The Rental Condo is Off The Market

As you may have surmised from the accompanying image, I spent some quality time with the toilet over the weekend. Earlier this year, I heard the toilet tank refill on its own a couple of times while painting the rental condo. I planned to let the new owner deal with the toilet, but I had to adjust my goal. The rental condo is off the market. Read on to see what happened.

Rental condo is off the market

In January, our long-time renter quit his job, broke the lease, and went off to walk the earth. Good for him. I wanted to sell off our rental condo anyway. I don’t want to be a landlord anymore. We’re planning to move to California after our son graduates from high school. That’s in 4 years, but I also want to travel more. Being a DIY landlord requires you to be nearby most of the time. (I loathe rental management companies. Most of them collect a sizeable fee and don’t do a good job because they have too many properties to handle.) That’s why I fixed up the condo and put it up for sale.  

Unfortunately, the condo real estate market is terrible in Portland. We only had one view in 4 months.  The interest rate is still high and buyers are hesitant. People are afraid because the economy might blow up at any moment. The tariff and government makeover will make life harder for everyone. I don’t think this is the right time to buy a condo or a house. Also, there are 15 units on the market in this complex. That’s a lot of competition.

Last week, Mrs. RB40 heard that a tenant in our building was looking to move into another unit. I met with him and he seems like a nice guy. He also passed the screening with flying colors. Hey, if I can’t sell, I might as well rent it out for a few years. We still have 4 years left in Portland. Having a vacant condo is demoralizing. We lose about $1,000 every month. I don’t like it at all. Anyway, our rental condo is off the market and our new tenant will move in soon.

Fixing up the rental condo

Toilet

This is why I went to fix up the toilet over the weekend. The last time I replaced the toilet flapper was 10 years ago. The rest of the flushing system was 20 years old. If I didn’t fix it up, the new tenant is bound to call me at 3 am someday. I got a Fluidmaster complete toilet repair kit and a new tank hose from Home Depot. This kit has everything you need to replace the flushing system. It was a pain* to install, but I got it done. Good thing I did too. The old flapper was in bad shape. It was cracked, squishy, and melty. The rest of the system wasn’t as bad, but I’m glad I replaced them. The rubber seals were slowly disintegrating. Now, the toilet should be good for at least 5 years. The kit and hose cost $25.

*My lower back and knees are aching from being in the plumber position for so long. I’m getting too old for this stuff.

I got some requests to write more about what I did to fix up the rental condo for sale. Here are the rest.

Painting

I got 2 gallons of paint from Home Depot and painted the wall. I used the same creamy yellow color so I only had to paint one coat. If I wanted to paint it white or a different color, I’d have to use at least 2 coats. Painting was easy, but it took a lot of time. I spent about $100 on paint and supplies.

Cleaning and patching

Our previous tenant did a pretty good job with cleaning so I didn’t hire a cleaning service. Mrs. RB40 helped and I scrubbed and cleaned the place up. I also removed various stickers and patched up several nail holes.

Slim light fixtures

The old light fixtures worked okay, but the real estate agent recommended these slim LED fixtures. They are great. They are skinny and very bright. The old fixtures were LED, but they weren’t as bright. Our new tenant really likes these slim light fixtures. I spent about $80 on light fixtures.

New carpet

The old carpet and padding were 20 years old. They were good quality wool carpet, but it was time to replace them. I went to several places, but it turned out Home Depot had the best value. Some independent carpeting store had cheaper carpet, but the installation fees were expensive. Home Depot had free installation. The carpet is better quality as well. The new carpet is made from synthetic fiber and it won’t last as long. Hopefully, it’ll be good enough for 4 years. We spent about $1,700 for the new carpet and padding.

New faucets

I replaced the kitchen and bathroom faucets. The old faucets worked okay, but they were worn out. The new faucets look so much nicer. I spent about $70 on 2 faucets.

Conditioned the cabinet

The cabinets facing are in bad shape. The water and moisture degraded the engineered wood over the last 20 years. I put some wood conditioner on and it helped a bit. However, you need to do this every few months. If you let it dry, it’ll look pretty worn out. I’ll leave a bottle of beeswax wood conditioner for the new tenant. He can put it on when he has friends over.

The real solution is to replace the cabinet or get new cabinet facing. I think that’s quite expensive, but I’m not sure how much. I should get it priced before I put it on the market next time.  

May need replacing soon

The dishwasher and refrigerator are pretty old. They are working, but I don’t know how much longer they will last. Hopefully, they’ll be fine for a few years.

Next time

That’s what I did to prep the condo for sale. It looks good and I would enjoy living there if I were single. It should be fine as a rental for a few years. We’ll put it up for sale again when our tenant leaves. Hopefully, the interest rate will be a bit lower then. Also, Portland took a big dive in reputation in recent years. The BLM protests, COVID, and subsequent explosion in homelessness decreased the quality of life in the downtown area. Things are slowly improving and I hope Portland will make a comeback. Our condo is near the university. That’s still a nice area to live.

The real problem is the HOA fee. It was $250/month when we purchased the place in 2011. Now, the HOA fee is almost $700/month. And they have a $900 move-in fee. Ugh! You need a good long-term tenant to make this work. Yet another reason I don’t want to be a landlord anymore. Also, this is why ren

Anyway, our rental condo is off the market. How was your weekend? Hopefully, you did something fun on Mother’s Day. Have a great week!  

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