Oh Happy Day

My recent trips to our South Carolina rental properties have mostly been of the good news / bad news / worse news variety. But for a change I got much needed dose of good news, great news, and even better news...

The Good News...

Part of why I went down was to check on our tenant in Rental #1. She paid first month's rent and deposit prior to her March move-in. So April was scheduled to be her first "by mail" rent payment. Well, it was late. And by the 10th of the month I was starting to have flashbacks of our previous tenant from the same property. The one time he was late with his rent, it turns out that he was making plans to leave without notice and beat us out of the remaining 3 months of his lease agreement. And so here I am, 436 miles away thinking that I'm about to get yet another lesson in the fallacies of out-of-state property management. And as I pull up to the property I'm half expecting to peek into the back window and see the place cleared out just like back in December. But long story short, after a 6am stake-out and lots of back and forth, I finally caught up with the current tenant and got things straightened out. Apparently she wrote the check late, and to add insult to injury she left her teenage daughter in charge of mailing it. And while she wrote me a new check to be sure of delivery, the original did find it's way to Virginia by the 11th of the month. I wish I could say the late fee (which I really need to think about increasing) was worth the trouble and heartache I suffered for 10 days... but at least I can rest a little easier now since it looks like she will in fact be around for a while.

The Great News...

My primary order of business in SC was actually to check on the status of the repairs of Rental #2, which we closed on just about a month ago. In short, the place looks great and we are down to just a handful of things on the punch list to address... all of which should be completed by the end of this week. This was especially sweet since this home was purchased as a HUD foreclosure with no home inspection. With no running water or electricity at the time of purchase, we obviously rolled the dice and just kept our fingers crossed that no major issues would pop up as we went about the business of renovating. We also apparently dodged some potential plumbing issues that were cited in the HUD report, so that saved us another $800 or so; most of which we put towards upgraded window treatments to dress up the place a bit. In the end, the total number of major unexpected issues was a big fat zero* and we are officially sitting pretty, ready to install a few window screens, a closet door, a garage door panel, and call it a day. Our General Contractor for this project is not the fastest guy in the world... but he does have a boat load of personality, pays sharp attention to detail, and turns out a great product. So I'm feeling pretty good about the end product that we're about to turn out.

* well maybe not a BIG FAT zero... we still haven't figured out if we have to replace the entire garage door or just a panel or two. But if that's the worse of the unexpected, then I'll take it everyday of the week and twice on Sundays.

Pressure wash, painted shutters and front door
all made a world of difference.

New carpet and neutral colors throughout.

A bum kitchen faucet was one of the few minor surprises that
were easily remedied.

And last but not least...

The Even Better News...
We have officially secured a tenant for Rental #2. I think that allowing us to do so before the repairs were even done was God's way of making up for the rental roller coaster that we went through for Rental #1 just a couple of months ago. With the gub'ment taking 3 months to close the deal (ahh.. the virtues of purchasing a HUD home) we actually started marketing this home before we even owned it; essentially taking advantage of Rental 1 being on the market for a new tenant at the same time. There were a couple of families that showed interest in Rental 1 as far back as February but they couldn't move in soon enough. I mentioned the upcoming home to them, but didn't dare let them see it in the pre-renovation stage. And as soon as we got close to the finish line, I gave one family a call, and Bingo. Application Fee. Deposit. First month's rent. And a signed lease agreement. All without having to drop a dime on advertisement.

We landed a tenant despite having a few
odds and ends left on the repair list.

And with things going so smoothly, my only frustration is that we are too doggone broke to jump right in and do it all over again (can you say rental property 3?). But I guess that's all fine and dandy since the top priorities now are saving money (goal: 40K in cash), retooling our careers (photography anyone?), and getting rid of our 4 jillion dollars of debt.

Rental #3 will be here in due time... which V will gladly tell you is probably "no time soon".