Shall We?

      Wow. You know, I didn't think it possible to stay away from this blog for a month, let alone a full year. It feels strange but refreshing to sit in front of a computer and let out my thoughts, kind of like an online diary. And even though this post will be completely unorganized and almost exclusively stream-of-consciousness writing, I think it's important to post SOMETHING just to get back into the old routine. If not for anything, then at least for a nice birthday gift to myself. So let's start with the obvious question: Where have I been? 

Settling In

      I completed the attic apartment of Property 5 in April of last year. Since then, I've been getting used to actually living in a real apartment, instead of the makeshift dungeon I'd been living in for 10 years prior. It was a decade of minimalist living, cutting corners and spending money on everyone except myself. Some of that minimalist living is still in me, as I still don't have a sofa or an actual bed (I use an air mattress). These items I could easily buy, but my spending priorities are still focused on properties. But the place is comfy, the central air is sweet, and the kitchen is good enough to never have to buy outside food again. It really makes living in Smalltown, NY a peaceful pleasure.

    April of 2019 was also my last day of employment at the shipping depot or any job. Living life without a work schedule has its advantages and disadvantages. The biggest advantage is that I no longer have to put on that disgusting security suit and have people lesser than me telling me what to do. The biggest disadvantage is that I have a major lack of structure. I wake up at around 8am, lay in bed until about 11am, make breakfast, and then eat in bed. The rest of the day is spent playing games or going out to buy food and gas. To fix my scheduling problem, I've been finding things to do like learning languages and mowing lawns every couple of weeks. It helps, but I still need motivation from time to time. So to answer the question of where I've been, the answer is that I've been... home.

 

Properties

    I downloaded a pretty good Excel worksheet that I can use to keep track of expenses and income. Here's an example from last year's sheet:

    As one can see, I made over 100K last year. Unfortunately, I also had a ton of expenses, mostly related to Property 5's attic apartment. This gave me a total profit of $3,049.78. That's not including expenses like the monthly $1,300 I pay back to the credit cards I used for the attic apartment and my personal food and gas. Putting it all together showed that 2019 was a pretty bad year. Let's do a quick update of each property.

• Property 1. Long term tenant Sebastian is still there, paying his always reliable (and always early) $875. I moved in Alfonso's son Jamal in April of 2019, along with his girlfriend and her mom. At first I thought it was too many people for a 2 bedroom apartment, but they make it work wonderfully. They pay $725, $200 more than the Nepali tenants used to pay. The city sent an inspector who concluded that I have to either paint or vinyl cover certain areas of the property. Other than that, the place needs very little maintenance and is a good earner for me.
• Property 2. Tiffany, the sister of a former tenant lives upstairs. She's a single mother and pays $750. The downstairs has another single mother, Deva, who pays $780. While I have no issues with Tiffany and her little daughter, Deva and her two undisciplined sons annoy the crap out of me. Ever since they moved in, I've been having problems with plumbing and sewage backups-- a clear indicator that they flush things down the toilet that they're not supposed to. Since the courts are still closed due to COVID, I have no choice but to deal with them.
• Property 3. Everyone's favorite pedophile Rory still lives in Apt 1, paying $600. Emily and her dogs are in Apt 2, paying $670. Hayden and her boyfriend Paris occupy Apt 3, paying $710. And Tony is in Apt 4, paying $650. Hayden and Paris lost their jobs once COVID hit, but were able to get new jobs and are currently paying the money back. Tony, on the other hand, claims that he's getting less hours so it's tough to get rent paid. The problem is that he's been late with rent for his entire tenancy, so he's just taking advantage of the courts being closed. The second the courts open, I'm putting the pressure on him to pay rent or get the hell out.
• Property 4. Ever since I bought it, Latisha has been the only tenant of Property 4, paying $900. She's my favorite tenant because she's so patient and incredibly reliable. Smalltown raised the taxes of the property by almost $250 a month, due to the new valuation after the refinance. So starting in October, Latisha agreed to start paying $1,200 a month. 
• Property 5. Risa is a single mother living in Apt 1, paying $670. Longtime tenant Rich is in Apt 2, paying $500. Apt 3 has been vacant since April of this year, but I can hopefully get it rented out this month. And Denise lives in Apt 4 with her two cats, paying $720. Denise is an older woman who works from home and makes very good money, so I don't have much to worry about with her. The property needs a lot of work, but I knew that when I bought it. I still have to replace the roof and the driveway, so I don't expect to make profits from this place until 2022.

   

  What Now

    For the blog, the plan is to keep this going. I really miss writing, and it's no coincidence that my property expenses increased during the time I've been absent from this thing. Writing the blog on a regular schedule kept me aware of my faults and made it less likely for me to repeat the same mistakes twice. I have many more topics to discuss in detail, so I have a lot more posts to write. While those posts won't be written today (I remember those 5-post days), I think I can churn out a post every week. It's... it's just nice to get this first post out.

P.S.: Pressing "Publish" felt so damned good. It's great to be back.