Trying to Keep My Head Above Water
I am really working hard to keep up with everything lately. It is just crazy how much we are trying to juggle.
Our Building: We have a vacancy coming up next week. We need to get in and do new paint and carpet. In order to keep the price down we will be doing the painting ourselves. My husband is very good at that.
We applied for a Small Business Association disaster assistance loan to fix the earthquake repairs. The inspector comes tomorrow morning so my husband will have to take time off from work yet again to be there.
The Building We Manage:
This train wreck just never ends! Would you believe there was a fire in the dumpster there too!!!! Someone put coals from a BBQ in our dumpster and it burned just a few weeks ago. The fire department had to come put it out and the dumpster had to be replaced. Now the dumpster at this building has to be replaced as well.
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/swangirl/blog/dumpster-fire-to-end-my-weekend
We get calls from tenants at all hours complaining of lack of parking spaces, people making noise, people having dogs in the building when they are not supposed to, not enough hot water and on and on. We have had plumbers out many times but now it looks like a larger boiler will be needed.
The new tenants have been a little bit of a problem and I wonder if I should have been harder and not accepted them...I tried to be generous and give them a change. I just hope it doesn't continue.
A tenant passed away sadly and now her husband will be moving out so we will have another vacancy. That unit will need a ton of work as well.
There is still have a vacancy to fill there that needs more work. The contractor estimate is very high and my husband has been working to find alternatives and get the price down.
There is another person working on the unit here and there but he lives a ways away and it is hard for him to get in here on a regular basis and he is hard to communicate with. This has been frustrating but his rate is much lower. We are busy trying to pick paint, carpet and appliances for this unit as well, find the best rates for installation etc.
Every time we go over there more garbage shows up. People just drop their trash on the ground! We have to pick it up over and over and over.
Someone stole the cans we installed for cigarette butts. We have to install new ones and lock them onto the brackets with actual locks!
Jobs:
I am very busy at work for the rest of the month which is bad timing since all this property stuff is going on and I could be doing other things.
My husband is busy at work as well and really needs like a week off to deal with the building repairs and painting. 
Meanwhile, it is a gorgeous summer here and I could be getting outside but have no time. I am also not working on my websites. My traffic is down and sales are down. It is pretty discouraging. I know it will pick back up when I have more time.
This picture is from our back door at 10 PM. It is a very different location from the other building we manage which is in a not good part of the city.
I hope you are all having a good summer.
Jessica
Recent Comments
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Jessica,
What a beautiful photo! I feel your pain as I'm currently dealing with major stuff also sapping my time and energy. My sister-in-law's recent terminal illness diagnosis and my younger brother's recent death from a heart attack have made me feel so shocked and sad. Social media is off the table for now, finding it really hard to work on my site and just trying to get through it. I'll hopefully be more productive after my brother's funeral in 3 days.
Erica
Oh Erica,
I am so sorry for the loss of your brother. I can't imagine how you must be feeling with that and a terminal illness in the family. I hope you are managing.
Thank you for commenting here when you have such difficulty to deal with yourself.
Jessica
You both definitely have your hands full! I love the picture from your back door. I'll bet that taking in the view and a breath of fresh air is wonderful at the end of the day.
Keep going strong--I know you can do it!
Thank you Janelle. Yes. It makes things tolerable. I miss getting out and enjoying the summer but at least I can enjoy the green and sunlight!
I have friends that own rental properties and it's a constant headache for them as well.
Me? I like virtual real estate much better. Easier to paint. LOL
You guys hang in there. All that hard work and aggravation will pay off big in the future.
Yes, I agree. We got spoiled with our great location I guess. This other building has all the horror stories you hear about!
Wow! You really are busy!
It's sad though that you have to pick up other people's garbage though. Why can't people just clean up their own mess?
I hope everything falls nicely in place so that you can spend more time on your site.
Best wishes.
Yes. We are lucky we got our building where we did. It is a totally different feeling compared to the other one we manage.
I can see why you like the area. Very beautiful! So you manage this not own it? One of the reasons I never got into this kind of management. People too unpredictable. Our online business is also, but we don't have to redo every time a person leaves WA. Hope it settles down for you to enjoy your summer.
Take care,
Bill
We own our own 4 plex (where the picture was taken) and also manage a 6 plex in Anchorage (now good part of town). They are very different locations with very different tenants and conditions.
We never have many problems with our building...all military tenants, very quiet and generally responsible. Location, location, location I guess!
Thanks!
Yes location is important. We have recently decided to sell our condo in Vegas , because my son has moved back home with his GF and no reason to rent out living way on the other side of the country. Just spent a lot to repaint a 3 story condo, and clean everything as new. Not where we wish to retire either.
I worked 33 years ago for a property manager who owned 150 doubles, yet he had his own remodeling group that we kept busy when people moved thankfully.
Wish you the best.
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What a beautiful view.
Sounds like you have your hands full.
Yes. Thank you Mickey!