So, here I am, 7pm at night on the phone with the tenant. I feel achy. My eyes hurt. I am getting chills which are alternating with periods of hot sweats and I'm totally exhausted. My first reaction was to tell the tenant that it was probably the pilot light on the water heater, hoping they might know how to relight it and take care of the problem. The issues with that line of reasoning, unfortunately, are that neither do they know how to relight it or am I comfortable with them attempting to do it anyway.
I tell the tenant I will be there first thing the next day (Monday). They hang up relatively happy and I'm now thinking how I can beat traffic on Monday morning to get there as quick as possible and hope I'm feeling OK. However, Monday morning I wake up, not much better than the day before, and after vomiting, realize that "it ain't gonna happen."
It's now 8am and I call my plumber. This guy is good. He's responsive. He knows the property and is familiar with some of the tenants. Most importantly... at 8am, he answers the phone. I sound so bad, initially he doesn't recognize me. In under two minutes, he's got the info he needs, tells me not to worry and assures me he'll take care of it. He does and, in fact, it wasn't the pilot light like I thought, but another issue which he easily fixes-- but would have stumped me. And, while he was there, he headed off another major problem that was developing, which I would have had to call him for that day anyway.
So, my acute illness reaffirmed two important lessons for me. First, having a personal network of repairmen and contractors that can help out in a pinch is very important. Second, concentrating on calling these professionals in the beginning, rather than trying to do it on my own first, is a smarter business plan for me. Even if I had been feeling well, going out to the property and trying to take care of that issue myself would have resulted in at least an hour and a half or two hours of my time. Time that would have been wasted because I couldn't fix the problem anyway. I don't mind spending money on a valid repair. And I don't mind spending time to diagnose or fix one, if I can save enough money. But I hate spending money AND time, when I could have just paid a repairman or contractor a reasonable price for the repair and spent almost none of my own time in the process.
Hopefully, you never get have a rental repair issue while you are ill, or on vacation, or at work. But, since it IS likely to happen at some point, my advice is-- start putting together your own personal network of repairmen and contractors. And... learn when to stop wasting your time.
Regards,
Steven A. Boorstein
Landlord & Author
Friday, June 12, 2009
"Fair Housing Isn't Always Fair"
"Fair Housing Isn't Always Fair." That's a quote from Doug Chasick, Chief Learning Officer and Senior VP of Multifamily Professional Services for CallSource, a web based education provider.
Awhile back, I received an email from Rachelle LaCroix, on behalf of the National Apartment Association(NAA). Their educational arm has developed a 4.5 hour seminar/course called "Fair Housing and Beyond" which is available through NAA affiliates, IREM chapters or direct-to-real estate companies. A link to this material follows at the end of this post. Although it looks to me like it might be of greater interest to property management company executives, larger property managers and their vendors and agents, I think that the interview that I am posting, with Doug Chasick, is valuable information for all landlords and property managers. Fair housing violations are not only costly, they are illegal. So keeping abreast of fair housing issues is very important... and as you will read in the interview... not always "common sense." The links Doug gives are very helpful and you should seriously consider bookmarking ones that apply to your landlording business. Here is the Q&A with Doug Chasick, with permission to print from the NAA...
"Fair Housing Q&A with Doug Chasick, The CallSource Apartment Doctor and consultant for National Apartment Association Education Institute/IREM Fair Housing Course
1) What's something most property managers and renters are surprised to learn about fair housing?
I think the two most common surprises are that fair housing isn't always fair - it's actually not about being fair; and that common sense is not very helpful when dealing with many fair housing issues. I think a close third would be how much illegal discrimination is still going on.
2) Along with the National Apartment Association Education Institute and NAAEI/IREM course, what are some other resources that property managers can turn to for information?
Here are the sites I visit on at least a weekly basis:
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – www.hud.gov
- National Fair Housing Advocate – http://www.fairhousing.com/index.cfm
- Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law Fair Housing Information – http://www.bazelon.org/issues/housing/index.htm
- Fair Housing Accessibility FIRST Initiative – http://www.fairhousingfirst.org/
- Realtor Fair Housing Resources – http://www.realtor.org/rmomag.nsf/pages/fairhousingmain?OpenDocument
- State and Local Fair Housing Enforcement – http://www.fairhousinglaw.org/fair_housing_laws/laws/
3) How often do you recommend staff and management participate in fair housing training?
At least annually, provided that there is one person in their company who regularly monitors the first two sites above and issues the appropriate updates to the entire team. I also strongly recommend that no employee, regardless of their title, be allowed to interact with residents, guests or prospects until they have completed a fair housing class.
4) What is the most violated mandate that you've encountered?
For the past four years it's been almost a tie between disability and race (see attached info - for full report, go to:
For more information on the Fair Housing course and how you can order your own DVD, please visit http://www.naahq.org/FairHousingBeyond "
Remember, landlording is a business. And to run your business effectively, you need to have a very good handle on the issues: legal, ethical, management, social, etc. Knowing the Fair Housing Laws IS good business.
Steven Boorstein
Landlord & Author
How To Buy Your First Rental Property and Beyond
www.LandlordBusinessInsider.com
www.HowToBuyRentalProperty.com
www.ManageRentalProperty.com
Read the rest of ""Fair Housing Isn't Always Fair"">>
Monday, June 08, 2009
Do You Rent To Tenants With Pets?
One of the great debates among landlords are whether it's a good idea to rent to prospective tenants that have pets. On the one hand, there are so many landlords that do NOT allow pets, there is a definite marketing advantage to those landlords who do. On the other hand, buy not having a good pet policy, you run the risk of added damage, legal issues and other problems. So, what should you do? And, if you do decide to them, how can you protect yourself? Read on... and also share your views...
When I first started renting my apartments, I didn't want to accept pets. My feeling was that the potential damage, liability and nuisance of having pets in my units was not worth the aggravation. However, at one point I had some vacancies that I found difficult to fill. The problem wasn't the number of calls that I was getting for prospective tenants, it was that they weren't qualified. Either their income level wasn't high enough, or they had bad credit, or they had pets, etc.
So, I made the leap. If a prospect had good income, good credit and met my other criteria-- but they had a pet-- I decided that I would still show them the apartment. Since then, I've had some good experiences and some bad ones. And, I'd like to share some of them with you and also get your feedback, if you have experiences that can help your fellow landlords out.
Here is my personal experience, yours may differ:
1. Tenants that own pets are generally just as neat, and sometimes neater, than those who don't own pets.
2. My best experiences are with small pets, as compared with big ones. But, it depends on the particular pet-- you must "meet the pet." Like there are good and bad tenants, there are good and bad pets. Check out their personality before you agree to rent.
3. Again, in my experience, small dogs have been less of a problem than cats, who have more often sprayed the walls and carpets to mark their territory.
4. Dogs and cats should be spayed/neutered and property licensed/registered.
5. Dog and cat urine smells are VERY difficult and sometimes IMPOSSIBLE to remove-- especially from flooring.
6. Pet owners should be willing to sign a PET AGREEMENT ADDENDUM to the lease. While not being overbearing, it should enforce very strict rules and consequences to protect your property, other tenants/guests and minimize your liability.
7. Pet owners are usually willing to pay a PET DEPOSIT and/or an ADDITIONAL RENT for the privilege of being able to live in pet friendly buildings.
8. Some studies show that, on average, tenants with pets stay longer than those without pets.
9. Accepting pets potentially reduces the time it takes to fill a vacancy.
10. Renting to tenants with pets may increase your liability, and therefore, liability insurance-- make sure you speak with your insurance company.
11. Check the laws and know who you can and can't refuse. For example, in most cases, you cannot refuse to rent to a person solely because they have a "trained helper animal." This would include pets like a "seeing-eye dog", or a dog that helps the tenant "negotiate" with a physical or mental disability.
Based on my personal experience, I rent to pet owners selectively, on a case by case basis. I have found that most of the time, renting to a tenant with an animal is not a problem. However, when there is an issue regarding the pet, unfortunately, it is usually a more costly problem by comparison than a tenant that doesn't have an animal. For example, I have had tenants that were slobs and when they moved, I had to get the carpets professionally cleaned. However, tenants that in addition to being slobs also allowed their pets to use the carpet or hard flooring as a toilet have caused me more angst because I have actually had to replace relatively new flooring and even padding that was ruined by pet urine.
When I do accept a prospective tenant with an animal, I always institute a strong PET AGREEMENT, which is made part of the rental agreement. Given the choice, I still prefer tenants who do not have pets over ones that do have them. However, I have had enough positive experiences not to automatically rule out this group of renters.
What are your thoughts and experiences? Do you rent to pet owners? Why or why not? If you do, how do you protect yourself?
Steven Boorstein
Landlord & Author
The Landlord Business Insider
How to Buy Your First Rental Property & Beyond (http://www.howtobuyrentalproperty.com/)
Manage Rental Property.com (http://www.managerentalproperty.com/)
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Review: FreeForeclosureBlog.com
I was just asked to do a review about a site called FreeForeclosureBlog.com. I get requests all the time from companies that would like me to review their sites. Most I turn down, so why did I agree to do this one? Is it really any good? Does it offer something valuable to my subscribers and readers? Actually, the answer is... maybe. I decided to take them up on the offer to do a review, and here is what I found. Disclosure: I was paid a small fee to do this review with the understanding that I would be allowed to publish my honest opinions. So here they are...
The site promotes itself as the place to go for free REO foreclosure listings. As an active rental property owner, I'm always looking for a good buy, so a site like this could be worthwhile. Most foreclosure listing sites are not really free, at least not after the initial "trial" period. Sometimes, however, free IS really free. So, if I could find a site like this and it was of great quality... I'll certainly use it.
The FreeForeclosureBlog.com still looks to be new and undeveloped. There is a lot of potential there, but I think it has an image crisis. Hopefully, the owner of the site will take this criticism as constructive and use it to make a really great and worthwhile site. So here are my impressions:
So, currently it is difficult for me to tell readers that this is a very valuable site. Yes, it IS worth checking out, and maybe checking back periodically to see how it progresses as time goes on. FreeForeclosureBlog.com has, in my opinion, very good potential if it develops into a full content site-- kind of a "one stop shop" for properties selling at a discount (foreclosures, REOs, etc). Hopefully the site will continue to develop and I'd be happy to take another look at it sometime in the future when they have made much more progress. I'd love to see a site like this succeed and develop into something that could be a very valuable, free resource to those seeking properties at a discount. Again, hopefully the site takes this review as constructive and pushes their site to new limits. I think they've made a good start, and as Walt Disney would say, "keep moving forward!"
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Landlords: Do you do your own repairs?
One of the important decisions that every small landlord needs to make is whether they will do their own repairs or whether they will contract it out to a handyman or other trade professionals. There a number of reasons that this decision becomes important. Here are some things to consider:
First, your time has a value. Do you have enough time (and knowledge) to do the repairs yourself? Is it more effective for you to utilize a handyman instead and spend your time on other things (your primary job, searching for other properties, your personal life and family, etc.)
Second, repairs cost money. If you are "handy with a hammer" and can do your own repairs, how much money will it save you? It is important to know your skills and limitations. For example, in the beginning I did a lot of repairs and improvements myself-- repainting rooms, fixing faucets, replacing toilets, etc. What I found over time, however, was that in a majority of cases I was wasting time by not hiring a contractor. Time IS money. The time I was wasting was resulting in it taking longer for me to get a unit back on the market, or required me to take too much time away from my primary business. On the other hand, I know landlords who have been in business long enough to have paid off most of their properties. Landlording is their PRIMARY job. For them, taking a day to paint a vacant unit is what they do. It saves them money and is part of the time they spend in their primary job in managing their properties.
Third, repairs and maintenance are liability issues. Think you can fix that electrical box? Ready to install that second floor deck? Ok, maybe you have the knowledge. Make sure you also get the right permits and inspections. However, if you are not skilled and knowledgeable in these areas, you might want to strongly consider hiring a licensed contractor. If the house burns down from an improperly wired electrical box, or the deck collapses... from a legal standpoint I'd certainly like to be able to show that these things were installed by a licensed contractor with any required permits. I don't know how well it would sit with the courts or insurance company if, instead, you told them you were just trying to save a few bucks and thought you could do the repair yourself. On the other hand, if you have a couple hours and have to replace/repair a sink faucet or paint a front door, the potential liability issues are probably not a real big concern.
If you are a landlord, what do you do and why? How do time, cash flow and liability issues affect your maintenance and repair decisions?
Steven A Boorstein
Landlord & Author
How To Buy Your First Rental Property and Beyond
ManageRentalProperty.com
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