Ceramic Tiles Vs. Vinyl Floor
I am thinking to install tiles in a kitchen floor instead the customary vinyl in a Rental. I hope that the ceramic tiles will be more durable (and better looking) than a vinyl floor. From what I have seen so far (which is somewhat limited) vinyl floors are very easy to tear and when it is time to re-vinyl one still has to go thru installing plywood and it starts to look as a sandwich of vinyl and CDX (plywood) layers which in turn increase the floor thickness.
Is it cost effective and more durable to spend initially more on tiles compared to periodically re-vinyling?
Regards,
Thanks for your reply. I agree with everything you said 100%. I even have the "Workforce" wet saw from Home Depot you were talking about.
I am curious however, where do you find the discounted granite countertops? Could you elaborate a little?
Regards,
I totally agree on the cosmetics effect, but is it as durable in a Rental?
In other words what happens if a tile cracks or brakes?
If a tile cracks in a lower end rental, I would grout the crack rather than replace the tile. Still much better than vinyl.
I ran into about the same problem when I started doing sales of cars. Like you, I made a spreadsheet, tried paper-pencil, thought I could just keep it all in my head, and a lot of other foolish things. I finally settled on using MicroSoft Money. The simple version, I think it cost about $29.00 at the time. Now I suppose Quicken would work but I couldn’t get it to do what I wanted. I think mostly because I wasn’t smart enough to know how to make it work. What I found out was that the MEMO section of the program MSM was the saving grace. For the cars I put everything in as normal but then in the memo section I always listed the last 5 digits of the Vin number and then could sort by that to ‘group’ my vehicles when I ran a report. . I don’t see why it wouldn’t work for your rehab projects. I know the company says you can use classes but I haven’t figured that one out yet either. These learning curves are like the Alps – steep.
You can also use QuickBooks. Use a class for each property. Then assign your expenses to the appropriate class. You can also assign an account for each expense (e.g. cleaning/maintenance, repairs, utilities, etc.) that match the IRS line items for expensing at tax time. You can add sub-accounts and produce very refined reports.
I cannot recommend Quickbooks enough. I do not know if it is better than the Peachtree equivilent, but I have familiarity with it.
The best part about accounting software is the ability to sit down one night and bang out expenses. You simply put the amount, date and associated expense (house 1, house 3) and you are done. The learning curve is not steep to get to the basics.
The other nice piece is the reporting tools. They are automatic and intuitive. It will be easy for you to see how much you spent at each house or how much you spent on a certain aspect across your houses (stonework, tiling, plumbing, etc).
As you get more advanced you will be able to enter invoices from contractors and everyone else you do business with. These will allow you to break down the expenses even further. Maybe it really ISNT worth you time to do everything yourself because you have a great relationship with a local handyman. With the reporting tools you can confirm or refute your gut instincts.
-Aaron
im using the rental property manager 2.0 from quickbooks, so far i like it just installed it couple weeks ago.
yes, you can install over particle although not recommended. It depends on the condition of the subfloor (particle board). Probably the contractor is saying that there will be better grip with the plywood and be more solid. I think something like this can be similarly achieved on particle board (but I do not recommend it in the long run) if they use staples when they nail down the oak planks.
Hope this helps.
Particle board sucks anyway. Spill some water and it swells up and looks bad forever. People use it on roofs and if you get a leak you fall through the roof when you go up to fix it. Hate the stuff. I get rid of it whenever I can.
Chris