Just a Landlord

What I’ve learned in the past few months

I wrote a while back about my trip to the ASD retailer show in Vegas. We followed this up a few weeks later by returning to Vegas, along with Jeff of J & J Rentals, for the National Hardware Show.

We were looking both for new products as well as opportunities to buy items that we currently buy in case and pallet lots. We were not expecting to hit a home run on the latter as, although we purchase $25,000 to $35,000 of hardware, building supplies and paint per month, those number probably were not enough to interest large wholesalers.

We actually hit a home run on both as well as finding products for my wife’s event supply business.  Ironically it turned out my son was at the show too. He left radio and is now working for a public relations firm. They were there helping promote a fertilizer infused grass seed.

Cool new products found at the show

Number one has to be TeleSteps telescopic type 1 250# and 1A 300#  rated ladders with OSHA and ANSI certs. These were originally developed for military and law enforcement use. At the show they had a couple of the flat black anodized military versions on display.

The advantage of these over an extension ladder is they fit in the trunk of your car instead of requiring a truck with a ladder rack. What was happening is we would send a maintenance guy out and if the job required a longer ladder we would have to divert a truck with a ladder rack to deliver and then pick up the ladder.

I purchased one telescopic ladders and sent it out with a crew leader. He came back, said he loved it and asked if he could keep it. I said sure as long as he took good care of it. He said he would treat it as well as he treats his girl. I cautioned him not to bring my ladder back in the same condition as his girl, pregnant.

Now two other crews are requesting their own telescopic ladders.

Next cool item:

SaniSeal wax ring replacement. This is the “donut” that fits between the toilet and the sewer pipe flange. The problem with regular wax rings is if there is any movement they tend to leak causing the floor to rot or water damage to the apartment below. It a heavy person sits on the toilet the wax ring can compress and they do not return to their original form afterwards.

The SaniSeal product is made of polyurethane foam that does not permanently compress and is reusable if a toilet needs to be unmounted for things like drain cleaning.

We have purchased a case of these.

Speaking of drain cleaning:

General Wire was at the show with their sewer and drain cleaning machines. Not too much special there, but they have a new head for both small drain cleaners as well as sewer machines called the ClogChopper. It looks like it could handle roots better than a normal blade. We bought one and will try it the next time we run into roots, which is often as the city in their infinite wisdom tend to plant trees at the curb line right above the sewer.

We also found a couple of new tools for clearing sink drains.  Probably the best of breed is the “DRAIN KING” MINI-SNAKE

Painting:

There is a tremendous amount of time wasted in set up and take down on painting jobs as tThey have to clean their brushes, rollers etc. I’m pretty sure I lose an hour a day per painter. In fact during the summer we run our paint crews ten hours a day four days a week to cut some of this cost, plus the guys like three day weekends.

We ran into a neat product that can cut the set up/tear down cost a bit. The Kovrd 3 IN 1 PAINT TRAY BAG & DROP SHEET is an air proof bag that just zips shut to keep the rollers, trays and brushes fresh. It also works as a mini drop cloth for painting doors etc.

No one in the upper Midwest carries the product, so we bought a case and had it shipped up to Milwaukee.

Water, water everywhere…

Milwaukee sewer and water costs are out of control, but you knew that.

We found some interesting water conservation products. One that may or may not save a lot of money depending on how well it is accepted by the tenant base are flush valves that convert standard toilets to dual flush, using half the water for liquids that solids.

A few seemed like well educated people would have a hard time understanding them and were expensive such as the Toilet Guardian AquaOne.com, but one shows promise.

The One2Flush by One2products.com is relatively inexpensive, in the $25 range in quantities, and appears simple enough that it will not confuse tenants which results in service calls. We are going to do a limited test on a handful of properties to see the results. The valve itself has been used in europe for many years.

In the past we’ve tried the FluidMaster water sentry. This is a fill valve that shuts off when it detects a running toilet. The results were not that encouraging, but it was a few years ago. Korky, has come out with their version of a similar product called WaterWISE™ We ordered a dozen of these for a test.

Faucets

When it comes to faucets you can get cheap plastic faucets that constantly need replacing or you can get metal faucets that last but cost 3-4 times as much.

We found a distributor of good solid metal faucets at the price point of the plastics. These are made for the hotel industry, and weigh enough that you could probably take them to Miller Compressing, a local scrap yard, and get the price back in scrap metal. They have all the listings such as NSF, CSA, etc. and are approved for CA, which has some of the most stringent requirements in the nation.

We located a manufacturer of fire extinguishers and another of CO and smoke detectors. Both seem to offer a good price compared to what we are buying today. We are working out the shipping before placing an order.

Really cool thing

We were at the Frost King booth, you know, the weatherstrip, carpet bar and plastic manufacturer.  The salesman that spoke to us was no other than Mel, the founder and owner.  I like the product and was impressed that a guy of his position still works the floor, talking to even t smallest of buyers.  No wonder they have been so successful for so long.

Final thoughts

We also found a few general suppliers, but I feel those those will be of limited interest to the readers at large.

I’m sure I left out a few important points and will write more later.

We recently expanded my wife’s Event Decorating Academy to sell wedding and event decorating supplies to students and professional decorators.  We were buying from distributors who supply various retailers and small wholesalers such as ourselves.

End of last month my wife and I attended the ASD retail merchant trade show. This trade show is held in March and August in Vegas. They also have one in NYC in September.

As a result of  attending the ASD show are now buying directly from the same sources as many of our suppliers, cutting 35-40% off the distributor price we were paying.  Many of these items we buy by the pallet so savings is huge.  The largest example is curtains used for fabric draping at weddings and events. We sell thousands of these a month.

Cool, but what does this have to do with landlording?

A lot actually.  At the show I found a number of products that we buy in quantity for the properties we own and mange at prices that were surprising.  For example passage sets and deadbolt locks for $3.00 a piece.   These are steel latch ANSI Grade 3, similar to the Defiant or Legacy brands at Menards and Home Depot.  We actually upgraded to the “off brand” a number of years ago when Kwikset changed to a plastic latch in their 200 series that would break and lock tenants in their room.

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Fellow landlords

What services, tools, resource, supplies, innovations, changes in laws, grants, education, support from fellow owners etc. do you find lacking, unavailable, too expensive, too difficult to obtain, change etc.?

You get the idea…what do you see as the three, four or twenty things that would make your business more successful? Skies the limit. If it has to do with landlording or real estate investing throw it on the list.

Don’t worry if you think it is “doable” or not, Wild Ideas welcome and encouraged. But also don’t put off posting the more pedestrian needs and wants either.

You can leave comments, here or via private email to me at Tim [at] JustAlandord.com (makes sending the truly wild and innovative stuff easier for shy folks like me.)  I’ll compile the list for all to see.

Some will have readily available solutions that will be posted and shared, I’m sure.  Others are things our industry should be working on finding, changing, designing etc.

Some rather thought provocative comments below. Many of these were sent via email or posted on one of the list serves and reposted here as a central collection place. Please throw yours into the mix — Thanks Tim

As of April 1st all  three families and larger buildings in Wisconsin  that have  attached garages or “fuel burning devices” –gas heat, oil heat, gas dryers, gas stoves etc. will be required to have CO detectors.  A similar law just passed the legislature for ALL one and two family buildings including owner occupied, effective February 2011.

And you will need a lot of them

CO detectors must be within 75 feet of all fuel burning device and within 15′ of each bedroom. One is required in the basement if there is a “fuel burning device” down there.  They are also  required in common hallways spaced no more than 75′.  So a 149′ hall could get away with one, just as a 6 foot hall would need one.

There is an exemption if there are no attached garages and the only “fuel burning device” is a sealed combustion chamber unit, i.e. 90+ furnace or high efficiency water heater, that is under warranty or inspected annually.

Battery and plug in units are okay.  Mount them on the ceiling or wall.

Laws such as this and lead paint are never reversed so preparation is the order of the day.

This is an area that we should collectively work on pricing.  I’ve gotten them down to the mid thirteen dollar range for my volume.

Reference resources for Wisconsin’s CO detector Law:

Wisconsin Department Of Commerce CO detector Pamphlet

Installation Requirements For Carbon Monoxide Detectors as outlined in 2007 Wisconsin Act 205

2) INSTALLATION REQUIREMENTS. (a) Except as provided in par. (b), the owner of a residential building shall install a carbon monoxide detector in all of the following places not later than the date specified under par. (c):

1. In the basement of the building if the basement has a fuel-burning appliance.

2. Within 15 feet of each sleeping area of a unit that has a fuel-burning appliance.

3. Within 15 feet of each sleeping area of a unit that is immediately adjacent to a unit that has a fuelburning appliance.

4. In each room that has a fuel-burning appliance and that is not used as a sleeping area. A carbon monoxide detector shall be installed under this subdivision not more than 75 feet from the fuelburning appliance.

5. In each hallway leading from a unit that has a fuel-burning appliance, in a location that is within 75 feet from the unit, except that, if there is no electrical outlet within this distance, the owner shall place the carbon monoxide detector at the closest available electrical outlet in the hallway.

(b) If a unit is not part of a multiunit building, the owner of the residential building need not install more than one carbon monoxide detector in the unit.

You say “Okay, this is a scam!’  …  but it is not.  Rather it is another way of looking at purchasing, perceptions and true cost

A month ago Jeff, a buddy of mine who also uses an iPhone, tells me to try out a new app called Red Laser.  This $2 app allows you to use the iPhone/ iPod Touch camera as a barcode scanner.  The application then looks for the best price for that product locally as well as on the Internet.

I have since used it to price out both business supplies as well as stuff we personally use.  Some of the better prices I found were more than 30% less than what I was going to buy. The first few day’s savings exceed the $200 that the phone cost.  Over the rest of the month the savings well exceeded a year’s worth of cell phone service.

And the savings that you can achieve with the iPhone and other similar technology  isn’t limited to purchasing.  Using your phone’s camera to document tenant damage and be able to support your deposit claim. Take another photo to show a contractor or employee what you want fixed and save the hassle of miscommunications. I even use the camera to take quick notes  such as taking a picture of a for sale sign to get the broker’s number or while shopping to text a photo to my wife to make sure that I am getting the thing she wanted.

All of this makes you more efficient. If utilized to its potential tools such as an iPhone saves you, rather than costs you.  I would make the same argument about hiring employees, but that is another story for another day.

Every year around this time people focus a bit more on planning, all part of that New Year’s Resolution thing.  While planning should ongoing and not be restricted to the last month of the year, I too kick off the beginning of every year with a “big” project with the intent of fundamentally changing some aspect of our business.

This is the first of a handful of ideas that you could use to make 2010 more productive than 2009.

Document Imaging / Scanning instead of paper files

One of the biggest changes in the operation of our business occurred at the end of 2007 when we went from paper filing systems to full document scanning and digital storage.

The scanning project is so cool that I couldn’t help but share it with the readers of the ApartmentAssoc email list.  It is a project that a mom and pop operation working from their kitchen table to large multi person offices.  And it’s relatively cheap. You can get into it for under $200 and quickly save more than that in time and aggravation.

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The following was a post from Ray Como ten years ago. I’ve reposted it to the ApartmentAssoc@YahooGroups.com email list (More info about this free, open to all disussion group) every year since. Even if the ideas themselves are not suited to your situation, they may get you thinking of other ideas that better fit you or at least remind you three weeks in advance that the tax year is coming to an end. — Tim

Each Year

On or about this time of the year you should be thinking of strategies that take advantage of the “straddling-effect” that occurs every December 31st.

This will be worth thousands (maybe millions) to you and your corporations, if you simply TAKE ACTION!  With that—lets talk deductions and straddling strategies . . . Continue reading »

Crowdsourced / Group Buying / Discount Buyers Club for Property Managers.

I am always looking for a new ways to use ideas from other industries for our rental property business.  Affordable Rentals’ cafeteria style management was lifted from the concept of farmer’s co-ops.  I read scores of USDA info on farmer’s co-ops before putting the plan in place. Individual farmers could not afford many of the capital intensive tools and resources, but a collection of farmers could and thereby compete with or supply the corporate agribusinesses.

Well the latest idea is similar. Continue reading »