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Archive for the 'Home Repair' Category
Go Green And Save When You Fix Your Minneapolis Duplex
March 8th, 2010 categories: Home Repair
When I sit down with someone considering buying their first rental property, I always go over not only the potential revenue the property can generate, but also the certain and probable expenses.
The one expense most prospective owners (and to be honest, listing agents) seem to omit most often is the cost of repairs.
Let’s face it. No matter how new or old your duplexor house is, sooner or later something’s going to break, become outdated or wear out.
I have fixed numbers I use as projected repair costs for each unit per year. Of course, some years nothing breaks and others, everything does. So my estimates are just that; estimates.
It’s usually about then that I also share the names of some of my favorite local shops.
Of course, when and if something needs repair or improvement, the obvious locations to look for supplies are Home Depot, Menards and Lowe’s.
However, if the repair or upgrade isn’t urgent, it might be easier to stay under budget by shopping at a couple of local treasures.
Building Materials Outlet (formerly Cannon Recovery) is just over the Mendota Bridge in Eagan. For over forty years they’ve specialized in liquidating excess inventory from national distributors and manufacturers.
While their inventory isn’t as reliably consistent as the retail stores, the savings are significant. On any given day you can find French doors, new windows, rolls of carpeting or pallets of tile for as a third less or more than at traditional home improvement stores.
Another local institution that’s not only a great place to save money, but also a green solution is The ReUse Center in Minneapolis.
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13 Inexpensive Ways To Improve Your Minneapolis Duplex
February 1st, 2010 categories: Home Repair
The spring housing market begins one week from today.
If you’re thinking about selling, that’s important information. However, it’s equally important if you’re a landlord facing a spring vacancy.
Why?
Many of your usual prospective tenants are going to be looking for houses in order to beat the April 30 first time homebuyer tax credit deadline, resulting in more landlords competing for fewer prospective tenants.
What’s more, many homeowners unable to sell their property for what it’s worth have turned them in to rentals, meaning there’s far more competition out there than ever for rental dollars.
Here are ten ways you as a landlord can compete:
1. Get your vacant unit so clean that your mother would stay there.
2. Give every room a fresh coat of paint.
3. If the kitchen cabinets lend themselves to it, apply a fresh coat of paint and updated hardware. You’d be surprised how inexpensive hinges, knobs and drawer pulls can be. Replacing them can immediately give a kitchen a face lift.
4. If your kitchen counters are dated, replace them. You don’t have to put in granite, but many of the larger home improvement chains offer relatively inexpensive laminate counter tops with a similar look and feel to high end stone.
5. Replace switch plates. At pennies a piece, the return on the investment here is significant. Filthy switch plates imply a history of grime. Painted-over switch plates send a message of laziness.
6. Paint the front door. It’s tough to paint in the winter, I know. But you could remove the door, taking it to the warm basement long enough to get it painted and dry. It may be possible to cover the opening with plastic while you’re waiting.
7. Shovel the sidewalks. Fallen on ice yet this year? Enough said.
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Minneapolis Duplex Owners Have A Theme
January 29th, 2010 categories: Buying A Duplex, Home Repair, Selling A Duplex
I don’t know whether to call it a trend or a theme, but this week my real estate business has had one.
First, the pilot light on the furnace in a buyer’s new property went out the day before closing. Next, the forced air furnace in one side of a duplex a buyer is considering came back with a yellow flame; which may or may not be the sign of a cracked heat exchanger (which can result in the unit producing unsafe levels of carbon monoxide).
Then I got a call from a rural tenant stating they had no water in the house or any of the outbuildings on the property.
The theme for the week could be ”things break”. However, there’s another one here; whenever possible, get a home warranty.
It seems like everyone from Best Buy to car dealers offer an extended warranty these days. And we’ve all had experiences where the coverage they provided were not worth the additional cost.
I haven’t found this to be the case with most home warranties, however; especially when a client is purchasing a foreclosed property.
Many foreclosures not only have deferred cosmetic maintenance, but the mechanicals like the furnace or boiler and water heater have been ignored as well. Most banks aren’t in the business or maintenance or repair, so whatever’s wrong with the property will most likely be the buyer’s responsibility.
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Minneapolis Duplex Owners Answer “D: None Of The Above”
August 6th, 2009 categories: Home Repair
Sometimes I think I should write questions for “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”
See, I get a lot of questions I can’t answer in my job. They range from, “Why did the seller think put a toilet in the closet?” (Answer: “I dunno”) to “How much does it cost to put a new boiler in a 4500 square foot triplex?”
While I don’t think I’ll ever have an answer to the first question, from time to time I’ve been able to answer the last by calling a contractor friend for a favor…or 12. I swear, sometimes I can (understandably) actually hear them roll their eyes over the phone.
In an attempt to answer without using my “Phone A Friend” lifeline the other day, I stumbled on one of the most useful websites I’ve ever found.
It’s actually called Whatitcosts.com.
Need a wedding dress? They can give you a ballpark idea of what you’ll need to spend. But more importantly, to this conversation anyway, they can give you ranges for any kind of home improvement you could think of.
While not exact, the prices the site provides are in keeping with figures local contractors have shared.
How much for the boiler? Now I can answer. Anywhere from $3500 – $7000 (dependent on energy efficiency, BTUs, etc.).
I don’t think, however, I’ll ever have an answer as to why some owners make some of the “home improvements” they do.
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What Should You Improve In Your Minneapolis Duplex?
June 26th, 2009 categories: Home Repair
One of the challenges facing many duplex and single family home buyers in today’s foreclosure-laden real estate market is that many of these properties havea significant amount of deferred maintenance.
And it’s tempting, regardless of the type of property purchased, to “Pimp My Ride” with every conceivable improvement featured on HGTV or in the aisles of Home Depot.
Before you max out your credit cards, spend all of your $8000 first time home buyer tax credit or burn through your 203(k) construction loan, it’s important to stop and think who you’re improving the property for, and just what your return on those expenditures will be.
Just as improving a kitchen or adding landscaping increases the value of a single family home, upgrades to duplexes do as well. Before you start putting granite countertops in your rental units, however, it’s important to ask yourself a couple of questions.
First, if your intention is to ultimately sell the property, think about who your eventual buyer might be. Is your property one that lends itself to an owner occupant? To answer this, simply ask yourself whether you would live there.
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HGTV Rehabs Minneapolis Duplexes Too
June 22nd, 2009 categories: Home Repair
Believe it or not, there’s a home improvement show for duplexes.
While it hasn’t gotten a ton of press, if you’re going to be home Wednesday night, you might want to check out the HGTV show, Income Property.
Hosted by Scott McGillivray, the premise is basically this. First time homeowners buy a duplex or a single family home and gets in over their head. Either the rental unit is trashed, resulting in a longer term vacancy or, the owner of a house is financially strapped and needs to generate extra revenue in order to make the mortgage payment.
In the case of the latter, the solution is to turn a portion of their home (usually the basement) into an apartment.
The property owner is given the opportunity to either have the show do a “Lipstick Job”, which is typically a fast turn so the unit can be rented immediately. Or, they can have the big, extensive rehab.
The show has useful tips for both new property owners and experienced investors, including which materials to use to attract tenants, how to decide whether the cost of a renovation will generate an appropriate return, and which repairs and upgrades should be tackled first.
“Income Property” airs in the Twin Cities on Wednesdays at 8:30 pm.
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We’ve Got A Guy: When You Need Help on a Minneapolis Duplex Repair
November 7th, 2008 categories: Home Repair
One of the greatest challenges for any first time investor or homeowner is finding reliable handymen and contractors for repairs or home improvements. And while I am always happy to pass along names and numbers of service people either I or my clients have been happy with, sometimes I don’t have the right person for the job.| Discussion: 1 Comment »
Bailout Bill Helps Minneapolis Duplex Owners Go Green
October 20th, 2008 categories: Home Repair
While it hasn’t received a great deal of media coverage, The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, also known as the $700 billion bailout bill included several incentives for investors to go green.| Discussion: 1 Comment »
Simple Repairs Can Improve Duplex’s Cash Flow
September 4th, 2008 categories: Home Repair
As we head into fall and winter, it’s easy to remember that heat is one of the biggest expenses any Twin Cities landlord faces. That is, of course, if a property has a single boiler or furnace. Another expense, however, which can inexplicably jump and cause diminished cash flow, however, is water.
I learned this the hard way. Which, unfortunately, seems to be how I learn best. In my 23 unit apartment building, my water bill inexplicably jumped from $800 per quarter to over $2000.
Of course, I immediately called my handyman, and we went through the building one unit at a time. We checked the usual for the source of the spike: dripping faucets, running toilets and more people living in a unit than were reflected on the lease. We found some small drips, but nothing that could account for such a radical jump.
So we asked some questions of the tenants. Guess what? One of the three washing machines on the premises repeatedly filled with water, drained, and then repeated the process: over and over again. Ad infinitum. We simply unplugged the machine until the appliance repair company could come out. The next month, the bill dropped below what it even had been in the past.
My lesson? It doesn’t hurt to do regular apartment inspections to find water issues.
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Know the Duplex Next Door
June 5th, 2008 categories: Home Repair, Selling A Duplex
I had a unique experience the other day while showing properties in one of my favorite “secret” neighborhoods. Well, I don’t know if it’s a secret exactly, but I do think it’s under-appreciated: the Riverview/Cherokee area of St Paul.
The neighborhood is a quiet little strip across the river from downtown. It has many of the amenities people look for in other, more well-known areas, including walking/biking trails along the river, parks, big old trees and most relevant to this blog, a beautiful and diverse selection of early 20th century architecture (woodwork!) . The prices, however, tend to be comparatively reasonable.
I was first introduced to this area years ago by a client. Since then, I have helped move a lot of first time home and duplex buyers to the area.
My client and I looked at two properties, exactly next door to one other. From the outside, one appeared to have been built late in the Victorian era. The other looked more like a Craftsman. Both had very good cash flows and long-term tenants with solid rents.
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