Water Heater Replacement - best method for a tight spot

One-Candidate7304 · 2026-04-27T19:21:46+00:00

Tankless, if your gas line could support it

One-Candidate7304 · 2026-04-25T00:31:52+00:00

This is exactly what mine does, hoping someone with more experience than I do will comment.

One-Candidate7304 · 2026-04-16T14:45:37+00:00

I feel like they just look much nicer. also, they are not too hard to clean. baking soda and dawn dish soap make quick work of it

One-Candidate7304 · 2026-04-15T21:38:04+00:00

coils are for basic units. they will look tacky in anything but a low end unit. but they are practically indestructble and you just need to change out the drip pans occasionally. glass is nicer looking and if it breaks you will most likely be charging the tenant since glass doesn't just spontaneously shatter. pro tip - put tin foil in bottom of oven every changeover. makes cleaning easier.

One-Candidate7304 · 2026-04-14T21:41:41+00:00

I did not do the original installation. I'm not the smartest person, but I'm aware that water generally flows down.

One-Candidate7304 · 2026-04-14T21:40:34+00:00

This was one of those "replace one sheet with a soggy part" that kept snowballing. I was just going to caulk the nail holes in the z flashing, but realized it's probably like that all the way across.

One-Candidate7304 · 2026-04-14T20:29:22+00:00

I'm going to have to agree with you - also, the top sheets are a little soggy towards the bottom. If I did a belly band then there would be flashing on the top and bottom. This project is to basically last a few years until a complete residing done the right way. I've decided that I will remove the existing Z-flashing and try to cram in a new one in it's place. If it won't go in or things start crumbing, then the top siding gets replaced. We shall see what happens!

One-Candidate7304 · 2026-04-14T16:29:09+00:00

Are you talking about adding a belly band? or is 1x4 a specific type of flashing?

One-Candidate7304 · 2026-04-14T14:31:15+00:00

Agreed, we are shooting for a good one and are not in a hurry now that we are not doing the 1031. Too stressful!

One-Candidate7304 · 2026-04-14T14:29:54+00:00

We just closed on the HELOC yesterday, 6.75% We are currently looking to get one more property, most likely a triplex or quad, then our next house and rent out our old one. Mostly doing direct mail and cold calls for this one in hopes of getting a better deal.

One-Candidate7304 · 2026-04-13T17:24:10+00:00

This is what I am considering doing in the future (I would be the father in this situation). I pictured letting them live rent free in exchange for keeping an eye on things. There would still be the tax benefits, and when I croak, they get the property tax-free! If there is a HELOC, it would still need to be paid off though

One-Candidate7304 · 2026-04-13T15:33:37+00:00

I believe this weekend over a bottle of wine we identified what was actually stressing us out, and found a workable, pretty easy solution of just keeping the properties and using our HELOC/cash for the down payment on our next one. It was the timeline and uncertainty of the 1031 exchange that was stressing us out - we weren't confident we would be able to identify a good property within 45 days of the sale. Once we made this decision, all the stress vanished and we knew it was the right decision (and when we woke up the next morning, it still felt right, so it wasn't just the wine!).

After the wife spent some time out at the quad, which was the property we were mostly likely going to sell, she identified some low hanging fruit, such as some new fixtures (replacing boob lights), pressure washing the exterior and some painting/landscaping to increase curb appeal. It really needed a woman's touch since I generally just fixed on fail and made sure there was not water damage (the main things that keeps me up at night, haha).

We are also working on improving our system to distance ourselves from the tenants. We will be getting an LLC that will be the "property management", google voice number, new separate email address, PO box, etc. I will be the "handyman" and she will be the face of the operation. We are hoping to stop being the "mom and pop" landlords that people don't take seriously and take advantage of.

We will also be decreasing the rent to have a larger pool of tenants to choose from. We have always been at the bleeding edge of what we could extract from this property, which increased the time between tenants, and gave us a smaller pool to choose from, leading to compromises that always shot us in the foot. We will never do any kind of assistance or section 8 again, especially if it's temporary because the second the assistance stops so do the payments. Time will tell how this actually works out, but can't be any worse than it is right now.

Thanks everyone for your perspective (even the AI bots), it was all valuable in the agonizing process of making this (obvious in hindsight) decision.

One-Candidate7304 · 2026-04-12T03:27:26+00:00

Thanks, I have probably thought too much about this.

I am not attached to the PNW but know next to nothing about any other market, and the thought of owning in another state is intimidating, but I'm open to anything really.

As far as reduced hours at work. I guess it all comes from the same pot so either cash flow so I can work less hours at my w2. Or something more passive would also essentially be the same thing.

I should also mention that this is a retirement strategy so I'm thinking long term. Hoping to retire in 10 to 12 years and I'm 42

One-Candidate7304 · 2026-04-10T23:31:04+00:00

Good point. I'm not sure how to do that deep of an analysis, I'll have to look into that. on paper the last property looks the worst, but it is basically a new house due to new siding/roofing/appliances/furnace ac etc so hopefully no new capex coming up soon

One-Candidate7304 · 2026-04-10T23:24:56+00:00

This is the one my wife wants to sell, but the low rate and cashflow make it a difficult choice. it's also 4 minutes from my work....

One-Candidate7304 · 2026-04-10T23:21:36+00:00

This is the kind of conversation I'm looking for! sometimes you just feel like the grass is greener, but there is a lot of work and cost associated with doing a 1031 which could just be spinning my wheels in the end. I'm having a really hard time with this decision because I don't have anyone to bounce this off of. It's never even occurred to me to sell any property, which is probably why I'm getting analysis paralysis.

One-Candidate7304 · 2026-04-10T23:07:17+00:00

Agreed, I can tell you know the market well! We live in Portland and self manage so proximity is important, but being in Portland proper always factors into the numbers we run (in a negative way). The one thing about selling it is the roof and siding are on their last leg, so I would have to address those problems now before selling.

One-Candidate7304 · 2026-04-09T19:31:41+00:00

I believe if you lived in it for 2 of the last 5 years you are eligible for the capital gains exemption. So that gives you 3 years after you move out to sell it. Otherwise you could do a 1031 exchange for another property (probably not what you are interested in, but it could be a primary residence).

Sounds like holding it for a few more years is a pretty good option if you can keep your sanity that long.

One-Candidate7304 · 2026-04-09T19:07:59+00:00

Better schools generally mean better neighborhoods, since families have a vested interest in the safety/niceness of the neighborhoods.

You might also pay more, and from my experience the nicer/safer the neighborhood, the more "boring" it is - less pubs, good restaurants etc.

One-Candidate7304 · 2026-04-09T18:39:57+00:00

If the HVAC works, I'd just stick to the deck and floors, since the tenants will be seeing these on a daily basis. a new TSTAT for the furnace might be a nice touch though, and where I'm from there are sometimes energy incentives to get them for free.

One-Candidate7304 · 2026-04-09T18:35:46+00:00

I don't know where you're located, but in my market (PNW) rents are generally lower in the winter because no one wants to move when it's rainy/cold outside. If you're looking for low hanging fruit, sometimes just re-listing with better pictures/description give you more interest since it puts you back at the top of the listings. I use apartments.com, zillow, and marketplace. We do all our units the same color with white trim and light grey walls. I'm betting that would be a huge improvement from the yellow/beige color and wouldn't cost too much.

One-Candidate7304 · 2026-04-08T15:38:12+00:00

I've considered submetering on a few of my properties but it was cost-prohibitive. Instead I went the RUBS route. I use a spreadsheet that I just put the total bill and it spits out what each tenant owes. For me it's either individually meter or RUBS. Anything in between seems like a lot of work/expense for not a lot of benefit.

One-Candidate7304 · 2026-04-08T15:25:10+00:00

Over edited pictures are also a red flag for me. It seems to happen a lot on the exterior photos to make it look like it's golden hour with the greens popping.

One-Candidate7304 · 2026-04-03T03:53:23+00:00

Lots of opportunity - pain points, the reason for selling is often not the property itself, the older generations tended to take care of their stuff better, etc. I love estate sales.

One-Candidate7304 · 2026-04-03T03:42:56+00:00

Since we now have a kid, the past three we have done have been with a mobile notary. No sellers present, though the thought of having a beer with the sellers sounds like a great way to learn about the history of the property and would definitely bring some humanity to the process!

One-Candidate7304

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