I am trying to get a 30 inch electric range for the rental. Are there any reliable brands for around $400-$500? Is Frigidaire any good (I saw one of those for $350). Thanks.
Frigidaire is fine. I buy a lot of those and Whirlpool. One thing an appliance repair guy told me was to try and stay away from ranges with digital clocks because bugs like to get in there and eat the wires and short them out. Sometimes you can get a little discount on floor models too.
justin0419 is correct. Check Lowes for clearance. What works well is when the zone manager comes through and tells the store manager to have it gone by Monday. That is where the deals come from. If you see the appliances in the middle of the aisle or on the clearance aisle they are marked down pretty well. I never pay more than the $200 range. A caveat is that I buy them all the time and store them. I have toilets, sinks, lights anything I find that is a good deal, but I am just a nut like that. Modern appliances never break anymore. What happens is the computer gets fried. They replace circuit boards most of the time. Put a surge protector in before you plug it up.
Craigslist. I look for white on white appliances, and upper end options wise. I try to spend $200-$250 for an oven. Don’t care too much about brand, but try to buy whirlpool when I have an option. That’s mostly so it matches.
I believe that tenants expect a nicer appliance with some options in a nicer rental house but expect a used appliance too. I just try to meet these expectations as inexpensively as possible. Repairs are cheap and I spend very little time repairing appliances.
My goal is to have a spare set at home of all appliances and to have them as interchangeable as possible so when something breaks I can just go swap it and repair it in my time. Even a dishwasher can be changed out in about 20 minutes if you can standardize things like cords and hoses.
Thanks for all the suggestions–I forgot about the insect problem (that actually happened at the first rental I bought, and required an expensive repair). I think I’m going to be buy a new range, rather than a used.
Sometimes I’ll roll the dice on a used range. They don’t scare me nearly as much as used refrigerators. I’ve had good luck with used ranges but I’ve had fridges work when I looked at them but break while being transported.
Here’s a benefit of owning a 4plex. Unit 1 the stove breaks. Unit 4 is going through a rehab. Have the maintaince guy move working stove. Collect rent and wait until unit 4 is rented and buy a new one.
I’ve had great luck with fridges. I’ll fix anything on them that doesn’t involve freon.