013 - Safety Talk (That Isn't Boring) Pt. 2

2 Wealth Show S2 Ep13 – Safety Talk (That Isn't Boring) Pt. 2

Justin Bogard and Super E interview previous guest speaker, Justin Ford.

Key Takeaways:  

1. Amenities with Liabilities
2. Do Your Routine Maintenance
3. Safety Certified Homes 

 Resources and links discussed  

• Videocast on BrightPath Notes YouTube Channel 
• Videocast on Elizabeth Maora YouTube Channel 
• BrightPath Notes Website - https://brightpathnotes.com 
• Elizabeth Maora LLC Website - https://elizabethmaorallc.com
• Justin Ford LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rentalsafety/
• Justin Ford Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/vacationrentalsafety
• https://www.breezeway.io/safety-certifications

Sponsored By: Integrated Health Solutions

We are passionate about your health and wellness and we know you want to enjoy a vibrant, pain-free, active lifestyle, but when you are in pain this seems almost impossible. 

In order to be pain-free, move fluidly, and enjoy an optimal level of functionality, you need a personalized yet integrated, research based and clinically proven approach and that’s what we do.  

To learn more visit us at
ihsindy.com
cryotherapyindy.com 

About the Hosts 

Justin Bogard – Note Investor specializing in performing Residential Real Estate Debt. He finds deals and acquires them for his own portfolio as well as educates investors while walking them through the process of owning a Real Estate Note!  

Super E – Real Estate Investor specializing in short-term rentals and the management of them. She connects investors with short-term tenants and manages everything in-between.

Connect with the Hosts: 

• @2wealthshow – Facebook/Instagram 
• @wealth_show - Twitter 

Transcript

Justin Bogard: 0:05

Welcome to the two wealth show, a show that shares how you can create real wealth for you and your family. I'm one of your hosts, Justin Bogard. And my cohost is Elizabeth Sickles, AKA super E. I am a real estate note investor specializing in performing residential real estate debt. I find the deals acquire them for my own portfolio, as well as educate investors while walking them through the process of owning a real estate note, my cohost super E, a real estate investor specializing in short term rentals and the management of them. She connects investors with short term tenants and manages everything in between. Our show is sponsored by bright path notes and Elizabeth Maora. You can find out more information by visiting our websites at brightpathnotes.com and elizabethmaora.com. Hey everybody. This is Justin Bogard, bright path notes, also the cohost on the two wealth show. And this is episode number 13.

Elizabeth Maora: 1:14

Hi everybody. I'm Elizabeth with Elizabeth Maora, and we have a very special guest with us, a returning guest, because he has been our most downloaded podcast so far. So the number one guru in safety is mr. Justin Ford, who is with breezeway. So welcome back mr. Ford.

Justin Ford: 1:33

Hey, it's great to be back here with you guys. Yeah, we had so much fun. We had to have you on again. Yeah. We still have work to do there's problems to be solved. That's right. And this isn't boring. This is good stuff. I liked it. Well, Justin Elizabeth, this episode is brought to you by integrated health solutions. We are passionate about your health and wellness, and we know you want to enjoy a vibrant pain-free active lifestyle, but when you are in pain, this seems almost impossible in order to be pain-free move fluidly and enjoy an optimal level of functionality. You need a personalized yet integrated research based and clinically proven approach. And that's what we do to learn more. Visit us at ihsindy.com or cryotherapyindy.com.

Elizabeth Maora: 2:20

Yes. See dr. Charbel.

Justin Bogard: 2:22

He is he's fantastic.

Elizabeth Maora: 2:24

And I'm going there tomorrow. Actually, I'm on our, so just a quick recap of our last podcast, just in a really just in Ford, really schooled us on fire extinguishers on decks, on, um, smoke detectors, all kinds of really interesting things. Um, the app that they have, that you can walk through your own personal house. So not only things to do with investment properties, but also your personal property and commercial properties also. So we are very excited to have you back. And we've got a line up of things that he wants to talk to you about this time. So mr. Ford, where would you like to start?

Justin Ford: 3:00

You know, it's a great point that you make for people's houses too. And granted, my focus is on safety and rental property, specifically short term rental properties, but everything I'm covering is stuff that happens in the home. It just happens even more in a, in a rental property because people aren't familiar with the homes that they're staying in. So, um, this is, this is good for anybody to listen to if they want to listen to us. Um, this is all the topics in here relevant for everybody who lives in something other than a, you know, a tent, I guess,

Justin Bogard: 3:36

Which right now it could be several people. Right.

Justin Ford: 3:41

You know, I did want to talk about, you mentioned in our last show, we talked about deck collapses. This is people who didn't listen to our, to the show because since July 1st, um, there've been a lot of deck collapses, the United States. And I mean a lot, um, I'm aware right now between, um, up in New York, um, a really big one that just happened, um, down in Virginia Beach, um, over 38 people being hospitalized from debt collapses around the United States. Since the last time we did this podcast and every one of them would have been prevented by a simple inspection. And the key thing, I don't know if I highlighted it before, I want to highlight it right now. Uh, well built deck won't collapse. It doesn't matter how much weight you put on it. And you know, they're there, they're talking in this one in Virginia Beach that there were 20 people or 10 people or 40 people. However many people were on the deck could have been 50. The deck is built well, it won't collapse. This deck was not built well. And, um, I immediately kinda was able to look, I looked up online and found the rental property. I could identify in the advertising photos that the ledger board was nailed in. And that there were no Joyce hangers for the deck. It was it's one Oh one I could have. Um, my nine year old could have looked at it and said, Hey, dad, that doesn't look safe and sure enough, now, you know, experts are in the news being quoted. And it's exactly what I had pointed out too. And it just, why aren't people looking at this? This is a deck on the ocean is salt there. They just need to stop. Everyone needs to go out and look under your deck is not Joyce hangers. And that ledge ledger board isn't bolted in with nice, big thick half inch bolts. You're seeing nails that are holding the structure together. You need to get a contractor over there and you need to address it because it's one or 30 people. You're not going to fall. If it's not bolted on properly.

Justin Bogard: 5:39

That's incredible. Now the reason why we should, you know, push this nationally, Elizabeth need to get the word out there. We're just trying to help people. We're trying to save lives

Justin Ford: 5:50

The first, um, uh, I'm wearing a ski shirt today. First chair, last call more the first chair kind of guy, the last call. Got it, got it. But the very first deck collapse I ever saw was at a ski resort. I got on a chairlift, but then we're riding up. But I looked over and there was a hot tub on the deck and it had completely been. And you know, everybody going by on the chairlift is looking over and pointing them. Wow, look at that. Um, you know, they put a hot tub on a deck that was not supported. Well, it was an eight pounds per gallon and you've got a 400 gallon hot tub on your deck and then eight people and snow loads. Um, people just don't realize. I just think they just think that's their, it's a deck. Someone built it. Right. Don't worry about it. It's up there. It's lasted this long, right wrong. Right. Wow. God Elizabeth.

Elizabeth Maora: 6:41

So Justin, one of the questions that I get a lot from new clients, so the property owners is, Hey, well, I really want to have some bikes and this and that. And I tell them absolutely not. We're not doing bikes. So can you dive into some of the amenities that, you know, people are just trying to be great hosts, right? So they want to provide this for their guests, but what are the liabilities with that?

Justin Ford: 7:03

Yeah, it's a great question. And let's also approach that from the point of view that I'm sure some of your listeners rent themselves, maybe they don't own a home and they don't, um, they're not gonna ever run out their house and maybe they don't have bikes at their own home, but maybe somebody they're going to rent a house as a, at an Airbnb or a VRVO or, or whatever it may be. So this, this is something to think about from multiple angles. The one thing with bikes, Oh my gosh. When I was a property manager, I used to hear it all the time. They, the owner would call me up and say, Hey, we're heading out houses, all sad for runners. And by the way, we left a couple of our old bikes here. The runners can use them all that. That's great. Let's leave the old bikes that you don't want anymore customers. They don't work. And that's a common theme. I hear all the time on all the amenities, no one ever leaves the best amenities. They don't go buy a new top quality bikes and say, Hey, let's leave these out here for renters to use. It's all the old stuff. And flip, flip it again. You're renting an Airbnb. Do you want to get on a bike? But you don't hope the last person who just wrote it loose some, the bolt to adjust the height and then couldn't find a wrench and went through this and they had to go catch their flight and they never put it back together. You want to go 20 miles an hour down a Hill a lot. I don't right. Or, Hey don't please go ahead and replace the brakes. They were kinda kinda iffy when I last wrote exactly that that stuff needs to stay out of it. And you know, Elizabeth, I don't know if you've ever rented a bike from a rental company. I have, when you go in there, you sign your life away. There's like four pages of paperwork. You won't Sue us. We won't Sue you. They adjust the handlebars, they adjust the seat height. They make sure it's measured for you. They practically you out of the rental place with the bike in handcuffs to make sure that the person who's going to ride that bike and no one else because of how, how concerned they are about that. And then I see these homeowners that run out these houses and they just leave him in the garage and they don't. There's nothing done. No stop. Don't do that ever, ever, ever, ever. And, um, it's not just bikes, it's boats. Oh my goodness. Um, I see people leave kayaks and canoes out for their runners to use no life jackets are not the right size and they're moldy and stinky. Cause the last runners got them all wet and didn't dry them. And okay, then the renters don't use them. There was, um, an incident that happened two years ago up in Michigan, where at the beginning of the summer season, a father and son went out and some kayaks, the water condition was too cold. They shouldn't have been going out in the kayaks to begin with, but they're staying at an Airbnb there. They were. So they must be okay to use, right, because they're included with a rental. And what they didn't know was because that kayak gets used so much more at the rental property than the owner did been dragged up and down beach up and down the beach every week, all year long, last summer, the summer before and in worn through the plastic. And so that'll leak. So they get out on the water. Now, the kayaks leaking and sinking, and then dad tried to do what he can. Um, unfortunately both parish because the son got in the water, got hypothermia, cold, bad, trying to help save the sun. And that, that was the end of that. So, um, yeah, the same thing as a bike rental company, you go run a kayak, you're going to sign your life away. They're going to do inspections. They're going to make sure the life jacket fits. Um, don't use those things when you go stay at a rental, unless you've gone through a professional rental company, that's insured and specifically has the liability protection knows everything about every detail about those kayaks. And isn't inspecting them before you, as a renter use them or before the homeowner, um, offers those out as well.

Elizabeth Maora: 11:03

Absolutely. We also get some questions sometimes on if we have baby equipment, we do not do any of that, but can you talk about that, Justin?

Justin Ford: 11:13

Yeah. Baby equipment is, um, falls into that same thing. I see that all the time as well, where the homeowner is left behind, you know, the crib in the high chair that belonged to their kids and let's throw it in the rental for the runners to use it's in the closet. Um, probably the worst thing you can do. I don't know if either of you have ever gone to the U S consumer product safety commission website, um, it's hundreds of thousands of pages of recalls and probably the most recalled stuff is baby stuff. Um, pack can plays a collapsed because they're not constructed properly five years down the road, enough kids now it's, you know, on the recall list, but because you bought it 10 years ago, you had no idea that it was recalled five years ago. I see those being offered and then it collapses. And then you've got that on your hands. You should never ever have any baby equipment left behind in your house for runners to use. And as a renter don't ever use any of the baby equipment, you find in a house, there was an incident in the outer banks in North Carolina last summer, where people came in and used the highchair that was sitting in the house for their three year old. They didn't know that the runners, the last week had broken one of the releases for the tray that slides in. So it was only being held on one side that wasn't enough for that three year old and three year old felt cord and fell out of it and broken snack, very, very serious incident that led to a lawsuit. Um, the homeowner back in Ohio had no idea any of this was going on. They didn't even remember that they'd had that high chair. There was like in the garage or something and some runner brought it up and they just ignored it. And people just were using it. And in the end, you know, they, they paid quite a price for that.

Elizabeth Maora: 13:00

Wow. So we, are you familiar with the company, baby Quip?

Justin Ford: 13:04

Yeah. Yeah. And there's some great baby quips that are going, there are companies that rent baby year. I mean, you don't even want to refer a babysitter anymore. You don't want that liability on your hands. I know when I was a property manager, my insurance company said you can't refer babysitters. I mean, you could, it's a$10,000 a year premium, but do you want to pay that? I mean, you don't know unless you're doing a full background check on who this babysitter is, what happens if you know, God, I'm not even gonna go into the topics, you can just use your imagination, what this babysitter might do or might have for training or what their past background might be. If you're not checking all that stuff. And you're saying, Hey, use news Casey as a babysitter. Cause she's great. She watched my kid once now don't do that. Don't refer to it. But what do, let the person do their own research?

Elizabeth Maora: 13:56

Absolutely. It's all about having the least liability on yourself as possible, right. And the safest property. Um, and we actually, whenever we have people that do ask us about baby, um, equipment, we have, um, we do have, there's actually two different baby Quip franchises here in Indianapolis. And we use one of them and they've been the, the guests have been super happy with them. So, um,

Justin Ford: 14:20

And they're checking the stuff every week and you know, and this, this environment we live in today, they're sanitation, that's going on there. They're going to make sure they're checking for recalls their insured to do it. So, um, that that's the best solution. Um, you know, one of the other amenities I want to touch on real quick and it's probably not as popular in Indianapolis, but it is down certainly in Hilton head and Florida has golf carts along includes golf carts. I would do that. I don't even think I'd ever want to get into a golf cart that was used with a rental property. Um, I'd want to deal directly with the professional one. I know, um, last year it was actually in Hilton head or it was in part somewhere in South Carolina. Some renters rented a vacation home that had a golf cart and they lost the cord that charges the golf cart. So they used an actual household extension cord and modified it and plug it in to charge it, which was overloaded. The circuit, caught the house on fire and burned the house down. So if there's not enough of a reason to know what are these kids doing? My, my, uh, my file here on my desk is full of all the news reports of people have been accidents with golf carts and crashing them and all that stuff. So yeah, not a good idea. Wow. Thanks. That happened.

Elizabeth Maora: 15:43

Yeah. Unbelievable. And we also wanted to talk about, cause this is a huge one, um, dryers.

Justin Ford: 15:55

Hmm, good. One gas and electric household dryers a few years ago. And maybe it's even more than a few, um, federal government I'll, you know, safety commission, everybody came out and said, Hey, you know what? We're having a lot of dryer fires with these white vinyl exhaust, then hoses. And you know what I'm talking about? Justin probably still have one in your house right now though. You know that white flexible dryer hose. Well, luckily we have the washer dryer combo, so we don't have even use a hose anymore. It's a ventless. Oh, nice, nice. Well, I know people do see them every day. Every single time I go in and do an inspection on a house it's still that white vinyl, those are huge fire hazard. You can't make them anymore. You can't go into a hardware store to even get them for that purpose because they collected so much lint. They catch on fire easily. So first and foremost, if you've got a white vinyl dryer vent, hose, get rid of it. Upgrade right now. Um, they're just not safe. You want Mel. And even when you get into metals, those foil flexible ones still aren't good. And you want the semi rigid or rigid dryer vents. If you want to see something interesting, we'll put a I'll give you a photo. So you can put a link to this. Um, after the podcast I saw recently where there probably been eight fires in this one particular dryer vent. Unfortunately they all put themselves out before they caught on fire. It was like tree rings because the, you could see the carbon buildup in the dryer vent. Most people don't realize that they've probably at one point in time or another had a fire in their dryer vent. And fortunately, you know, the dryer stopped, the bender closed and it, it snuffed itself out, but they there's more than you can imagine that actually continue on and become a fire wow. So keeping those dryer vents cleaned out, you need to clean those annually. And it's easy for anybody who listens to this podcast to check your dryer vent first and foremost, but what to throw, what towel put it on high heat. We go outside when it's a little cooler in the morning and look and see where the it's venting and you shouldn't see a real nice, strong flow of steam coming out of the, of the dryer vent from that towel after you know, after heated up for five minutes. If you're not seeing that, if you're seeing that the little vent door is not quite opening all the way, any type of restriction, that's going to be holding in, that's building up. That means you need to be getting that thing cleaned out and looked at as soon as possible. You'll find a mouse nest in there or the other sign is if your dryer is taking a long time to dry, potentially your thermostats overheating and turning off in the dryer because it's so clogged up with the bed. So you hear that a lot people, you know, Elizabeth, you've probably had those phone calls from renters where we'd run the dryer for two hours in the close to our dry. That's the first warning sign that the dryer vent's probably backed up in the thermostat, switching off the heat.

Justin Bogard: 18:59

Wow. And you're just, you're just full of great news today.

Justin Ford: 19:07

We spent half our lives and in our homes and there's a lot of things go on in there. You know, we were so diligent about changing the oil in our car and going in and getting our car service. And our wheel bearings checked where I live in Maine, part of an annual inspection of your car that you have to pay for every year as they check your wheel bearings and your ball joints and all these things. Um, and that's just a little car. And yet we live in these three, 4,000 square foot buildings. And just assume that we'll deal with it when it finally does the break. And you just can't do that

Justin Bogard: 19:41

Because of the pandemic going on, where obviously in our homes a heck of a lot more than we used to be. So it's even more important now to stay on top of your, your maintenance on top of all your appliances and mechanicals and things like that. Right?

Speaker 3: 19:56

Exactly. You know, and the recap on the dryers, I will tell you when I ran or stay in a short term rental, I'm just the kind of guy, but I'm not going home with dirty laundry. I do all my laundry before I fly home or go back home because there's a washer dryer there and why, why pay for it at home when I can get it done here included in the price of the rental. And I'm not the only one that thinks that way. So yeah, I firmly believe a washer and a dryer in a, in a short term rental house probably gets used four to five times as much as one that's in a domestic home, just because everybody can just wash and use stuff. So they're getting even more use than you would imagine. Yeah. Why not? And you bring up a great point. Speaking of either one, either one of you will probably rent to me now that damn Justin,

Elizabeth Maora: 20:48

But on a service fee,

Justin Bogard: 20:50

Bring our own stuff with us. Jeez, staying here was said that$20 laundry electrical surgeon on here that the deposit will be three times the weekly amount, right. Dryers and fires. Um, what about like outdoor gas grills or fire pits and stuff like that? Does that ever come up as an issue? It has. There's been a lot, um, in the news, um, I, I actually made connection recently with some friends of a, uh, woman in Nashville on your readers or your listeners can Google this story. You know, she fell on a fire pit and was severely burned just a couple of weeks ago. Um, well known person in Nashville. So, um, it happens a lot. There was a serious incident also recently where people staying at an Airbnb have fire pit. Um, renters came in, had a fire in the fire pit. They didn't extinguish it properly.

Justin Ford: 21:45

Um, and left next day. Cleaners came in, cleaned the property, did what they're supposed to do part of their checklist. Wasn't to go out and check the firepit and make sure the fire is completely out that night. So less than less than 24 hours since the last renters had left and not properly extinguished, the fire new renters came in three year old, went down to the fire pit to, um, you know, take a look at it, whatever, but he fell in and it was full of hot coals and he has third degree burns all over his body, um, from that. So, um, that's a more serious incident that we've seen this year, but there are a lot of those incidents. Um, the most common accident at fire pits are from young children falling in. I saw my own daughter since these stories have come out my own daughter on the 4th of July, tried to do a Cartwheel. We near the fire pit. I'm like, what are you doing on there? Do that. And they're down there roasting s'mores are doing that stuff. You gotta watch and pay close attention to the kids around the fire, but that's the number one leading accident right now with them. And number two, they gotta be properly extinguished. And it's, it's five gallon bucket. Isn't necessarily always enough, you know, garden hose saturate that thing. And if you're a, an owner that has fire pits, get the cleaners to go down and check it again and dumps more water on it and make sure they're out. Absolutely.

Elizabeth Maora: 23:10

And you also, I want to just touch on the before we're out of time on the app that you have created because it's pretty cool.

Justin Ford: 23:19

So we're having a lot of fun, um, with the safety inspections and what we're doing right now. And it's really exciting to see that people care. Um, there was, uh, a shooting recently. I'm not, I'm sorry, folks in Nashville, I'm picking on you, but there was a shooting there's been a lot of parties and shootings at Airbnb. You see it in the news. Um, usually from large groups of people, but this led this particular property owner going, you know what, I really want to get my home safety certified. And we went in and did that. And there was a lot of things they hadn't even considered. And although it was a shooting, which I don't really have anything to do to make your house safer from that, just pick better runners. Um, and we're, we're definitely seeing the movement now where people want to have a safe home and I don't think people get yet how important that is from a marketing point of view. Um, are you going to take your kids on a ride at the traveling fair on the, the, the, um, the what's the role though? The Ferris wheel? Yes. Thank gosh. You can see me motioning wheel at Disney world, probably Disney world, right? Not because you pay whole lot more money to get in there, but because of the quality and you know that they've done a lot of work and inspected and done that, and the thing, same thing applies over with a short term rental. Do you want to stay in a short term rental that hasn't been safety inspected and someone hasn't taken care to do everything to make sure you're gonna be safe there? Or do you want to stay in a property that maybe has maybe he doesn't smoke detector? I don't know. And I think people are starting to figure out now that marketing to safety is, is really good. And it's going to make a difference when it comes down to this two, three bedroom homes that are right next to each other, both have a pool, but this one safety certified and inspected, and they've got the best safety features in here for my family. And that one we don't know. So I see that

Justin Bogard: 25:19

That's a great point. Cause that's how, you know, new moms would shop for certain things for their baby or for a cart they get. And they put that in mind first. And you should be putting your home in mind first because you're obviously now we're staying in our homes a lot more than we used to. So

Justin Ford: 25:35

Yeah, there's just a home today Justin Burns so much faster than a home 20 years ago, and it's not pick on Ikea or any of those other things, but we're putting products in our homes now that are inexpensive. A lot of chemicals in them. You don't have much time. You don't have much time to be alerted to get out. And so, um, having a safe home for, from all different aspects is very important.

Justin Bogard: 26:00

Absolutely, absolutely. Justin, this has been a great episode today. Thanks for getting on our show again and, and sharing with us all the, all the things that we need to focus on and worry about. I know I continue to learn a heck of a lot about the things that I just gloss over and a house when I, when I'm either the one renting or the one that is the, or the one that is providing the rental for short term or whatnot. So thank you very much for all the information that you provide to us.

Justin Ford: 26:26

Absolutely. I'm happy to share,

Elizabeth Maora: 26:29

But the links for the app and all the links for Justin, for breezeway, um, the software company that he works for. So high accolades for all of that. Thank you so much.

Justin Bogard: 26:40

Absolutely. All right, guys, we are at time today on episode number 13. Thanks Justin, for being a part of our show and those of you that are listening. Don't forget to check out the video of this podcast on our bright path notes, YouTube channel, or Elizabeth Maora YouTube channel as well. Thanks everybody. Alright. Have a good one until next time two wealth show is produced by Justin Bogard and super E sponsored by BrightPath notes. And Elizabeth Maora, thanks for listening and watching for our show.