House Manual for Dummies

All seasoned investors have had the late night calls… 

“I’m locked out.”

“The water pipes have burst.”

“The dryer is on fire.”

If you are a seasoned investor, you have had the late night calls.  If you are a novice, get ready!  While these types of call are a rarity, they do have a tendency to happen at the worst possible time….like when are on vacation in Mexico!

While I don’t mean to scare off the novice investor, we need to prepare ourselves.  A simple list of contractors and emergency information can go a long way when you are in a bind in the wee hours while a pipe has just burst and you are on scouring the Yellow Pages trying to find a plumber who is on call!



Photo Credit: cosmeticcompare.com

 A typical contact list would look something like this:

 

Fire (non emergency)

Police (non emergency)

Plumber 1

Plumber 2

Electrician1

Electrician 2

Locksmith 1

Locksmith 2

What goes hand in hand with having an emergency contact list?....a home manual!  If a pipe bursts in the kitchen or bathroom and there is no shut-off valves, will the tenant know how to shut off the water?  Maybe they will, but do they know where the building shut-down valve is located?  Maybe not.

These tid bits of advice are crucial in an emergency when the landlord may not be around.  And don’t just give them the piece of paper….chances are they will not read it.  Make sure you go through the list with each tenant to make sure they understand everything.

Other things to include in the house manual? Click on the link below to see an example for one of my houses!

Example House Manual

Lesson 1: Be prepared

Lesson 2: Don’t assume your tenants will know how to do ANYTHING in the event of an emergency. 

Leaky Basement Blues

Last summer, I had a main drain backup at my rental property in Waterloo.  The brilliant previous owner had created a bedroom in the basement and carpeted over the drain.  My ‘quick-fix’ was a backflow-preventer which rests inside the drain and has a one way valve so that water will not flow back into the room.  $10 part, $250 worth of carpet!  Problem solved!.....or so I thought…..

About 3 weeks ago, I received a call from the new tenant that I there was water on the floor in the room again!  I drove to the property that night and, sure enough, same thing as this past summer L.  I ripped up the carpet and under-cushion to see that water had pooled around the drain once again….could this be the same problem??

I decided to solve the problem once and for all by flushing the main line.  Rooter Man was called in and did a great job clearing and flushing the line at a cost of $330.  Problem solved right?  Wrong!

The next day I came back to install the carpet only to find water pooled on the floor once again, and the water source was coming from the wall!  I looked out into the window well and could see water flowing around the window well and towards the bottom of the window…and I’m not talking about a few drips of water…the water was actually flowing!  I immediately went outside to see that the sump pump was pumping the water into a big pile of snow, which was causing the water to flow back towards the house!

After ripping off the drywall, insulation and vapour barrier, my heart sank…a crack in the foundation running from top to bottom and it looked like it had been repaired before.

Disappointed and afraid that this would cost thousands, I went home to lick my wounds….and to Google basement-repair companies. 

After some searching, I settled on “Crack Doctor”, a repair company with outlets across Ontario and part of the Better Business Bureau.  Low pressure polyurethane/epoxy foam would be injected into the hole and ports would be drilled through the concrete, allowing more foam to be injected through the concrete, sealing the foundation from the OUTSIDE .  The cost of this work was $475 and comes with a lifetime warranty.  No need for expensive excavation, etc. 

After some headaches and hard work on a Friday night, everything was repaired and back to normal.  In all, this problem cost me about $1500 (plumbing, basement repair, drywall, paint, carpet, trim).  A hefty price tag, but it could have been much worse.

Lesson 1: Always investigate the source of a water problem and make sure you are 100% sure of where it is coming from before attempting a fix.

Lesson 2: Always make sure a sump pump is pumping the water AWAY from the house. 

Lesson 3:  Fixing a minor crack in a basement is cheaper than I expected!

Welcome to REBB!

Hi All,

Welcome to Real Estate Building Blocks!  To start the ball rolling, I thought I would do a quick FAQ about myself and the blog to get everyone familiar with who I am and what I do.

Who Am I?
- I am a manager/investor of residential real estate.  For more details, check out the "About REBB" tab or the "ABOUT ME" section.

What motivated me to start REBB?
 - To share the nitty gritty about my own experiences in the real estate investment world.  Be forewarned, you will not like or agree with everything I write about....which is why I welcome comments and feedback!

What do I hope to achieve with REBB?
- If you take anything away from this blog that is useful in your endeavours, I have done my job! 

How can you get in touch with me?
- Feel free to post comments or contact me at realestatebuildingblocks@gmail.com.  I respond to all emails.

I look forward to sharing my thoughts, ideas and opinions with everyone!

                                                - Andrew

Blog Disclaimer:I am in no way an expert, professional or financial adviser. All the advice I share on this blog whether it is about real estate, finance or any other information is based on personal experience and/or experience.