Month: July 2023

Rental Work

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We’ve owned rentals since February 2016. There have always been ebbs and flows on action needed by me to manage the rentals. Until this year. Suddenly we’re having a regular influx of maintenance needs; some are small like a leaking tub, while some are big like a tree falling on a house. So here’s the update of actions we’ve taken in 2023, with costs for each job (which is something I used to do and haven’t been on top of).

House 1

Roof Repairs

A wind storm came through at the beginning of March and caused extensive damage. There were shingles missing from this townhouse’s roof. The last update was that the roof was being repaired at the end of June, but I haven’t been by to see that yet. This is $0 to us, as our HOA insurance for the townhomes cover it.

Plumbing

The tenant called to complain that the tub in their second bathroom no longer would let hot water out. Hot water was coming out of the sink in that bathroom. I called a plumber, and he said it was going to be $600 to change the cartridge. Considering we’ve done two bathrooms and I had to buy a cartridge, I know that the cartridge is somewhere around $100. I called Mr. ODA while this man was in the house with the quote, and he agreed that was a crazy uncharge and labor charge. The man standing in the bathroom agreed with me and didn’t even charge me for the service call. ha! I called another company, and he came out to change out the cartridge for $245.

House 2

Burst Pipe

At the end of December, a pipe burst and the house flooded. This sounds like a really big deal. But it turns out, this big of a problem is handled relatively easily since insurance is covering the expense and there are companies that handle the whole ‘kit-and-caboodle.’

Our property manager had to manage the day to day activities for us. At first, it was finding a company to clean up the water. The water reached every single room of the house. The clean up of the water was about $22k.

Second step was finding someone to do the repairs and rebuild. The insurance company estimated the repairs around $40k. Our estimates came in well above that. One company said “give me your insurance agent’s contact, I’ll handle it.” That was amazing. They agreed to an amount for the work to be done, and the next we heard, our insurance agent said they’ll cut us a check for the remaining amount. The company was really easy to work with. I selected the flooring, cabinets, and paint color. Everything else was boiler plate otherwise (drywall repair, insulation, lighting installation). They quoted us to put sheet vinyl in the bathrooms, since that’s what was there, but they agreed to install the LVP all throughout the house (which was likely a cost savings to them anyway) at no charge. They also agreed to let our contractor go into the house to install new kitchen countertops (the previous tenant had burned our counters (drugs?!), but it was a hassle to replace them at that time.

We had a few hiccups along the way, but the company didn’t fight us on fixing them. For instance, they threw away the bathroom countertops, even though they were supposed to be put back in place. They painted the house with a paint bucket that was left over from our July renovation, even though I had given them a different color name to paint it (and then when I explained that in no realm would I have bought the paint for them to use when they’re charging me 10x the price of a bucket through the renovation because insurance is paying it); they repainted everything.

They allowed us to pay the first installment via credit card, so we received $340 worth of credit card rewards from that $17,000 purchase. Then our final amount paid (as reimbursed from insurance) was about $51k.

The insurance covered our increased costs for utilities (since we had to heat the house with no ceiling and insulation) and covered our lost rent for that period of time (I shared the tenant nightmare part of this in previous posts).

The cleaners the repair company used were awful. We waited to see what the new tenant thought about it, and she ended up complaining. So we called in another cleaner, which cost us $200. The refrigerator was disgusting and we ended up replacing it, for $760 (our choices were extremely limited to keep the cost down and to find something in stock since a new tenant was moving in 2 days later). We also had our handyman install new locks, new toilet paper holders, and two new blinds (none of that was covered by insurance), which was $180.

House 4

Tenant Turnover: Painting and repairs

We had a tenant move out of this house. She had lived there since 2018. She finally decided she needed more space (it’s a very small house) as her toddler was growing. I checked on the house a couple of years ago, and things seemed to be in order. She had said that she never wanted to move, so she treated it like her own house. She struggled to keep a job, although always seemed to have one to move on to. Well, over the last two years, she started making “improvements” to the house that weren’t improvements (like painting half the trim in the house black). We had to put a lot of work into that tiny house, and it isn’t even to my standard really.

Our handyman had to paint two coats on all the walls (after removing an excessive number of command hooks and such), 3-4 coats on all the trim to get it from black to white, install door knobs she had removed, and epoxied the bathtub and blue tile walls in the bathroom. That was $3,732.

House 9

Water Heater

The hot water heater stopped working. We had it installed less than a year ago. We called the company to come look at it, and they agreed. Then that morning, no one showed up. When our property manager called to ask where they were, they said they don’t do that anymore. We called another company to come fix it, and they pointed out that it was installed incorrectly and the wires were rubbing, creating a short. We had that company fix it, and then I called the original company and asked for a reimbursement. They agreed, but it was a two month process before I received the check. That was $200 out of pocket, but was then paid back to us in full.

House 10

This one. Goodness. They build up their maintenance needs and then lay a bunch of problems on us at once. It’s frustrating, especially when it involves leaking water. They also pay their rent at 2 am on the late day so it’s technically late, but not worth me fighting over. They don’t maintain the house very well, and we’re just ready to be done with them.

Ceiling Fans

I have our handyman going out to fix two ceiling fans. One has a screw missing from the blade, and one has disconnected from the ceiling. I don’t know his cost for those items yet.

Plumbing

There was an issue with water leaking from one of the tubs and following the pipe system into the basement. A plumber fixed the leak from the tub faucet for $425.

There was a back up in the HVAC condensate line that we had our HVAC tech go out for, and that was $125.

House 11

Pests

We had to have pest control come out to address swarming termites, which has been a longstanding issue in this house, unfortunately. That was $98, which was truly just the renewal for the termites warranty. Then we had another issue with powder post beetles, and that was $185.

Honestly, this is where having several houses creates a benefit – we use this company for all our houses and all our partner’s houses. We didn’t pay the termite warranty for a few years on it because I actually didn’t get that paperwork (the $98 fee), and they let me pay up the years I missed to cover treatments currently). I had called at another point to schedule an inspection, and they said I had a balance so they couldn’t schedule anything until I paid the outstanding balance. Again, an issue with paperwork getting to me. The lady even said “we know you’re good for it, and we’d get in touch eventually.”

HVAC

Over the winter, the HVAC unit wasn’t heating. On March 2, the HVAC technician went out and discovered a dirty filter and had to clean the flame sensor. That cost us $223.

Then the HVAC wasn’t cooling this month. The same tech went out and discovered the condenser needed replaced. He did that, but then he left town without invoicing us, so I don’t have that invoice in hand yet. But now we’re having an issue with the house “sweating” that he’s going to look at this week.

House 12

Storm Damage: Tree removal, shingle replacement

The wind storm at the beginning of March took shingles off the back of the roof. Mr. ODA got up there and replaced about 12 shingles, which is a new skill set! As part of that storm, a small tree at the curb of the house fell over, so Mr. ODA cut that up and got it ready to be picked up. That cost us our time and $37 at Lowe’s on shingles.

Wildlife Removal

When I first met this tenant, she told me about how she had a raccoon in the attic. The property management company came to remove the animal (supposedly) and patch up the entrance point. They didn’t do a great job; the animal came back. She said she hadn’t seen it, but she has 5 cats (yes, lease violation) that are very alert. We hired a company to set a trap. After a week, they didn’t find an animal, so they patched up the hole. Setting the trap was $279, and patching the hole was $150.

House 13

Storm Damage: Siding repair

During another March storm, a piece of metal siding came loose on the house. Mr. ODA was able to go put it back in place, so this didn’t cost us anything except the mileage and time.

Electric Work

The tenant complained that one outlet wasn’t working. That didn’t add up. I had Mr. ODA go check on the electrical box while he was working on the siding, but he also saw that nothing was tripped. I had an electrician go out there. Turns out, there’s a second electric box on the house, and that breaker was tripped. You win some, you lose some. He charged me $100.

Tree Removal

The tenant had a tree fall along the back fence line. It took down some wires. We had the power company go out to check on it all, but they confirmed they’re not power lines and they’re cable lines. Since her internet/cable is working fine, it’s not a priority to remove the tree. I had a tree removal guy go out and look at it. Most of the tree is on the other side of the fence. He tried contacting that owner (there’s a rental sign outside the house) to gain access to remove the debris, but they haven’t responded. We had a huge storm come through a few weeks ago, and that has put her tree removal even lower on the list. Plus, she was rude to the tree guy, wouldn’t put up her dogs, and wouldn’t clean up the dog poop in the yard, so it’s not high on my priority list to get her taken care of either. Be a good person.

House 14

Tree on Roof

That big wind storm at the beginning of March took a tree down at this house. I struggled to get someone to help us. I finally posted on the local mom’s group, and someone spoke up that her husband’s business prioritizes trees on structures and would get there tomorrow. And that he did. He had the tree gone in a few hours and cleaned up the yard great. We then had to wait for the insurance adjuster to come out. Once they cleared us, we were able to repair the roof and gutter. For how big the tree was, the twiggy branches at the top was all that hit the house, so the damage was fairly minimal. This was all covered by insurance, so it didn’t cost us anything.

Water Leak

The tenants reached out to me that their water bill went from $50 to $400. They’re pretty self-sufficient and handy, so it was definitely a problem. I trusted that they were able to diagnose a running toilet or leak under a sink. It turns out the link was at the main water for the house. The plumber had to excavate the front yard and replace the entire pipe from the street to the house. I just got the bill, and it was $3,060.

Others – With no costs incurred yet, but will need action

House 6 has repairs that are needed, but the tenant hasn’t been available for the repairs and she has 2 or 3 big dogs, so we really need her home for us to enter the property. I also received notice from the insurance company that they want a railing installed on the front steps, so our handyman will handle that also.

House 7 has a flat roof over the laundry room. Before we bought the house, someone built a room on a covered deck – very poorly. It has leaked several times, and we have tried to find a roofer to help, but they don’t want to handle flat roofs. Mr. ODA shoved a bunch of silicone at the roof line, and it actually held for over a year. It finally leaked again recently. We started making calls and very explicitly stated that we don’t want the flat roof repaired, we want it built as an actual roof (because no one will touch a flat roof, and I had someone come out for a roof replacement and we didn’t know enough at the time to realize he wasn’t going to touch that part of the roof). We finally got two roofers to give us quotes. One seemed to completely not understand the request, and the other said $3,800. So we agreed to that quote and will hopefully have this behind us in the next month or so.

The Quiet Ones

House 3 has had to pay rent late a few times, but they always let me know in advance and I always waive their late fee.

House 8 has required zero effort. They pay rent in the final hours it’s due consistently, but they never need a reminder or follow up. This house isn’t in great shape, so it’s mildly concerning that we don’t hear from them for months on end, but I have enough to keep myself occupied at the moment.

I plan to do walk throughs and address a few issues at some of the Richmond houses later this summer. The last time I went through some of the houses was July 2021, and there have been instances that say tenants need to be checked up on. While many houses have had our handyman in it recently, I want to be more consistent on checking on them and letting them know I care what is going on.

That’s almost $10k that I’ve paid out so far this year on rental properties, with more invoices waiting to come in.

Here’s to hoping the second half of the yard is quieter than the first.

July Financial Update

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I looked back to last year’s July to see what was going on.

We had just bought our new house, demoed the master bathroom, and started painting a bunch of the new house. We were transporting two toddlers back and forth for all the work to be done. I was also talking about a vacant house and being rid of a non-rent-payer. The tenant that moved in then caused tens of thousands of damage with a burst pipe, and now we have a new renter in there.

And now…

We had a big wind storm come through on the 2nd. It knocked down several trees, including one on our deck. We’ve had 4 companies come out for quotes for replacement, and we’re waiting on the adjuster this week.

I have a whole separate post regarding all that’s going on with the rentals, so I’ll leave that for a separate post.

Most interesting to me is that in the last year, without any major moves (like purchasing a new rental house or paying off a mortgage), we’ve increased our net worth by over $300k. Looking back at July 2021, we’re almost $900k higher than then.

Since last month, we paid out a $22k bill that was owed from January for cleaning up the house that got flooded (there were several delays in insurance agreeing to the company’s invoice), but the market increases have netted us a gain of $16k still.

Medical Bills – Part 2

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I went to the emergency room on November 15, 2021. I resolved a bill from that day on June 30, 2023.

The provider submitted a claim to my insurance company immediately after my stay there. The submitted charges were $1526. My insurance adjusted the amount, paid about $1100, and said I was responsible for about $60. My explanation of benefits (EOB) even included a copy of the check they submitted to the provider, which is not typical. The check was date December 21, 2021.

The provider submitted a second claim, exactly the same as the first one, to my insurance company in December 2021. My insurance denied the claim because it was a duplicate. Simple enough.

The provider only received the denial, and not the check nor first EOB.

I received a bill from the provider in March 2022 for $1526. That didn’t make sense. I knew my insurance should cover most of a claim. I looked through my insurance coverage and confirmed I would only owe my co-insurance since our deductible had been long met. I reviewed my EOBs and noted the duplicate submission, so I called the provider. I told her the story, but she kept talking over me and not hearing that the denial was because it had first been paid. She said she was going to call my insurance company. I filed the paperwork and assumed it would get handled or that I’d receive another statement prompting me to take action.

In August 2022, I received a letter from a collections agency. I was pretty mad. Not only did I not receive information from this woman who had a job to do, they never sent another invoice/statement/bill to me.

On September 1, 2022, I called the collections agency as the letter told me to, plus I wanted a record that I had acknowledged the collections notice. The collections company told me to detach the part of my letter that had my information and mail it back to them asking for details. I did that immediately. I later received a letter that said “physician says you owe $1526 for services rendered on 11/15/21.” Thanks; that’s useless.

The same day that I called the collections agency, I called the provider. The man I spoke to told me he took my account out of collections status and would look into it. He told me to send an email to them with the EOBs and an explanation of what happened, which I did immediately that day.

On October 13, 2022, I hadn’t heard anything. I had sent two more emails since that time, trying to avoid a phone call, but at this point I had to call. I figured at any given moment, these people would just send my account to collections instead of put any effort in. The person I spoke to this time said they’d escalate this to the posting team for review, and they’d need 45-60 days to research it.

Nothing.

In December I called again. I asked for a supervisor immediately to avoid having to explain the story once again, but they made me explain it again. I got through to a supervisor who finally understood the story that there is a check out there for them. She said she sees that the issue is that the PO Box was wrong for where it was sent. She said she would contact my insurance about it. She emailed me the next day to say she tried 3 times to get to my insurance and couldn’t. That’s complete bull. I’ve never not been able to reach someone at my insurance agency via their 800 number.

I responded to her email 3 times asking for an update through December and January. At the beginning of February, I finally called again. This time, I called my insurance company and asked them what can be done. She called the provider via a 3-way call. The man said they’d resolve it and he escalated it. Same. Old. Story.

I gave them another 60 days and called them in April. Nothing different. This supervisor told me that she could see it being worked on and moving through the system. She said she really needed to allow it to work through the system and to give another 60 days.

I called on June 29, 2023. I was able to get through to the same supervisor as the April call. She kept me on hold a majority of the time. After a half hour, she came back and said “I’ve escalated this to the posting team. I appreciate your patience, but I really need to give them another 60 days.” No. Unacceptable. I’ve wasted hours of my life trying to get this resolved, and it’s not even my problem to resolve. It has only become my problem because they sent me to collections. I told her to send me to someone higher than her, and I was done being thanked for my patience.

A new person got on the phone. I said the only acceptable outcomes at this point are 1) you wipe the slate clean and call it a wash because you’ve had more than enough time to ‘find’ the payment from my insurance company, or 2) you call my insurance company and get them to stop payment on the previous check and reissue payment somehow. She said she’d look into it with the posting team. I said “clearly, the posting team doesn’t know how to do their job, and I’m tired of being told for an entire year now that we’re waiting on them to find the payment.” She agreed.

She looked at some screen and something clicked. She said that the payment was processed through a third party, so they take a cut of the check from the insurance. All this time, they’ve been looking for $1100, but they should be looking for something less than that. She called the company that processed the payment, found out the amount they sent to the provider, found the payment amount in suspense, and applied it to my account.

That left a balance of $60 owed from me, and she graciously zeroed that out for my troubles. I didn’t have a problem paying $60, but I did have a problem with their way of handling this issue.

I had heard from someone two other times that sounded like they were actually going to help me. I had no faith that this was the end of the road when I hung up the phone on 6/29. I started to look for alternative courses.

I submitted a claim to the Better Business Bureau. They accepted my complaint within a few hours, but I ended up calling to withdraw the complaint on the following morning since this woman fixed my issue finally.

I called the Federal No Surprises Help Desk. Truly, I didn’t think this counted because it wasn’t “surprise billing.” However, they have a system that asks you questions and gives you a course of action. In my case, they said to call and start a claim. Unfortunately, I did call, and she said that since the date of service is before the No Surprises Act was established, she couldn’t help me.

She suggested I call a number in Kentucky for my issue. I called and left a voicemail, but that felt weird. I looked up some options specific to my state, and there was a way to file a complaint with the Attorney General. I submitted that complaint, which I need to figure out how to withdraw now.

I’m skeptical that this is over. The lady I spoke with said she will send me a zeroed out statement in the mail, so I’ll be holding my breath until that actually shows up.

There are so many times where I, as a consumer, am just stuck. I don’t understand. The consumer has no help or protections that are easy to find or take advantage of. I just have to keep calling this company and hope that eventually they resolve it. Yet they could send me to collections and completely ding my credit worthiness, even though this was their issue and fault.

Nineteen and a half months after my date of service, I may actually have this resolved. This was a bill for $1526. A lot of people don’t have that kind of money to erroneously hand out. I hope that someone reads this and thinks before they pay their next medical bill to ensure that it’s accurate and truly the amount that’s owed.

Medical Bills – Part 1

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About once a year now, I have some major fight with a provider over my insurance coverage and how they’ve done something wrong, and then I share about it here so that others know to be more cognizant of their billings. Here’s two quick ones, and I have a lengthier one that I’ve been working since November 2021 that I’ll share separately. I have a post that goes into the details of reading your insurance benefits, so this will just be the stories of what went wrong and how it got resolved.

On May 17, 2022, I received an email from my doctor that said:

We have recently learned that several insurance companies … have sent inaccurate information that [we are] now out of network for their members. This is not the case and is incorrect information. We currently are in network … and we remain in network with all the same insurance companies we have been contracted with since 2021. If you receive a letter like this from your insurance company and have questions, please call our Patient Services team.

About a month after this email was sent, I received a statement for an obstetric appointment that said I owe $330, even though maternity benefits should be covered in full for routine care. It said it applied to my deductible, so I was really confused because we met that in January. I finally saw that it said it applied to my out of network deductible. I called the 800 number they gave in the email, and the woman who answered acted like she had never heard of such an issue with the insurance.

Since she was no help, I called my insurance directly. It took a few moments for that lady to get what I was saying – that you go to the doctor every 4 weeks, if not more often, when pregnant, and I’ve seen this provider both before and after this one claim, she had always been in network, so there’s a glitch. Thankfully, she could handle it for me. She worked with the provider to get the claim resubmitted and reanalyzed.

I made a couple of follow up calls and finally made real progress in February 2023, for a claim that was dated April 2022. Last week, I received an updated Explanation of Benefits that showed the claim was covered in full. My statement on my provider’s website still said I owed $330 yesterday. I called them, and they were able to see that the updates were being processed; sure enough, today my balance is listed as $0.

My dad went to the emergency room. They ran some tests and then observed him for a few hours before allowing him to go home. He received a bill from the hospital that said insurance denied the claim because it was for observation. He called the insurance company. The lady who answered never actually listened to what he was saying. She assumed he was wrong and misinformed, and she just kept talking over him.

First she told him that it wasn’t covered because it was in-patient and out of network. When he pushed back, she told him that it was covered, but it’s two dates of service (on the in-patient concept). That’s actually not the first time I’ve dealt with that annoyance and an emergency room. Once, I went to the ER at 10 pm and was charged for two dates of service even though I was released from the ER around 5 am. My dad had gone to the ER around 7 pm and was released in the morning. When he pushed that even if they were seeing it as two dates of service, he’d be looking at $300 (two copays) and not $2200, she came up with another excuse. She said it wasn’t covered because it was observation care. He said “I walked into the emergency room. I hope I was being observed.” She never once said “it sounds like the provider didn’t code the billing correctly; let me look into it.”

My dad eventually hung up on her. Seriously, if you’re not being heard and they’re talking over you, try again with a different person. I’ve had some people answer the phone that are the sweetest and most helpful customer service workers, and I’ve had some that are completely the opposite as if it’s your fault this is their job.

He set it aside to deal with another time. Shortly after, he received a voicemail from this lady where her tone was completely different and she said they were going to look into the coding of his visit. A week later, he received a voicemail from the same person, who said they reviewed it and determined the billing was done incorrectly and it was fixed. Instead of owing $2200, he now owed his $150 copay.

It’s important to know what your coverage is, how your insurance applies to your deductible, and your payment responsibilities. Do not assume that the billing codes were done correctly or that the insurance read it correctly. Neither the provider’s office or the insurance are going to think that they’ve made a mistake, so it’s likely going to take some persistence to get your story across. Don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself.

June Financial Update

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Gosh, where did I leave off?

Our savings account is still earning over 4% interest. Therefore, bills are being paid as close to the due date as possible, while we manage to keep the savings account balance higher. Back in December, we had a pipe burst in a rental house. The insurance quickly paid out on the estimated damages, but we didn’t need to pay the repair company in full until last week. Additionally, there was an issue with the invoice from the company that cleaned up the water, and so that was only just set to be paid today.

When we have large purchase(s) looming, we look to open a new credit card with rewards and 0% interest. We opened one last Fall, and I pay $500 towards it each statement cycle. I believe we have until October to pay in full before interest begins accruing. I’ll continue to pay $500 until I need to pay it in full in a few months (or if we need to reduce our debt usage because another house purchase is to be made … not that we have any plans to, but Mr. ODA is always looking).

We have a few projects lingering out there that will cost us a decent amount to accomplish (e.g., water main line repair, tree removal, new roof). We also don’t have any plans to make big financial moves in the near future (e.g., no home purchases, no loan pay offs).

The market has recovered in the past few months, so our net worth has made a jump. It’s the first decent increase in a while. Our cash has decreased, logically, since we were holding cash that was for accounts payable. Our credit card totals have decreased substantially since February as well.