Back to Business

It's back to business, at least as far as posting to this blog. It has been about 3 weeks since I last posted, so let's catch up.

When I last posted, I was starting on our latest doublewide. I have already gotten it rented for October 1st and therefore need to get it done. To date, I have hooked up all the sewage; contacted the electric company to arrange for a new electric pole; built and installed the panel for the electric meter base and disconnect; wired the meter and disconnect to the house; arranged to have the gas furnace changed to an electric furnace; installed the septic tank (yes, I did this myself); and much more.

Unfortunately, one of the things I had to do was spend two entire days fixing all the broken water lines under the house. They had apparently frozen and were broken in MANY places.

In the last 3 weeks, I have also had one tenant suddenly leave without any notice and I am evicting another for non-payment. Having a tenant suddenly leave was a first for me, although this is a fairly common occurrence in this business. Fortunately, they left the house in good condition and it is basically ready to rent. The tenant I am evicting is a drunk and probably spent the rent on drugs and/or alcohol.

The last big thing that happened was that my wife was in a major automobile accident. Although she was not seriously hurt, the other driver broke her wrist and received 2nd degree burns after spilling her coffee. To make matters worse, my wife was cited by the police, even though the facts do not support that it was her fault. I have already contacted my attorney and we will be aggressively fighting the citation. Although the fine is only $100, we are fighting it for 2 reasons. First, and most importantly, we want to avoid a lawsuit. Landlords are big targets for lawsuits and if my wife caused the accident (she didn't), then we are at higher risk for a lawsuit. Worse yet, my wife was driving her Mercedes, which can also attract attention from scumbag contingency lawyers. Secondly, we don't want to pay higher insurance premiums. Therefore, we will AGGRESSIVELY fight the citation. I'd rather spend a few hundred dollars in insurance premiums to clear up my wife's record than to pay a $100 fine and then higher premiums for years to come.

After all of this, we needed a vacation. Therefore, we are currently spending about ten days at Hilton Head. It is absolutely beautiful in Hilton Head this time of year with nearly perfect weather. We have been spending time at the beach and going for long bike rides. Yesterday, we toured the Island on our bikes and had dinner at the Salty Dog, which is a popular place to eat. Today, we are planning to do some Jet Skiing!

Mike