Property 1
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| My new HVAC guys installed 2 vents in the basement apartment's furnaces back in January. Now, whenever the tenants get heat, I get it too. I may not have been able to raise the rents on my Nepalese tenants, but free heat in the winter is just as good |
Other than Belle and Sebastian’s stairwell lights not working ($65 charged by Handyman Alfonso) and the Nepalese tenants having a “rust coming out of the” faucet issue that cleared itself up, it’s been quiet as usual at Property 1. A situation with the Nepalese tenants did come up, though.
March 10th
Naresh (7:17pm): Do u have other apartments about 2-3 bed rooms near by us
Me: (7:18pm): Just a small 1 bedroom on Property X… I may be buying another place in a couple of months though
Naresh (7:21pm): I’m looking for 2-3 bed rooms, could you please let me know if you have any apt in your network plz..
At first I was scared. Why was he asking? Did my precious Nepalese tenants want to leave?? As it turned out, Naresh’s big brother and more members of his family are coming to Smalltown and need a place. I was… I… I was laughing in pain. This crap happens just TWO WEEKS after I rent out the downstairs of Property X to the Van Sickle family. And, when I told him that I would have rented that apartment out to his brother for $600 a month, he said that would have been a great price! I could have FINALLY had stable tenants in the downstairs of Property X and it would have been so sweet! Ugh! I kept saying “fuck” over and over again, but I’ll keep faith. If Property X is as cursed as I think it is, the downstairs apartment should be available by the time his brother finishes a 6-month lease. Maybe I’ll have a second chance then.
In January I finally installed heating ducts into the basement apartment. The downstairs furnace heats up my living room while the upstairs heats up my kitchen. I like getting heat for free. Whenever Belle and Sebastian choose to move out, I will no longer make that place utilities included. I should be able to get tenants in that place for $700, and no longer have to worry about National Grid bills for Property 1. Truly free heat and electricity. Can’t wait!
Property 2
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| Chris sent me this letter along with a check for $200 towards his payment plan: "Sorry it's not the $400 we agreed on it's all I have. But I will be paid up By the end of March as we agreed on. For I start my 2nd job Tues, 3rd. I just want to thank u again for being patient with me and working with me for I truley, Truley appreciate it. Thank u again, Chris. And again I promise I will be payed By end of March. And again thanks for being patient with me" |
Chris has been a pain in the ass with this whole payment plan thing, as I predicted. He’s been paying sporadically, and I’ve been so tempted to throw him out. He called me the other day and I agreed to a new payment plan with him due to the second job he just got that started on the 3rd of this month. I know he’ll get back on track, but I just hate going through this shit. If he were not a five-year tenant who has successfully completed payment agreements in the past, I would have thrown his ass out a long time ago. Meanwhile, the upstairs tenant Nicholas sent his rent in on the 3rd of March, but it didn’t get to me until the 11th. THE 11th!!! I went to the post office lady and asked her why it took so long. Her response?
“I don’t know. It shouldn’t have taken this long.”
Big help. I wanted to slap her with Nicholas' rent. You know, I really have to find other ways for tenants to send their rents to me without them having to see me. The USPS is becoming such a joke and I can’t trust these lazy animals anymore. The people they hire are looking shadier every day, and I’m tired of telling a tenant that he/she owes a late fee just to have the rent arrive a couple days later. Now I look like an asshole and have to apologize. Someone told me about a service called e-rent. I may have to check into that.
Property 3
There was a sewage back-up at Property 3. I was there on a Friday when Charles noticed that his toilet and bathtub was stocked up. By the time I got there, he said everything was fine so I thought nothing of it. The next morning (6am) he made an emergency call to me saying that the water was backing up again, and this time other tenants were having the same problem. Because it was the weekend, I couldn’t call my regular cheap plumbers so I had to call another company, who ended up charging me $436 to fix the problem and remove all the waste that was there. I let all the tenants know to be careful about what they flush into the toilet and that was that. Next time, I’ll make sure to take care of any plumbing problems during the weekday, as I probably would have paid only $150 with my usual plumbers. Ugh!
Property X
After moving Danny in yesterday, I feel surprisingly optimistic about this goddamned property. The Van Sickle family seem quiet, even though the mother still looks kinda sketchy. If all goes well, April will be the first month this year that Property X will yield an actual profit. Thank the fuck! But, like with all things Property X-related, my optimism is tempered. I’m waiting for the call that says something is broken, or a tenant is fighting with another tenant. It’s only a matter of time. The more I think about it, the more I realize how big of a deal it is to not have Naresh’s brother in the downstairs. My hopes for stability at that place would have been sky high and justified.
Overall, this was another bad month where I’ll probably end up with $23,000 for the year. Yeah. That means I would have saved a pathetic $500 so far this year. That’s really sad, but the next three months should be much better. 100% occupancy, lower National grid bills, and a 5 paycheck month in May should really make things better. If all goes well, I have a shot at $30,000 by the end of June…
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