"Furnace is underwater"

[HardDrive]

Ah, life. She is a restless creature.

Renter (in Seattle, 2300ish miles away) calls me and says the furnace doesn't work. No problem. On the phone with furnace guy, he'll be there in 2 hours. As the title suggests, his findings were grim. Sump pump failed. Lots of rain there. Crawl space is flooded. Sounds bad enough that I'm flying out to deal with it. Cheaper than paying others to mop it up. Faster too.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

This is why I might sell my place rather than rent it out... I'm planning on renting and have been talking to a property mgmt co but as much as I want the tax break, I also don't want headaches like that...

[sc_rufctr]

What can you do? Life happens.

[TGTIW]

Whoever came up with the idea of a crawlspace should be punched in the head. All of the negatives of a basement, none of the positives.

[HardDrive]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

This is why I might sell my place rather than rent it out... I'm planning on renting and have been talking to a property mgmt co but as much as I want the tax break, I also don't want headaches like that...

Yup. I thought being a landlord from afar would be easy because you can find almost anything online. Then something like this crops up.

Likely going to sell this summer. We've already done well on this house.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Yea this would be a similar situation (going to be a loooong plane ride away). I know a few other pelicans have done the long-distance-landlord thing with success but I'd be curious to know about the pitfalls too. Once I move I don't want to do anything other than collect checks (and occasionally write them if I have to). Have you had any other issues?

In a perfect world I'd cash out then just use the proceeds as a down payment on a new place in my new locale but I don't fancy my chances of getting a mortgage now (credit sucks now) so I don't want to lose the tax break - thinking just sit on it for 4-5 years until FICO comes up then cash out if interest rates are still acceptable, otherwise I'll just rent and keep the house as a rental property until... Thoughts? Is this the first/only real renting horror story for you? Maybe worth the headache as long as it's only once every 2-3 years...

[recycled sixtie]

Sorry to hear about your rented house Harddrive.

First I know of somebody that rents out six houses in the US. Has been successful for that person and does all communicating by internet.

Conversely my father in the UK fifty years ago had 22 lockup garages that were located a three hour drive away. He received monthly bills for broken locks, broken doors and anything else that could break. He seemed to think that it was a conspiracy to drain him of cash. Lawyer arrangement with fixit guy etc and phony repairs. Anyway I learned from that and said to myself I would only buy real estate investment/rental if it was local.

We have a condo rented out three blocks from us. Great tenants now. Long distance renting out can be a hassle. It is easy to let the condition of a place slide but perhaps fixing it up to prevent reoccurring problems can pay off.
G.

[jyl]

Local property manager? Does that work better?

[john70t]

Originally Posted by jyl

Local property manager?

They will take 6-10% of the rent for paperwork, charge you out the yingyang for cutting the grass, or may put crappy tenants in there just to rack up legal costs with their buddies for eviction and repairs.

But, on the other hand, they can keep the place filled and provide a consistent monthly check.

HD, check Yelp for contractor reviews.
Angieslist and BBB are junk.
Have a list of pre-approved go-to resources available for the tenant.

[MRM]

John, your homeowner's/renter's insurance should cover the damage. They will probably just hire a restoration company that specializes in insurance claims to fix the damage directly. They'll send you a bill for the deductible. You probably don't have to be there if your tenant is available to open the door.

Call your agent before jumping on a plane. I think you can handle this with a call to your insurer.

[HardDrive]

I'm already in route. I've got a line on guys to do the work, but I want to lay eyes on the situation.

[TimT]

Its a pain in the ass...

Happened to me two years in a row...Irene, then Sandy... I live 30 miles from NYC, in one of the most densely populated suburbs.... And was without power for almost 30 days in less than a 12 month period.... The power company here sucks balls...

Irene:



The water level was about a foot higher than in the pic...For Sandy the whole boiler was submerged... Water was to the bottom of the floor joists....

I still have the same boiler core, after all its a lump of cast iron that weighs around 600#... The jacket, insulation, all refractory replaced, all new controls....

Flood insurance would not help...

[Tishabet]

On the radio today that said we've already had as much rain in the first 7 days of the month as we usually do in the entire month. Oof. Harddrive how long will you be in town?

[HardDrive]

I'm leaving Monday noon. Situations is as advertised. The furnace is not fully submerged, and the circuit breaker was not popped. Fingers crossed. I'm going to pump out the water, and try and dry out the furnace. Crazier things have happened.

Insurance won't cover it if its a groundwater flood A bit difficult to make the argument that it was a plumbing failure when the whole house was redone in PEX 10 months ago. Pretty obvious where the water came from.

[jwasbury]

Last labor day weekend my wife and I arrived at our country place in PA looking forward to a relaxing weekend only to find knee deep water in the basement. Same deal as you - failure of groundwater drainage system. The oil burner unit on the boiler was completely submerged. I had it shut off for the summer anyway, so there was no power to the oil burner. Fired right up when we first needed heat in late October.

Hurricane Sandy, Jersey City - two central A/C condensor units submerged in sea water. They dried out for over 6 months...fired right up and ran fine all summer long.

You may be OK.

[Seahawk]

Man do I feel your pain.

That happened to us the second year after we bought the farm. It freaked me out how much water can get in and how quickly. Our basement is easily 1200sq ft, now fully furnished.

I ended up having a second sump put in as well as battery back-up in case of power loss, water alarms, etc. I also have stand-by generators and mobile pumps with the hoses already attached. I replace each pump every five years and keep the old ones as stand-byes.

Did I mention it freaked me out

Best of luck.

[MRM]

If the damage happened because the sump pump failed you should still be covered even if it is ground water that caused the damage. At least call your agent. I would be surprised if it isn't covered.

[GH85Carrera]

I played landlord for three years. I had a decent tenant, but it still sucked. I was real happy to sell the place and I will never be a landlord again.

[recycled sixtie]

Sorry to hear about your flooding troubles. You have to balance whether it is worth it travelling across the country to fix it. Insurance sucks re. coverage.


We are on our 7th year of being landlords. It all depends a lot on the kind of tenants you have. The second set of tenants we have are wonderful people - organized, clean and professional.

Must do's are:
get references from prospective tenants. Choose the best.
don't get too chummy with the tenants
rental agreement must be comprehensive
keep house/condo updated
replace toilets, stove, fridge with modern units especially if tenants are long term tenants
buy investment property locally - easier to keep an eye on
we find that a condo has lower maintenance as condo fees cover most of everything outside the unit.
remember that high tenant turnover is expensive in terms of loss of revenue and more trouble.
Bought our condo at a high price and is now worth less than what we paid but with good tenants we can wait it out.G.

[oldE]

Back in Nov, I got a call from my son, just after midnight.
He was living in a basement apt in town and the combination of heavy rain and extreme high tides had overloaded the town's ability to move water. In short, there was water coming into his apartment. His landloard was away.

I threw the wet/dry vac into the back of the truck and went in, but as soon as I looked down the stairs, I realized I had "brought a knife to a gun fight", so went home again and got the mobile sump pump and extra hose.

For two hours we pumped, vacumned and squeegied water. Once the tide had turned, the water stopped coming in, go we gained pretty quickly. Maximun water level was not quite two inches.

We took a break after 3:30, went home, got some sleep and breakfast, then went in and finished the job and scrubbed the floors and baseboards with bleach.

He now lives in an apartment above street level.

I hope everything worked out for the best for you.
Les