Business meeting:
Approve the minutes: Mary Ann 1st, Matt 2nd
Treasurer’s report:
- The current balance in our account is $1,347.13.
- We paid for the Elks rental through 2025 as they were nice enough to give us a discount if we paid up front.
- We also paid our $400 annual dues to the Ohio Apartment Association.
- Outstanding payments:
- Domain renewals – $50.31 for the three domain names we own
- Hosting renewal – costs may go way up when it renews in mid-April, so we may switch to a more budget-friendly hosting service
- If you have not paid your 2025 dues by March 15, you will stop receiving the rental request leads.
- Please pay your 2025 dues – $35 for the calendar year, payable by cash/check at a meeting, mail a check to PO Box 221, or use PayPal (paypal.me/findlayfaaa)
Old Business:
Landlord 101 happened on February 22, it was a great success.
New Business:
Introductions – we have 3 new members joining us tonight: Matt Brunswick, Don Hazlett, Kevin Kelly, Charles & Elizabeth Altman
Legislative update: Come to the Tuesday lunches for these updates.
Tom Miller still hosts an informal lunch every Tuesday at a different area restaurant to converse about the rental business. Contact Tom (419-420-2133) if you’re not on the email list for that and want to be included.
If you have ideas for speakers for future meetings, contact Jim Staschiak or Katie Erickson (findlayarearentals@gmail.com).
The next meeting is Tuesday, April 8.
Motion to end business meeting: Katie 1st, Matt 2nd
Maintenance Tips & Tricks – Tom Miller
Tom has been in the rental business since he was 22 years old. He got started by talking to a college buddy who was going to buy a duplex while in college. He started with buying a duplex for $30k and has expanded ever since.
Painting
Pick your brand of paint and what sheen you want (flat, semigloss, gloss). Gloss is good for cleaning, but it also rejects future paint. Tom tried to only use Walmart brand paint, but they actually change their tints every few years. Now he uses Behr brand, which you can only get at Home Depot. Consumer Reports ranked it as one of the top paints.
Tom uses satin for walls and semigloss on the trim.
Cleaning
Lots of YouTube videos and tips on TikTok.
LA Totally Awesome from Dollar Tree is amazing! It’s “piss yellow.” Dilute it for use, there are formulas on the back. It can be used for windows, carpet cleaning, general surfaces, etc. If people have smoked, you can spray it on the walls (undiluted) and immediately wipe it off. It’s great for the metal grid of drop ceilings.
Windows – if you get a haze, your cleaner is too strong, and don’t use fabric softener in the laundry for your rags and towels.
Tom provides trash service for all his tenants.
Nail holes
Consider putting in the lease the amount of money you’ll charge per nail hole.
Command strips tear apart the walls.
Educate tenants on the plastic over the windows – that leaves a residue as well.
General Damages
Tom charges for whatever it takes to get the unit back to as good condition as when they moved in, other than normal wear and tear. He includes in the lease what he charges as an hourly rate for work to restore it.
When filing for damages, the judge is going to expect a rate that’s “reasonable and customary” for repairs. Attorneys may ask what makes you qualified to charge that rate.
Gather fees for what professionals charge and base your rates on that, i.e., for a service call.
Tools
When choosing battery-powered tools, pick one brand and have them all the same so the batteries are interchangeable.
YouTube: ProjectFarm channel – https://www.youtube.com/c/ProjectFarm – he buys lots of different tools to test them and see what it takes for them to break.
Water Heaters
Electric vs gas – Tom has been having so many problems with gas water heaters, so he goes all electric. Electric is generally twice as much as gas for utility costs, but repairs are easier and less frequent.
On demand electric water heaters – they’re small and heat the water as it flows through rather than a tank. They draw 60A of power when in use. They ended up being a maintenance headache too.
Plumbing
Copper, Pex, and CPVC are the most common.
CPVC is an economical way to do plumbing. You can cut it easily with a hack saw or tubing cutter, and you attach it with primer and cement. Let it set for half an hour before turning the water on. Dry fit it before gluing.
Shark Bites can be a quick and handy fix, but they often end up dripping. But they’re handy for connecting copper and CPVC pipe together. The fittings are expensive ($7-15 depending what type).
Tom uses Pex – color coded, and it’s quick and easy to assemble. You get stainless steel metal rings. Put the ring over the tubing at the fitting, crimp it down, and you’re done. You can twist the fitting after crimping if needed. The tubing is much more forgiving and flexible for routing, and if it freezes. If it’s going to freeze and break, it’ll happen at the plastic fitting. The brass fittings are more forgiving but still may crack.
The crimping tool comes in a more hand-held size and one that looks more like a bolt cutter. The hand-held ones are easier for small spaces, but also $100+ but probably worth it. Buy quality and only cry once.
You don’t want to mix galvanized with copper! It will react through electrolysis and degrade the copper.
For frozen pipes, get to it as soon as they let you know there’s an issue. If you get a hard freeze, it can bust every length of pipe, fitting, faucet, etc.
Houses that have been repossessed often go through a winter with no heat, you can count on the plumbing having issues. They do not typically blow them out.
If you try and cut off the end of a copper pipe that has blistered, it’s because the pipe froze and swelled up. You have to keep cutting back until you find a spot that hasn’t swelled.
Thaw frozen pipes: electric heater if there’s enough clearance, hair dryer. Salamander heater.
Water meter freezes are more common when they’re by the sidewalk. The city unbolts the meter and puts it in their truck. He wraps the pipe in the pit in a rag dipped in kerosene and burns it to melt the ice.
Only use ball valves for shutoff valves, ideally 90° turn ones. Don’t use the ones with a rubber washer inside or it will degrade.
Any place that calls for plumber’s putty, use silicone caulk instead. It makes less mess and it’s easier to clean up when you have to redo it.
Tub & tile caulk in the tube is awful, don’t use it. Use a bead of silicone around the tub, sink fixtures, etc. Put silicone on the rubber washer where the toilet tank connects to the toilet bowl to seal it up.
Insulation
Use pool noodles for pipe insulation. But it’s only R1-R2 per inch. Actual pipe insulation is R2-R3 per inch. Pool noodles are twice the thickness but half the cost. Fiberglass pipe wrap insulation is R5-R6.
Ceiling Fans
Tighten ceiling fan blades between tenants. You can get replacement parts for ceiling fans at any hardware store. Do not buy the remote-control ceiling fans, or you’ll lose the remote when tenants move out. Wall mount a light switch and speed control.
Hardware
Lowe’s and Menards have excellent apps to search for parts, even telling you the aisle and bay location.
Tom has a dedicated toolbox where he saves lots of spare screws – his “magic box.” It saves lots of trips to the hardware store.
Batteries
Change them whenever you change the clocks, especially for smoke detectors.
If the batteries in the thermostat die, the furnace won’t work. If your thermostat has five wires, it’s getting power from the furnace, so you don’t have batteries.
Put it in your lease that the tenants have to check the smoke detector batteries.
Smoke detectors have an expiration after 10 years; they all have a date on them.
Furnace Filters
Every landlord needs to decide their policy. New furnaces are only engineered to last 5-7 years.
Pests
LA Totally Awesome cleaner will kill bugs! It also works on bed bugs. Do your research to figure out their habits and where they live. Diatomaceous Earth is a safe option. You can get glue mouse traps to see what bugs you’re working with.
Cockroaches are on the landlord since that’s a health and safety issue, it’s been legislated. Tom will pay for the first treatment, but it’s up to the tenant if subsequent treatments are required. If the tenants don’t follow the exterminator’s instructions, they’ll have to come back. Cockroaches love heat and will often come in on appliances.
Bed bugs are not required to be treated by the landlord. If it’s a bug that’s carried into the premises, it’s on the tenant. Be aware of bug issues specifically with college students.
Glue traps work great for mice, and so do Ketch-All live traps. They have no bait and no poison. The mouse will be curious about it, go in, trigger it, and put them in a holding area. Dump it out and reset it.
Electrical
Test the tension in every outlet with a two-prong cord. Make sure the outlet holds the plug securely. If it comes out easily, install a new outlet. Pay attention to the polarity when you wire outlets – the small slot is the hot one. White goes to silver, and dark/black (hot) goes to dark. “If you touch the black, you’re gonna turn black.”
Wago wire connectors can extend wires, but they use a tension spring inside that can create a fire hazard.
Don’t use the stab holes on the outlets. Always use the screws to wrap your wires around.
It doesn’t matter whether the 3rd prong is on the bottom or the top. Commercial installations often have it on the top – anything that hits a plug sticking out will hit the ground first and not short it. But it doesn’t matter according to code. Just don’t mount an outlet horizontally under a sink.
Use one GFCI for several outlets that are on the same circuit. Put the GFCI on the feed side (closer to the breaker panel). You need GFCIs within arm’s length of water and outside.
Flooring
No-glue soft vinyl – $0.70-$1/sq ft. Don’t use it because heavy things sink into it and it’ll rip easily.
Laminate that’s hard on top but made out of sawdust is awful for any water that gets into it.
Vinyl plank – solid vinyl, doesn’t care about water, is hard and durable, etc. It’s great for places with hard use.
Some people swear against carpet, but Tom still uses it in bedrooms and sometimes living rooms.
Take a picture of the flooring with the box so you can potentially get more in the future. Or keep a sample in the cupboard above the refrigerator or somewhere on the property.
Refrigerators
Get a temperature gun.
Exterior
North walls can develop a lot of mold, especially if they’re in the shade. Use Mold Armor or Wet & Forget.
Keys
Tom engraves his keys for different properties but with a coded system, not the actual address.
Occasionally he’ll recycle locks from one property to another.
Electronic locks (keypads) can be convenient, especially for rekeying. But you also go through batteries
Schlage locks are a lot more expensive, but they seem to last a lot longer.
Kwikset SmartKey locks are a little pricier but really easy to rekey.
Mowing
A zero-turn mower can save 40% in mowing time.
If you buy one from a big box store, that store specifies to the manufacturer how it’ll be built. Buy from a dealer instead.
Photos
Take pictures of each room and pay attention to doorframes and floors. Take pics before they move in and after they move out.
Appliances
Most landlords supply them, but not all do. Tom gets his from ABC Warehouse, or whoever has the best deal.
Tips from members:
- Zep cleaning products are really good for oven cleaning and tub cleaning.
- When wiring your bathroom, wire your vent on the same switch as the light so they always have the vent on.
- Only use deadbolts that lock so the tenants can’t lock themselves out.
- Troubleshooting appliance issues is pretty easy. New furnaces have error codes that will tell you what’s going wrong. Washing machines have diagnostic modes.
- RepairClinic.com is amazing for diagnosing appliance issues and getting part numbers.
- ChatGPT is also good for finding answers to questions.
- You can still get old manual thermostats (no batteries) from Menards.
- You can get a device that adds a 5th wire to your thermostat, so you don’t need batteries.
- If you pay for the utilities, install wifi connected thermostats that you can control.
- Provide a detailed checkout list that gives the charges for every light bulb, cleaning fees, etc. They get a checklist when they move in too, so they know what you’ll be looking for. Sign the checklist at the same time they sign the lease.
- Have a form that the tenant can fill out if they see any damages when they first move in so they’re not charged for it. When they move out, refer to the form to see what wasn’t caused by them. If they don’t fill out the form within a certain period, that’s on them.
- Command hooks – use a razor blade to cut all the way around it and then twist it to pop it off. Or run a fine wire behind it to dislodge it.