Wednesday, January 30, 2019

From The Real Estate Desk


More fun at the now-under-lease UCV today.  The previous tenants managed to somehow break the thermostat, not so bad that the heat couldn't be turned on and off, but bad enough that you couldn't set the temperature, program the furnace, or read the actual air temp.  We bought a replacement thermostat from Amazon and had a HVAC tech come by and install it today, as well as service the furnace and AC unit while he was at it.  He noted that the ductwork was extremely dirty, clogged with dog hair, and the blower motor and evaporation coil could easily become damaged or cause other issues during AC season.

We'll have to wait that one out until the actual AC season gets here, because the new tenant complained that the toilets wouldn't stop running after they were flushed, and while we told him it would be his responsibility to replace the tank valve and flapper in the future, as long as we had a tech out there, we'd have him replace the fixtures this one time and one time only.  However, the tech reported back that while it was an easy fix, one of the two toilets had somehow become unbolted from the floor, and was just freely riding atop the sanitary line.  He could easily move it around with just two fingers.

How do people break the bolts holding the toilet to the floor?  Have you ever broken those bolts?  We haven't.  We shouldn't be surprised - we're actually more surprised to learn that the sanitary line wasn't clogged with dog hair. 

The cost so far is $768 for the plumbing alone - we're still waiting for the other shoe to drop to learn how much the HVAC work will cost.

For the record, we don't turn a profit renting the UCV - it's at best a break-even enterprise, but with the new carpet (some $2,000) and the housecleaning service, as well as today's expenses and still pending repairs (laundry room doors, kitchen floor), we'll definitely be in the red this year.    

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