I spent this afternoon working on a two bedroom apartment in the Pink Elephant for a new tenant. This apartment needed a lot of work to make it clean and safe and I completed a lot of that work today. One of the main projects was to install a new door (the old door was in horrible shape and locked with a padlock). I installed the new door, including a normal door knob with lock and then replaced a bunch of electrical outlet covers that were missing. I also patched some holes in the walls and did some other general work.
Tomorrow is supposed to be a nice sunny day and I'm hoping to do a little painting on the exterior of the pink elephant along with some other work. I also want to do a little mowing.
Again, another day in which dozens of tenants did just fine. I had no calls from tenants today. I turned down another two applicants for rental units this afternoon, one for an extensive criminal history and another for lying on her application.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
I'm Back
After taking a 3 day weekend trip with my wife (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday), I'm back home. With the transition period between Winter snowboarding season to summer camping season, I haven't been taking as many days off as usual. However, we decided to make this weekend the first weekend of our summer season and we took a short 3-day getaway. If the weather cooperates, we'll take another 3-4 day weekend next weekend and for most of the weekends between now and the end of summer.
Being able to take a lot of time off is one of the greatest benefits of operating a rental property business. During our 3-day getaway, I only had two calls from tenants and both of these were wanting me to pickup the rent early. I'll start picking up the rent tomorrow.
Being able to take a lot of time off is one of the greatest benefits of operating a rental property business. During our 3-day getaway, I only had two calls from tenants and both of these were wanting me to pickup the rent early. I'll start picking up the rent tomorrow.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Drywall Installed
Nothing too exciting today. I installed 7 sheets of drywall to complete the wall at the house that I'm converting to 3 bedroom. Mission accomplished! I will still need to mud, sand, and paint the drywall. I may work on that later next week.
I also went to the post office today to collect the mail. I received the paperwork from our local government jobs office for a new tenant that is moving into the Pink Elephant. The government (you and me) is going to pay her first month's rent and security deposit.
No calls or problems from any of the tenants today.
I also went to the post office today to collect the mail. I received the paperwork from our local government jobs office for a new tenant that is moving into the Pink Elephant. The government (you and me) is going to pay her first month's rent and security deposit.
No calls or problems from any of the tenants today.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Multi-tasking
Multi-tasking - I HATE THAT TERM. It reminds me of something some silly guru would say. Maybe some silly guru even has a $5,000 bootcamp on multi-tasking!
Having said that, multi-tasking is an accurate description of my day. I headed into town with the intention of starting my day tuckpointing a section of one wall of the pink elephant (my latest apartment building). However, before I even got into town, I received a call from someone wanting to look at an apartment. Within one minute of that call, I received another call from someone wanting to see another apartment. Then, another one. In the span of less than 5 minutes, I had appointments to show apartments to 3 potential tenants.
The third showing happened to be at an apartment building where the grass needed cut. So, after showing the apartment and receiving my third application of the day, I spent a few minutes mowing the grass.
At this point, I was getting hungry, so I headed to McDonald's for lunch. Next on the schedule was my tuckpointing, which had originally been scheduled first. I spent about 1 1/2 hours on the tuckpointing. As I was putting away my supplies, one of the tenant informed me that she had a leak under her kitchen sink. So, I went to her apartment to take a look. Sure enough, the previous landlord had installed a jumble of fittings that were leaking. To be quite honest, I've never seen such an inept plumbing job. Fortunately, this wasn't difficult to fix and only about a half hour later, the plumbing was corrected and dry as a bone!
My next project for the day was to complete the framing of an interior wall I am installing in one of my single family houses. The addition of one wall is allowing me to transform a very large 2 bedroom house into a 3 bedroom house (and to get more rent). Within about 1 hour, I finished the wall and was on the way home.
Tomorrow I am planning to install the drywall onto the framing.
BTW, no problems with tenants again today (as with most days).
Having said that, multi-tasking is an accurate description of my day. I headed into town with the intention of starting my day tuckpointing a section of one wall of the pink elephant (my latest apartment building). However, before I even got into town, I received a call from someone wanting to look at an apartment. Within one minute of that call, I received another call from someone wanting to see another apartment. Then, another one. In the span of less than 5 minutes, I had appointments to show apartments to 3 potential tenants.
The third showing happened to be at an apartment building where the grass needed cut. So, after showing the apartment and receiving my third application of the day, I spent a few minutes mowing the grass.
At this point, I was getting hungry, so I headed to McDonald's for lunch. Next on the schedule was my tuckpointing, which had originally been scheduled first. I spent about 1 1/2 hours on the tuckpointing. As I was putting away my supplies, one of the tenant informed me that she had a leak under her kitchen sink. So, I went to her apartment to take a look. Sure enough, the previous landlord had installed a jumble of fittings that were leaking. To be quite honest, I've never seen such an inept plumbing job. Fortunately, this wasn't difficult to fix and only about a half hour later, the plumbing was corrected and dry as a bone!
My next project for the day was to complete the framing of an interior wall I am installing in one of my single family houses. The addition of one wall is allowing me to transform a very large 2 bedroom house into a 3 bedroom house (and to get more rent). Within about 1 hour, I finished the wall and was on the way home.
Tomorrow I am planning to install the drywall onto the framing.
BTW, no problems with tenants again today (as with most days).
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
...and the Decision is...
I'm sold on carpet dyeing! This decision was a couple of weeks in coming after initially getting mixed results on my first attempt to dye one of the carpets in a rental.
Here's what happened. Included in the 11 rentals that I bought in January were a 2 bedroom house and a 3 bedroom house. The two bedroom house was vacant when I took possession and I began working on it within a few weeks of taking possession. The carpet was BADLY stained but didn't have a lot of structural damage. When the carpet is in this condition, I call a professional carpet cleaning company to steam clean the carpet in an effort to save it. The carpet cleaning company did their best, but the carpet still didn't look very good. The carpet was a tan color and had some stains that wouldn't come out.
Since I really didn't have anything to lose, I decided to try dyeing the carpet in an effort to get another year or two out of it. I did some research on the internet and ordered dye and other chemicals from Americolor. Because I was only trying to dye the carpet, I didn't want to spend $1,500 on a dyeing machine. I decided to apply the dye with a small pump-type sprayer. I bought the cheapest sprayer at Lowes (about $10) and started applying the dye. Until today, I was unimpressed with the result. The dye that I applied to the carpet in the 2 bedroom house did improve the look of the carpet, but the color was not uniform and the carpet was only marginally acceptable.
Today, I had the same carpet cleaning company attempt to clean a very large 3-bedroom house that just recently became vacant. This carpet was VERY BADLY STAINED, and I didn't think much of the carpet could be saved. This carpet was a very light beige color. After the carpet cleaning was complete, I determined that the bedrooms were acceptable but the large living room, large dining room, and hallway were completely unacceptable. There were still some stains; cigarette burns, and even some red colored stains that didn't come out. With nothing to lose, I decided to try dyeing this carpet. However, this carpet was so large, that I decided to buy a better sprayer to apply the dye. So, off I went to Walmart and I found a relatively fancy 2 gallon sprayer with multiple nozzles for $20.
Arriving back at the house, I mixed the chemicals and started applying the dye. The difference between applying the dye with this better sprayer was DRAMATIC. The cheaper sprayer applied a much smaller pattern. My new sprayer applied a very large amount of dye via a large swath of about 12 inches. Even with one pass, the change in the color of the carpet was dramatic. I was pleasantly surprised when the stains virtually disappeared before my eyes. After applying the dye to my 3 bedroom house, I went back over to the 2 bedroom house and applied more dye there with the new sprayer. Again, the change was significant.
After my experience today, I'm sold on dyeing carpet. In fact, I'll be ordering more dye and chemicals tomorrow! By the way, dyeing the carpet in 2 rooms of the 2-bedroom house and 2 very large rooms and a hallway in the 3 bedroom house cost a grand total of $44! MONEY WELL SPENT! The color I used was called Apartment Dark Brown.
Here's what happened. Included in the 11 rentals that I bought in January were a 2 bedroom house and a 3 bedroom house. The two bedroom house was vacant when I took possession and I began working on it within a few weeks of taking possession. The carpet was BADLY stained but didn't have a lot of structural damage. When the carpet is in this condition, I call a professional carpet cleaning company to steam clean the carpet in an effort to save it. The carpet cleaning company did their best, but the carpet still didn't look very good. The carpet was a tan color and had some stains that wouldn't come out.
Since I really didn't have anything to lose, I decided to try dyeing the carpet in an effort to get another year or two out of it. I did some research on the internet and ordered dye and other chemicals from Americolor. Because I was only trying to dye the carpet, I didn't want to spend $1,500 on a dyeing machine. I decided to apply the dye with a small pump-type sprayer. I bought the cheapest sprayer at Lowes (about $10) and started applying the dye. Until today, I was unimpressed with the result. The dye that I applied to the carpet in the 2 bedroom house did improve the look of the carpet, but the color was not uniform and the carpet was only marginally acceptable.
Today, I had the same carpet cleaning company attempt to clean a very large 3-bedroom house that just recently became vacant. This carpet was VERY BADLY STAINED, and I didn't think much of the carpet could be saved. This carpet was a very light beige color. After the carpet cleaning was complete, I determined that the bedrooms were acceptable but the large living room, large dining room, and hallway were completely unacceptable. There were still some stains; cigarette burns, and even some red colored stains that didn't come out. With nothing to lose, I decided to try dyeing this carpet. However, this carpet was so large, that I decided to buy a better sprayer to apply the dye. So, off I went to Walmart and I found a relatively fancy 2 gallon sprayer with multiple nozzles for $20.
Arriving back at the house, I mixed the chemicals and started applying the dye. The difference between applying the dye with this better sprayer was DRAMATIC. The cheaper sprayer applied a much smaller pattern. My new sprayer applied a very large amount of dye via a large swath of about 12 inches. Even with one pass, the change in the color of the carpet was dramatic. I was pleasantly surprised when the stains virtually disappeared before my eyes. After applying the dye to my 3 bedroom house, I went back over to the 2 bedroom house and applied more dye there with the new sprayer. Again, the change was significant.
After my experience today, I'm sold on dyeing carpet. In fact, I'll be ordering more dye and chemicals tomorrow! By the way, dyeing the carpet in 2 rooms of the 2-bedroom house and 2 very large rooms and a hallway in the 3 bedroom house cost a grand total of $44! MONEY WELL SPENT! The color I used was called Apartment Dark Brown.
Monday, April 21, 2008
90-9-1
90-9-1. What is it? A secret code? A date on the Mayan Calendar? Coordinates for a hidden fortune? No, nothing that exciting. It's the ratio of good tenants - fair tenants - bad tenants.
I've gotten a lot of comments from readers of this blog that I seem to have a lot of bad tenants. I don't. In fact, about 90% of my tenants are very good, causing no problems at all. Another 9% to 9 1/2% of my tenants require some attention (such as calling about personal problems, complaining about their neighbors; or being a whiner). These tenants do not present problems that warrant evicting them. Finally, I evict about 1/2% to 1% of the tenants.
Why don't I write more about the good tenants? That's very simple. There isn't anything to write about the 90% of tenants that are good tenants. What could I say? "Sally was a good tenant again today". Quite honestly, the good tenants don't occupy much of my time or my thoughts. The same is generally true of the 9% that are some minor annoyance. They may call to tell me about their personal problems, but that's usually not worth writing about. The final 1/2 to 1% that I do evict are the tenants that are worthy of note and the ones that occupy my time and thoughts.
Today, I did a little work painting the pink elephant (my latest apartment building). Nothing too exciting.
I've gotten a lot of comments from readers of this blog that I seem to have a lot of bad tenants. I don't. In fact, about 90% of my tenants are very good, causing no problems at all. Another 9% to 9 1/2% of my tenants require some attention (such as calling about personal problems, complaining about their neighbors; or being a whiner). These tenants do not present problems that warrant evicting them. Finally, I evict about 1/2% to 1% of the tenants.
Why don't I write more about the good tenants? That's very simple. There isn't anything to write about the 90% of tenants that are good tenants. What could I say? "Sally was a good tenant again today". Quite honestly, the good tenants don't occupy much of my time or my thoughts. The same is generally true of the 9% that are some minor annoyance. They may call to tell me about their personal problems, but that's usually not worth writing about. The final 1/2 to 1% that I do evict are the tenants that are worthy of note and the ones that occupy my time and thoughts.
Today, I did a little work painting the pink elephant (my latest apartment building). Nothing too exciting.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Motorcycle Season
Motorcycle season has finally arrived! I've been anxiously awaiting the warm weather and more importantly dry weather here in Ohio. This has been a long, cold, and EXTREMELY wet winter that seemed to last forever. So much for global warming!
We have had a handful of good days the last couple of weeks, but one other thing that was holding back my motorcycle riding has been all the sand on the roads, and more specifically the roads in my subdivision. Around here, everytime it snows, they spread sand to make things less slippery. The sand is relatively effective, but it is also quite slippery on the dry asphalt. At the end of winter, the townships go around and sweep up the sand, making the roads much safer for motorcycle riding. That has finally been done and to motorcycle season is once again finally here.
Since today was Sunday, of course I didn't do any work on my rentals. However, today was my day at Church to run the projection, so that took the first half of the day. After Church, the sun was shining and the temperature was warm, so I decided to get the motorcycle out and take my first ride of the season. Fortunately, the motorcycle started up without problem and I was soon on the road.
I had such a good time riding, that my wife and I also rode my motorcycle to small group at church this evening. All in all, it was a VERY GOOD DAY!
We have had a handful of good days the last couple of weeks, but one other thing that was holding back my motorcycle riding has been all the sand on the roads, and more specifically the roads in my subdivision. Around here, everytime it snows, they spread sand to make things less slippery. The sand is relatively effective, but it is also quite slippery on the dry asphalt. At the end of winter, the townships go around and sweep up the sand, making the roads much safer for motorcycle riding. That has finally been done and to motorcycle season is once again finally here.
Since today was Sunday, of course I didn't do any work on my rentals. However, today was my day at Church to run the projection, so that took the first half of the day. After Church, the sun was shining and the temperature was warm, so I decided to get the motorcycle out and take my first ride of the season. Fortunately, the motorcycle started up without problem and I was soon on the road.
I had such a good time riding, that my wife and I also rode my motorcycle to small group at church this evening. All in all, it was a VERY GOOD DAY!
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