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Catch Up...and pictures!

February 2nd, 2012 at 07:53 am

So much has happened in the last few weeks! I'm behind in everything.

To start, the CA condo went up for sale 2 weekends ago. I posted before pics in a previous post. BB and his friend went to CA for 10 days and added new floors throughout, repainted every surface except the cabinets, had the heating replaced, changed all fixtures and had the place professionally cleaned.We had a stager come in and finish off the place to get it ready to put on the market.
Here are the after pictures:








We recieved an offer $20k below asking within 3 days and countered at $3k below asking. They did not counter back. Then 3 days ago we recieved an offer $3k OVER our asking price!

There are some issues for concern. The buyers want to use an FHA loan, and this HOA FHA eligibility expired a few months ago. The realtor is concerned about getting an appraisal to support the purchase price. Before this offer, she really pushed me to be happy with a purchase price $10k below asking. I thought our asking price would be a no brainer easy to get, but she had a lot of hesitancy. And now she is worried about the appraisal. Also the buyers are purchasing AS IS, but you never know how the inspection will turn out. But those are out of my control, so I am letting the realtor handle it.

In other news, on my side of the country, BB has been working hard on his new rental property. The downstairs unit has been complewtely repainted, recaulked, new bath vanity, smoke detectors and some window fixings. The roof has been repaired. The place was listed on Craigslist for rent since Sunday and we have 2 showings set up before the weekend.

Here are pictures of the downstairs unit:









So this weekend, BB and I will get the upstairs ready to rent. The upstairs does not need nearly the work the downstairs needed.

And then my work has been exhausting me. My boss is out this week b/c he had twins over the weekend. I unofficially took over his job as best as I could. I simply dont have enough hrs in the day to get everything done. I knew this would be a tough week, but I have put in 40 hrs in 3 days! Thursday and Friday will be pure overtime for me. I was so stressed today, I almost cried. But I didnt. I now have so many people to report too...I leave the office every night in good shape. I have a to do list set up for the next day and it seems managable. Then throughout the day there are so many unexpected phone calls, so many unexpected interruptions, and so many more people emailing me for updates! Asking when X report will be done, when I last did Y, am I going to do W, why hasnt Q been done. OMG I cxould get everything done in the day if I didnt have 5 people breathing down my neck constantly requesting updates. And I dont think the 5 people are very aware of each other...they think they are the only person I am reporting to.

But it is a great opportunity for me. I am being given responsibility to handle things way beyond my authority level, and aside from not getting things done fast enough to please my temporary bosses...there have been no catastrophes. Well, there were an unusual amount of catastrophes last week that I'm still cleaning up this week...Aand that is slowing me down too. But thankfully those issues cant be attributed to me taking over and making mistakes. They were problems that had been building and we couldnt contain them any longer.

Ugh. I wish I had more time to focus on the Real Estate. But right now I really trusting people around me so I can focus on work.

It feels good to vent.

6 Responses to “Catch Up...and pictures!”

  1. snafu Says:
    1328178563

    Good on you taking on so much responsibility and a full plate on the personal front. Obviously you've got what it takes to 'put on the big boy pants' and get the work done in an orderly way.

    I remember reading 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, who recommended letting phone go to message and stack return calls just before lunch and around 4 PM in afternoon. e-mail can be scanned each hour but wait to reply at the last hour of the day unless urgent.

    People can be remarkably brief when they want to go to lunch!

    Great job on paint, floor & staging condo. Hope the deal goes through without any bumps. It isn't done until the keys are handed to the new owner.

    The upper apt/duplex looks fresh and ready for it's tenant. What is the rental market like in your community? What process do you use to screen prospective renters? I've always found this to be the most difficult aspect of being a landlord. I've only rented my own home when away for a year and it has been so problematic.

  2. mamasita Says:
    1328178881

    You have been so busy, on the work and home front! Hopefully the madness won't continue for long, good for you for having a plan to manage all of the extra work, I'm sure it will pay off for you!

  3. gamecock43 Says:
    1328179244

    Thanks for the encouragement! I have also heard about letting things go, but I think my bosses really like me because I immediately respond to them. They have commented a lot about that.

    The rental business in Savannah is very strong right now. We have a private college here that keeps transients coming and going.

    I am horrible about my screening. I dont. I know I should, but I have not had anyone cause me enough pain to start screening. I rent to college kids or fresh out of college kids. My properties are not really high end enough to attract professionals or families.

    The kids have been great. Actually- the college kids have been the best. I think they have parents money paying the rent, and they are not tied down with pets or lots of furniture or expectations of amazing maintance and immediate responses to minimal aggravations.

    The college aged but not in college kids have been tougher. They call to let me know rent will be late, they have pets, they float to and from jobs. Clearly they work for their rent, but they are not established in a career that rent is easy to pay.

    But I have not had a bad apple yet. Just some months are tougher than others. I think a big factor is that I live a few blocks away. I check on the house weekly by doing landscaping.

  4. Jerry Says:
    1328304540

    Wow, you have been incredibly fortunate not to have a bad apple as a tenant! There is just no insurance against it, even if you are trying to screen, but at least that leads to some semblance of confidence in most cases. We also rent to students with our house in the States, but we try to stick with medical or grad students, who seem to be more stable in lots of ways. Good luck with the new properties, they look great!
    Jerry

  5. scfr Says:
    1368833018

    Miss reading your posts. Hope you are doing well.

  6. Supportdell Says:
    1531463968

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