Today's primary goal was to pass the yearly Section 8 inspection on one of my 3 bedroom houses. The tenant is a single mother with 5 kids (all very young) and of course children under 6. Having children under age 6 means that the paint must pass the Section 8 inspection, which is always the most difficult aspect of a Section 8 inspection. The way I normally handle things is to check the rental the day before the Section 8 inspection, so that any items that need attention can be fixed. My quick check of the unit yesterday uncovered one broken window; one missing light switch cover; one hole in the wall; some spots where the paint needed attention; and two loose window panes in the basement.
The inspection was scheduled for 2pm - 4pm today, so I went to the house at about 12:30 pm. First, I installed new glass in the broken window. Then, I caulked the loose window panes in the basement. Third on the priority list was to replace the missing switch cover. Next was patching the hole in the wall. Finally, I went around the house and touched up any paint that needed it, concentrating on the window frame areas. I was finished by 1:45 pm and just about that time the Section 8 inspector arrived. He was a little early, but I was ready. The unit passed with flying colors.
After the inspection, I collected several rents and then trashed out the basement of one of our 3 bedroom duplexes. That was enough for one day.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Another Fun Weekend!
We had a great time this weekend. I took Friday and Monday off so that my wife and I could have another 4- day weekend for camping. This time, we went to Ceasar's Creek State Park, near Wilmington, Ohio. Being my first time at this campground, I wasn't sure what to expect. However, I can report that it is an EXCELLENT campground with a beautiful lake, spectacular scenery, and very challenging mountain biking courses. It was a fantastic long weekend with good food, great friends and a lot of action packed fun.
Of particular note was our second day of mountain biking. Ceasar's creek has an elaborate system of mountain biking trails, stretching for many miles. Most of the course is intermediate and advanced in difficulty. On the second day of our mountain biking, we decided to do the entire course. It was a challenging course with a lot of steep climbs and descents. Everything was going fine for the first hour and a half. We had just completed the advanced portion of the course without any significant difficulty (other than my partner taking one fall) and thought that we were about half way back to the campground. As we arrived at the intersection of two trails, we realized that we had somehow gone around the advanced course again and were STILL ON THE ADVANCED COURSE! We were MANY miles from the campground. I was out of water. My partner was almost out of water. We were getting VERY TIRED and obviously lost. Certainly not time to declare an emergency, but still an uncomfortable situation.
Fortunately, while we were contemplating our situation, a lone biker arrived at our location. This was somewhat amazing, as he was the only other biker we saw on the entire course that day! He was a local guy who knew exactly where we were, and he volunteered to ride with us to the intersection of the next trailhead. By the time we finally arrived at the next trail head, we had already been riding for more than 2 hours and had ridden at least 20 miles on very challenging trails. We were both out of water and extremely tired. It was obvious that we couldn't ride the course back to the campground. We decided to exit the course and head back to the campground via some nearby rural roads.
As we made our way onto a country road, there was a man sitting on his porch. We stopped at his house to ask for water. The man was very kind and filled our water bottles with cold water from his refrigerator. I was certainly happy to have some fresh water and that water allowed us to continue back to the campground. By the time we finally arrived, we had been riding for nearly three hours and we were both literally exhausted. We were both close to being physically sick. After eating a light lunch and taking a two hour nap, I started to recover and was feeling better. By the next morning, I was feeling well enough for another 10 mile ride.
This incident teaches a valuable lesson that can be applied to just about every facet of life (including real estate). This lesson is one that I learned in the military; one that I know well; and one that I have applied in almost every other situation. In fact, I am a little embarassed that I didn't apply this lesson to my mountain biking when it was so obviously needed. Of course, the lesson is to be prepared! In the military, they expressed this to me (over and over again) as the Seven P's: Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. In the case of our mountain biking trip, our lack of planning certainly did result in piss poor performance.
So, I have vowed that I will apply the lesson learned by this experience into my future mountain biking trips (including this coming weekend). From now on, I will carry my camelback (additional water), a powerbar or something else to eat; a small first aid kit, and some sort of navigation device (either a compass or a small GPS. I also will re-evaluate the tools that I am carrying. I am already religiously wearing my helmet, but am considering wearing some sort of glasses or sport goggles for eye protection.
This has already been a long post, so I'm not going to opine how this applies to real estate - I think you get the point.
Speaking of real estate, I was back to work today. I spent the day collecting rent; fixing two showers; mowing the yards at two apartment buildings; and inspecting one property in advance of tomorrow's Section 8 inspection.
Of particular note was our second day of mountain biking. Ceasar's creek has an elaborate system of mountain biking trails, stretching for many miles. Most of the course is intermediate and advanced in difficulty. On the second day of our mountain biking, we decided to do the entire course. It was a challenging course with a lot of steep climbs and descents. Everything was going fine for the first hour and a half. We had just completed the advanced portion of the course without any significant difficulty (other than my partner taking one fall) and thought that we were about half way back to the campground. As we arrived at the intersection of two trails, we realized that we had somehow gone around the advanced course again and were STILL ON THE ADVANCED COURSE! We were MANY miles from the campground. I was out of water. My partner was almost out of water. We were getting VERY TIRED and obviously lost. Certainly not time to declare an emergency, but still an uncomfortable situation.
Fortunately, while we were contemplating our situation, a lone biker arrived at our location. This was somewhat amazing, as he was the only other biker we saw on the entire course that day! He was a local guy who knew exactly where we were, and he volunteered to ride with us to the intersection of the next trailhead. By the time we finally arrived at the next trail head, we had already been riding for more than 2 hours and had ridden at least 20 miles on very challenging trails. We were both out of water and extremely tired. It was obvious that we couldn't ride the course back to the campground. We decided to exit the course and head back to the campground via some nearby rural roads.
As we made our way onto a country road, there was a man sitting on his porch. We stopped at his house to ask for water. The man was very kind and filled our water bottles with cold water from his refrigerator. I was certainly happy to have some fresh water and that water allowed us to continue back to the campground. By the time we finally arrived, we had been riding for nearly three hours and we were both literally exhausted. We were both close to being physically sick. After eating a light lunch and taking a two hour nap, I started to recover and was feeling better. By the next morning, I was feeling well enough for another 10 mile ride.
This incident teaches a valuable lesson that can be applied to just about every facet of life (including real estate). This lesson is one that I learned in the military; one that I know well; and one that I have applied in almost every other situation. In fact, I am a little embarassed that I didn't apply this lesson to my mountain biking when it was so obviously needed. Of course, the lesson is to be prepared! In the military, they expressed this to me (over and over again) as the Seven P's: Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. In the case of our mountain biking trip, our lack of planning certainly did result in piss poor performance.
So, I have vowed that I will apply the lesson learned by this experience into my future mountain biking trips (including this coming weekend). From now on, I will carry my camelback (additional water), a powerbar or something else to eat; a small first aid kit, and some sort of navigation device (either a compass or a small GPS. I also will re-evaluate the tools that I am carrying. I am already religiously wearing my helmet, but am considering wearing some sort of glasses or sport goggles for eye protection.
This has already been a long post, so I'm not going to opine how this applies to real estate - I think you get the point.
Speaking of real estate, I was back to work today. I spent the day collecting rent; fixing two showers; mowing the yards at two apartment buildings; and inspecting one property in advance of tomorrow's Section 8 inspection.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
The Week is Done!
Another short week has come to an end. Today, I finished up work on the 3 bedroom duplex and got a lease signed with the new tenant. That was a good way to finish the week and I can start my camping trip tomorrow without any unfinished work. I'm really looking forward to the camping trip and am expecting the weather to be excellent. We're going with 3 other couples from Church and I'm sure that we'll have a great time.
I've had a couple of people ask to see a picture of the painted floors in the duplex. Here it is! Please note that I had to sand this floor due to the delapidated 50+ year old carpet pad that was literally bonded to the floor. Due to time constraints (the tenants wanting to move in), I was only able to put one coat of floor paint on this floor. Normally one coat is plenty, however, in this case, a second coat would have been desireable. The floor looks OK, but it doesn't have the high gloss that another coat would have provided. Without further delay, here it is:
I've had a couple of people ask to see a picture of the painted floors in the duplex. Here it is! Please note that I had to sand this floor due to the delapidated 50+ year old carpet pad that was literally bonded to the floor. Due to time constraints (the tenants wanting to move in), I was only able to put one coat of floor paint on this floor. Normally one coat is plenty, however, in this case, a second coat would have been desireable. The floor looks OK, but it doesn't have the high gloss that another coat would have provided. Without further delay, here it is:
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
New Tenant!
Any day that you get a new tenant is a good day. Today, I got a new tenant for the 3-bedroom apartment that I have been working on, even though it won't be finished for a day or two. That just shows how tight the rental market is in our area! A good thing!
My actual work today consisted of painting the 3-bedroom apartment. I got the living room, dining room, one bedroom, and the stairway painted. Tomorrow, I've got 2 more bedrooms to paint, some touch-up painting to do in the kitchen, a ceiling light to install, and a little work to do in the bathroom.
My actual work today consisted of painting the 3-bedroom apartment. I got the living room, dining room, one bedroom, and the stairway painted. Tomorrow, I've got 2 more bedrooms to paint, some touch-up painting to do in the kitchen, a ceiling light to install, and a little work to do in the bathroom.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Sad Day
Today started on a sad note, with the funeral for one of my tenants. I was honored by the family to be asked to be a pallbearer. I spent a significant part of the day at the funeral and the cemetary. This was a very untimely and unexpected death, with my 48 year old tenant suffering a sudden blood clot. The tenant and her long time roommate lived in the Pink Elephant, which is the apartment building that I have been working so hard to take back from the druggies, deadbeats, and criminals. In fact, this hard work is exactly why I was asked to be a pallbearer. The family told me that my tenant appreciated everything I have done to improve the neighborhood. Somehow, that makes all the hard work; all the struggles with the druggies; all the court hearings; all the renovation; and all the painting seem very worthwhile. I'm sorry that the tenant didn't live to see the completion of the renovation. The druggies, deadbeats, and criminals are mostly gone, but only about half of the cosmetic rehab is done.
After the funeral, I spent a couple of hours doing three minor projects. The first was to pour industrial strength drain cleaner down a slow drain at one apartment. Next, I sealed every nook and cranny I could find in another apartment that has had a bat problem. For some reason, here in our little corner of Ohio, the bat population has exploded this summer and many tenants have had bats in their rentals. Bats are good for keeping the mosquito population down, but having bats flying around the house can be a bit nerve-racking for the tenants! Finally, I did some painting in the three bedroom duplex I've been working on. I'm hoping to make a lot of progress on that unit tomorrow!
That was enough for one day and I'm looking forward to a happier day tomorrow.
After the funeral, I spent a couple of hours doing three minor projects. The first was to pour industrial strength drain cleaner down a slow drain at one apartment. Next, I sealed every nook and cranny I could find in another apartment that has had a bat problem. For some reason, here in our little corner of Ohio, the bat population has exploded this summer and many tenants have had bats in their rentals. Bats are good for keeping the mosquito population down, but having bats flying around the house can be a bit nerve-racking for the tenants! Finally, I did some painting in the three bedroom duplex I've been working on. I'm hoping to make a lot of progress on that unit tomorrow!
That was enough for one day and I'm looking forward to a happier day tomorrow.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Trouble Comes in Orange!
I spent Wednesday and Thursday removing what was left of an antique carpet pad from the floor in one of my three bedroom duplexes. This unit is half of a duplex that I purchased a couple of years ago. It came with a tenant and that tenant just moved out. The carpet on the ground floor was almost certainly from the 1950s (although still in good shape) and I wanted to replace it with a refinished wood floor (high gloss floor paint). I like the floor paint because it is MUCH easier to take care of in a rental and can be easily and cheaply refinished between tenants (simply roll on more floor paint)! Using the floor paint will make the floor look GREAT and save me thousands and thousands of dollars over the life of this rental.
Once I removed the vintage green carpet, I discovered an even older red carpet underneath. Under the red carpet was an hard orange surface that I originally thought was some sort of carpet cement. After doing some further investigation, I determined that the orange surface was actually an ancient carpet pad that had totally broken down and had adhered to the floor in a cement-like consistency. I tried scraping the old pad, but it wouldn't budge. I then decided to rent a floor sander with extremely coarse 20 grit paper and to sand the orange pad off. To make a long story short, it ended up taking TWO DAYS to get that orange gunk off the floor, and I'm not talking about my normal 3-4 hour days. On Wednesday, I spent SEVEN LONG HOURS working on it. Thursday, I spent 4 or 5 hours! I finally got it cleaned up, but it turned out to be a real project! Next, I'll paint the floor and do some other touch-up painting around the apartment, which should finish the rehab on this unit.
After working so hard on Wednesday and Thursday, I took Friday off. After a 3-day weekend, I'll be ready for work on Monday!
On a sad note, one of my apartments has had two ladies living it in for the past 25 years (well before I owned the building). I received a call from the tenant yesterday who let me know that her roommate died suddenly yesterday morning in the apartment from an apparent heart attack. That's the second tenant that I've had suddenly die in the last two months. The other tenant rented a garage from me which he used to rebuild motorcycles.
Once I removed the vintage green carpet, I discovered an even older red carpet underneath. Under the red carpet was an hard orange surface that I originally thought was some sort of carpet cement. After doing some further investigation, I determined that the orange surface was actually an ancient carpet pad that had totally broken down and had adhered to the floor in a cement-like consistency. I tried scraping the old pad, but it wouldn't budge. I then decided to rent a floor sander with extremely coarse 20 grit paper and to sand the orange pad off. To make a long story short, it ended up taking TWO DAYS to get that orange gunk off the floor, and I'm not talking about my normal 3-4 hour days. On Wednesday, I spent SEVEN LONG HOURS working on it. Thursday, I spent 4 or 5 hours! I finally got it cleaned up, but it turned out to be a real project! Next, I'll paint the floor and do some other touch-up painting around the apartment, which should finish the rehab on this unit.
After working so hard on Wednesday and Thursday, I took Friday off. After a 3-day weekend, I'll be ready for work on Monday!
On a sad note, one of my apartments has had two ladies living it in for the past 25 years (well before I owned the building). I received a call from the tenant yesterday who let me know that her roommate died suddenly yesterday morning in the apartment from an apparent heart attack. That's the second tenant that I've had suddenly die in the last two months. The other tenant rented a garage from me which he used to rebuild motorcycles.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
To the Dump!
Do you remember the Beverly Hillbillies T.V. show? If so, I'm sure that you remember the Beverly Hillbillies with their truck loaded sky high with all their furniture and belongings as they heading to Beverly Hills. Today, was my day to do my best Beverly Hillbillies impression. I loaded up the truck and trailer with furniture, an old console TV, carpet, and other big items from two units I'm rehabbing and I headed to the dump! At one of the units, I also pulled out a bunch of vines that were growning up the side of the house and I took them to the dump also.
After a short lunch break, I went down to the Pink Elephant and did a little bit of painting. I'm almost done with the bottom 10 feet of the Pink Elephant and will be bringing my scaffolding to the Pink Elephant for the next 10 feet.
I quit early today so that I could work on our Motorhome. We've been having a little problem with the 6.5 KV generator's output voltage being too high. It's a fairly complex electrical system with three sources of AC electrical power and two DC batteries. After some trouble shooting, I discovered that the coach battery had a dead cell, so I replaced that battery with a new battery. After running the generator and the engine, the voltage seems to be normal. So, I'll run it again on several occassions before our next camping trip on the 29th, to be sure that the problem is fixed (I'm not convinced yet).
After a short lunch break, I went down to the Pink Elephant and did a little bit of painting. I'm almost done with the bottom 10 feet of the Pink Elephant and will be bringing my scaffolding to the Pink Elephant for the next 10 feet.
I quit early today so that I could work on our Motorhome. We've been having a little problem with the 6.5 KV generator's output voltage being too high. It's a fairly complex electrical system with three sources of AC electrical power and two DC batteries. After some trouble shooting, I discovered that the coach battery had a dead cell, so I replaced that battery with a new battery. After running the generator and the engine, the voltage seems to be normal. So, I'll run it again on several occassions before our next camping trip on the 29th, to be sure that the problem is fixed (I'm not convinced yet).
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