After a wonderful 4 day weekend, I was back to work yesterday and today. My project this week is to "rehab" our latest 2 bedroom house in preparation for the new tenant moving in. Projects in the rehab include installing new locks; replacing one old window with a new vinyl replacement window; installing a new electrical circuit and 2 outlets (one GFCI) in the kitchen; installing new miniblinds; installing a new electrical circuit for later conversion of the house to electric baseboard heat; fixing a clogged bathtub drain; and painting the exterior of the house.
As of this afternoon, everything has been completed except the electrical work and painting the exterior of the house. I'll finish the electrical work tomorrow morning and then probably start painting on Friday and maybe finish on Saturday (unless something more fun comes up).
In addition to working on the house, I also took a nice bike ride this afternoon with my new self-sealing, flat-proof tube installed in the front tire. The tire did fine and I'm ready for some more mountain biking. I might ride the local mountain bike course tomorrow.
I'd also like to give an update on the new surveillance system. With 7 cameras now installed, the system is working beautifully. The criminals in the neighborhood are very aware that the security cameras are covering the entire area. No doubt this is helping to deter crime in the area and I have high hopes that it will help to deter criminals from even applying to rent these apartments in the future. I'm already planning to install surveillance systems at several other apartment buildings.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Another Long Weekend!
My wife and I are back from another long weekend of camping. This four-day weekend was a camping trip with some friends from church. It was a jam-packed four days with a lot of mountain biking, swimming, motorcycle riding, cookouts and other fun stuff!
To me, this is the beauty of the rental property business - freedom. Just before we left the campground, my friend asked what day I could go mountain biking again. My answer - any day!!! I can always go do things. Pick a day - I CAN GO!
Speaking of mountain biking, this weekend was the first time I've made it through one of the mountain biking courses without crashing. I'm new to mountain biking this summer and I've taken quite a few spills in my first few attempts. Around here, the trails are VERY narrow with a lot of steep drop-offs. Although I didn't have a biking crash, I did blow the front tire (tube). It was a long walk back to our motorhome with an blown tire.
After we got home today, I went to the store to get a new tube. I bought a tube that is guaranteed never to go flat. I also bought a tool bag for the bike and I'll start carrying some basic tools and maybe a small first aid kit.
Tomorrow I'm planning to get back to the rental business.
To me, this is the beauty of the rental property business - freedom. Just before we left the campground, my friend asked what day I could go mountain biking again. My answer - any day!!! I can always go do things. Pick a day - I CAN GO!
Speaking of mountain biking, this weekend was the first time I've made it through one of the mountain biking courses without crashing. I'm new to mountain biking this summer and I've taken quite a few spills in my first few attempts. Around here, the trails are VERY narrow with a lot of steep drop-offs. Although I didn't have a biking crash, I did blow the front tire (tube). It was a long walk back to our motorhome with an blown tire.
After we got home today, I went to the store to get a new tube. I bought a tube that is guaranteed never to go flat. I also bought a tool bag for the bike and I'll start carrying some basic tools and maybe a small first aid kit.
Tomorrow I'm planning to get back to the rental business.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Summer is Here!
Summer has FINALLY arrived here in Ohio. Most of the spring and summer so far has been cool and very wet (so much for global warming). I've taken several days off lately and haven't gotten a lot of work done in the rental business. I did work a little on Tuesday, mainly working on the new surveillance system. The surveillance system at my new apartment building has worked very well since initial installation. However, what has been a challenge is the "remote viewing" capability, which allows me to view the cameras from any computer. This is an important feature as I want to be able to periodically monitor things from home. The system initially was up and running a week ago Monday, including the remote viewing feature. However, last Friday, the remote view system stopped working and was out all weekend. I thought that the problem was the DSL line.
So this past Monday morning, I called the phone company to report the problem I was having with the DSL line. They came out yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) and checked out the line. Their opinion was that the DSL line was working properly and that the router was the problem. So, I called the router company yesterday and they assured me that the problem was with the phone company or the maker of the camera system. You see how this is going. Unfortunately, I'm not a computer expert and I had to rapidly become educated enough on these issues so that I could decide what was happening. After talking to each company's tech support and a friend of mine at the phone company, it became apparent that the router had changed the IP address of the DVR and that was the cause of the remote viewing feature not working. By the time I figured all of this out, the tech support at the camera company was already closed for the evening.
This morning I called tech support at Luxor (the camera company). After a half-hour of working on the issue, we finally got it resolved. They assigned the DVR a permanent IP address and taught me how to find the address if the IP address ever gets screwed up again.
The other thing I did today was install 3 more cameras (for a total of 7). After evaluating the original 4 cameras I bought, this time I bought 3 longer range cameras that I will be using to monitor my apartment building next door. I was amazed at the quality of picture that these longer range cameras provide. The picture is almost good enough to read the license plate on cars about 80 feet away and the face detail of people walking by is excellent. That was about it for today.
Tomorrow, I will do a little work and then we're off for a 4 day camping trip!
So this past Monday morning, I called the phone company to report the problem I was having with the DSL line. They came out yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) and checked out the line. Their opinion was that the DSL line was working properly and that the router was the problem. So, I called the router company yesterday and they assured me that the problem was with the phone company or the maker of the camera system. You see how this is going. Unfortunately, I'm not a computer expert and I had to rapidly become educated enough on these issues so that I could decide what was happening. After talking to each company's tech support and a friend of mine at the phone company, it became apparent that the router had changed the IP address of the DVR and that was the cause of the remote viewing feature not working. By the time I figured all of this out, the tech support at the camera company was already closed for the evening.
This morning I called tech support at Luxor (the camera company). After a half-hour of working on the issue, we finally got it resolved. They assigned the DVR a permanent IP address and taught me how to find the address if the IP address ever gets screwed up again.
The other thing I did today was install 3 more cameras (for a total of 7). After evaluating the original 4 cameras I bought, this time I bought 3 longer range cameras that I will be using to monitor my apartment building next door. I was amazed at the quality of picture that these longer range cameras provide. The picture is almost good enough to read the license plate on cars about 80 feet away and the face detail of people walking by is excellent. That was about it for today.
Tomorrow, I will do a little work and then we're off for a 4 day camping trip!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Apartment Turned
The last of my 3 evictions from June was completed yesterday with the setout of a deadbeat. This is the deadbeat that tried to assault me a couple of weeks ago and I was glad to get him out. He had most of the large furniture out, but left a lot of food, trash, and debris. I spent about 2 hours yesterday taking all the stuff out to the street and bagging up the trash. I finished getting this apartment ready to re-rent today by vacuuming and steam-cleaning the carpet; cleaning the kitchen, putting some new carpet in the bathroom; spraying for gnats; and mopping the kitchen floor. I should also mention that I removed the screen door and threw it away. We don't put screen doors on our low income rentals because low income tenants ALWAYS tear them up. This one had the screen damaged, so I just threw the entire thing away.
After finishing the apartment, I went to another 2 bedroom house that we have for rent. I decided to hire a painting crew to paint this house for me. The economy is slow here in Ohio and these painters (that I have used before) were willing to paint the entire exterior of this house for $450 (a good deal). However, there is a carriage house in the back yard that I will be painting. Therefore, I decided to start on that today and I got two sides of the carriage house painted. The painters are scheduled to complete the painting on the house tomorrow.
After finishing the apartment, I went to another 2 bedroom house that we have for rent. I decided to hire a painting crew to paint this house for me. The economy is slow here in Ohio and these painters (that I have used before) were willing to paint the entire exterior of this house for $450 (a good deal). However, there is a carriage house in the back yard that I will be painting. Therefore, I decided to start on that today and I got two sides of the carriage house painted. The painters are scheduled to complete the painting on the house tomorrow.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Blessed by the Nuisance Abatement Board
The turnaround of the Pink Elephant is now officially complete, at least as far as the Nuisance Abatement Board is concerned. When I took this building over in January, this apartment building was a disaster, meaning that it housed a bunch of TERRIBLE tenants. It was not uncommon to have the police at the building 5 or 6 times in a single day. Violence, drugs, and deadbeats were the norm.
Today, the building has turned a corner with substantial progress being made. The nuisance board reported that not a single incident had occurred at the building in the past month!!! Compared to the dozens of calls that were occurring each month when we took over the building, this is a HUGE improvement.
As part of the meeting, I explained and demonstrated the operation of our new surveillance system at the building. Ironically, a neighborhood druggie had stolen a bicycle from one of the tenants at the building the day after the surveillance system was completed! The entire incident was caught on tape and the police were notified. The thief quickly became aware that his act had been caught on tape and that evening he returned the bike (again, caught on tape)!!! The board was very impressed by the surveillance system that we installed and they thanked me for turning around the building. I've been in contact with the nuisance board monthly since we took over the building in January, but with the official blessing of the nuisance board, the job is now complete and I won't need to attend any further meetings.
My attention now will turn to finishing the painting on the building and finding qualified tenants to put in the units that are vacant (and of course, raising the rent).
Today, the building has turned a corner with substantial progress being made. The nuisance board reported that not a single incident had occurred at the building in the past month!!! Compared to the dozens of calls that were occurring each month when we took over the building, this is a HUGE improvement.
As part of the meeting, I explained and demonstrated the operation of our new surveillance system at the building. Ironically, a neighborhood druggie had stolen a bicycle from one of the tenants at the building the day after the surveillance system was completed! The entire incident was caught on tape and the police were notified. The thief quickly became aware that his act had been caught on tape and that evening he returned the bike (again, caught on tape)!!! The board was very impressed by the surveillance system that we installed and they thanked me for turning around the building. I've been in contact with the nuisance board monthly since we took over the building in January, but with the official blessing of the nuisance board, the job is now complete and I won't need to attend any further meetings.
My attention now will turn to finishing the painting on the building and finding qualified tenants to put in the units that are vacant (and of course, raising the rent).
Friday, July 4, 2008
Surveillance System Installed
The new surveillance system that I ordered is now installed. The installation went very well and the system is performing beautifully. The only issue that I have is that the internet connection is not working. After discussing the issue with the telephone company technical support (internet company), I discovered that the new internet line is not functioning properly. They will send a tech out Monday.
In the mean time, I have adjusted the cameras and backed up selected segements of video to a DVD. Everything is working very well. I think that I will try adjusting the resolution a little higher, as I'm not satisfied with the picture's clarity on the backup DVD when the resolution is set to normal. There are two settings of higher resolution and I'd like to be able to clearly see the faces of people on the backup, which is what I would take to the police as evidence.
After I'm satisfied with everything and the internet connection is working, then I still need to order the other 4 cameras. I only ordered 4 initially because I want to see if I want different lenses on the remaining cameras.
In the mean time, I have adjusted the cameras and backed up selected segements of video to a DVD. Everything is working very well. I think that I will try adjusting the resolution a little higher, as I'm not satisfied with the picture's clarity on the backup DVD when the resolution is set to normal. There are two settings of higher resolution and I'd like to be able to clearly see the faces of people on the backup, which is what I would take to the police as evidence.
After I'm satisfied with everything and the internet connection is working, then I still need to order the other 4 cameras. I only ordered 4 initially because I want to see if I want different lenses on the remaining cameras.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Lost in the Forest!
Yesterday, a friend of mine from Church and I went mountain biking in a nearby state park. Unfortunately, the trails weren't very well marked. We had intended to ride a 2 1/2 mile course which had a lot of steep vertical terrain. Instead, we somehow got on the wrong course and ended up doing a 8 1/2 mile course that was VERY CHALLENGING. The course was very narrow, steep, and rough. Even though the course was challenging, I was doing quite well until I slipped off the narrow course and over a steep dropoff. I ended up flying over the handlebars and smashing into the ground with the bike on top of me. Fortunately, I broke the bike's fall and it wasn't damaged. As for me, a bloody knee and elbow was about all the damage that I incurred. I'll be back to riding my bike in the morning.
Today was day 2 of this month's rent collection period and I was surprised to collect a bunch of rents. Usually the 2nd day of rent collection is very slow. In addition to collecting rent, the DSL link and static IP were installed today for the new surveillance system and I received the surveillance system via FedEx. I spent most of the afternoon checking everything out and learning to operate the camera system. So far, I'm quite happy with the system and I'm looking forward to installing it tomorrow. The only portion of the system that I couldn't check at home was the internet connection. I'm hoping that this will work without incident, as I'm certainly not a computer expert and I can imagine that this could be quite a chore to troubleshoot. I'll report back after I get it going.
Today was day 2 of this month's rent collection period and I was surprised to collect a bunch of rents. Usually the 2nd day of rent collection is very slow. In addition to collecting rent, the DSL link and static IP were installed today for the new surveillance system and I received the surveillance system via FedEx. I spent most of the afternoon checking everything out and learning to operate the camera system. So far, I'm quite happy with the system and I'm looking forward to installing it tomorrow. The only portion of the system that I couldn't check at home was the internet connection. I'm hoping that this will work without incident, as I'm certainly not a computer expert and I can imagine that this could be quite a chore to troubleshoot. I'll report back after I get it going.
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