The importance of repair and when to avoid it

The importance of repair and when to avoid it

The importance of repair and when to avoid it

 

Post 4 - Fix or Fix this Question?

Over the past few years I have been investing for several hats. On the one hand, I located the assets and helped with the purchase. That was the relatively easy part, even though the average deal took place about every three months. The second hat was for preparing the house for rent, locating tenants and carrying out routine maintenance.

Over the years, word of mouth, I went on to help investors who bought their own property and found that there are maintenance costs are not small. Some of the management companies allowed them to use private suppliers that were sometimes proven to be significantly cheaper, at other times it turned out that the required amendment was completely different from that requested by the management company.

I hope the following examples will help someone:

The Story of Furness

When we purchased a private home in Columbus, the inspector (the home inspector) testified that the furnace (the link between the gas connections and various appliances such as the heating system and the hot water heater) was at the end of its life and worth replacing. We purchased forensics, but decided to wait a little while for the old man to fully breathe his soul. It's been a year and a half for them and the livelihood has begun to falter. A technician's visit and a replacement of $ 140 brought him back to life for another two years.
Only three years after buying the property we had to move to a new port. I received a fascinating phone call from my maintenance man after the exchange of the $ (2,700 $) in which he said that our original Porsche was 50 (!). He explained to me that in those days Furness could have held several generations and still work well, unfortunately the day of work can only return two to three decades.

Conclusion 1 Do not want to immediately replace anything that is insufficient!

The heating system (what happened to the gas)?

In another house in Atlanta, which I help maintain, we got a call from the tenant - the gas system is not working! I asked them to send me a picture. The picture shows a gas connection completely disconnected from an older forensic. It turned out that in recent years the house was working on a portable electric heater and the tenant tried to "steal" a new gas infrastructure that cost over a thousand dollars, before buying a new forensic (remember? Over another 2,500 $).
In a conversation with several suppliers, we preferred to build an electricity infrastructure in the basement, and connect an electric heating unit. True, it will cost a little more in the electricity payments for heating in the winter, but will save a considerable amount for the landlord.

Conclusion 2 Do not automatically do what the management company asks for or hidden whims of the tenant…

The Story of a Roof - Should I Replace?

In another case, we purchased two private homes in Columbus. On the spot, there were problems with the roof in both houses. One of them hinted that the roof was nearing the end of his life. In an earlier attempt I had almost always been able to repair the roof and not replace it completely.

We decided to take the risk, but add a clause in the contract that the Teitel company will hold at the time of closing 1,000 $ of the purchase funds and case that the roof repairs will cost more. In practice, it turned out that the roof can not be repaired and should be replaced by one of the houses. In the second house it was easier to fix. The roof that had to be replaced could not be identified with certainty until the first layer of the roof (the shingles) was removed and a rotten tree below it was discerned.

Although we got back 1,000 $ in Kenya the replacement roof cost came to an additional $ 3,500.

Conclusion 3 Not all repairs can be expected in advance. Sometimes the inspection will indicate repairs that cannot be avoided.

(In the case of a roof that could leak drastically in the winter) there was no active leak during the test (we preferred not to wait and fix before the next winter).

Now, I'd love to hear some of you, from homeowners' experience - how much did you spend on home repairs after you bought it and are there any repairs you decided to make later?

Link to the original post on the United States Real Estate Forum on Facebook - Works on a desktop computer:
http://bit.ly/2RZDyLl

The original responses to the post can be read at the bottom of the current post page on the site or in the link to a post on Facebook and of course you are invited to join the discussion

 

Related News Real Estate Entrepreneurs

Responses

  1. כל חברת ניהול היא שונה. חשוב לבדוק את בעלי החברה ונותני השירות. בתור בעל משרדי נדלן וחברת ניהול אני עובד עים המון קבלנים נאנמנים אבל תמיד בודק אותם כל עבודה חייבת לקבל לפחות שתי הצעות.
    בבדיקת בית לקניה האינספקטיון לא מגלה הרבה דברים. בתור אחד שמוכר הרבה נכסים למשקיעים אני תמיד שולח קבלן עים הקונה לפני הקניה. לא תמיד הדבר אפשרי ולכן תלוי במוצר ובמצבו הצעת המחיר צריכה להיות בהתאם.

  2. Shmuel Draynof and everyone who spoke to me in detail about the subject. Many management companies indicate in your contract that they are entitled to receive commissions from service providers. Please note the following section.

    This section states that they may receive financial benefits from service providers without informing the property owner.

  3. Not personally, but a close friend came from management and maintenance companies. The need for a frequent replacement of household equipment frequently and frequently.
    It turns out that the management company does not always perform its work faithfully and often draws a coupon from the owner of the property.

    Conclusion 4:
    Choose the management company well and preferably with reliable sources.