Michael Rossi's Landlording Blog

What's that old saying about the best laid plans of mice and men? That's the way my day went today. I had planned on doing a little rehabbing, but instead ended up fixing a clogged sewer line and fixing a broken window.

Just before I headed into town today, I received a call from one of my tenants who said that both her toilet and her kitchen sink were clogged. Although tenants are required to plunge their own toilets, when multiple drains are clogged, that is usually the main sewer line. So, my first project of the day was to unclog the sewer at this apartment.

As I was working on the sewer line, I got a call from a tenant right across the street who reported that someone had attempted to break into her basement and that they had damaged a basement window. So, after completing the sewer job, I went across the street to look at the window. Unfortunately, the tenant's report of a damaged window wasn't quite correct. A more accurate description would have been that the window was totally destroyed. Even the window frame had been destroyed. My solution to this problem was to install a piece of plywood where the window had been. This will make a future break-in much more difficult and obviously no more glass will be broken!

While working in the basement on the broken window, I also noticed a water line that was dripping. It was too late in the day to start on another project, but I'll have to address this issue in the next couple of days.

That's right. All of my available rentals are now 100% occupied! The demand is simply unbelievable and needless to say - I'm very happy.

I still have a few units that fell through the cracks as I was rapidly expanding my business over the past 6 years. One of those units is a one bedroom apartment that I've been working on. I'm very close to finishing that unit. I still have the floors to paint, one room of carpet to lay, and a little electrical work to do. I'm planning to have that done Monday or Tuesday.

Next on the agenda is a two bedroom apartment that contained a Section 8 tenant when I bought the building. SHE WAS A PIG! Now that she's finally gone, that unit needs a significant cleaning, paint, carpet, a couple of windows, and a few other things. I should have that done next week also and I've already got a renter for that unit.

That about catches me up on the blogging. I'll talk to you tomorrow.

I've mentioned before that I often spend the day doing a common task at more than one unit. For example, I might have water leak day, where I fix any little nagging faucets that drip. Another day, I might like to fix any roofs that need repair. Yet another day, I will mow grass, etc.

Today, it was rehab day and I worked on the one-bedroom apartment that is about to be completed and I also started the rehab on the last unrehabbed unit at the pink elephant. The weather here in Ohio was dismal with a steady, and sometimes heavy, rain. That made it a good day to do inside rehab work. In addition, the rain made it a very good day to start the rehab on the remaining unit of the pink elephant. Several sections of the ceiling had fallen in at that upstairs apartment, obviously caused by prior roof leaks. The rain made it an ideal day to see if the roof was still leaking or if it had been repaired by the previous owner. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the apartment was dry as a bone, even with today's heavy rain. I was also pleasantly surprised to find the wood floors in EXCELLENT condition. This will be a very nice apartment once it's rehabbed and despite all the debris on the floors and the holes in the ceiling, it doesn't appear to me that the rehab will be too extensive. The walls are in excellent condition, most of the windows look very good, and the floors are excellent. There are a lot of electrical wires exposed without the accompanying outlets and light fixtures, but that should be easy to fix. There is also no commode or sink in the bathroom, but again that shouldn't be a big deal.

In addition to the rehab work, I took my bicycle to the bike shop to have a new disc brake installed and to get a tune-up. The bike was done by the end of the day and hopefully the weather will be good enought for a ride tomorrow.

Mr. Fix It was on the job today as I spent the day doing miscellaneous maintenance jobs. To start the day, I removed some of the building materials from the 1 bedroom apartment that I'm rehabbing. This is the initial rehab for this unit, as I have been using it for storage.

My next project was to coat a metal roof that had a small leak. This was the Section 8 duplex that failed inspection a couple of weeks ago when the tenant suprised me by saying that the roof had a leak. Of course, you never really know if the roof is fixed until it rains - that's scheduled for tomorrow.

After that, I went to replace a window pane at another Section 8 apartment. This was the other Section 8 apartment that recently failed an inspection. At the inspection, we discovered that the tenant's kid had decided to break the window shortly before the inspection.

In addition to these projects, I did some more organizing in my new store room and also showed my only remaining vacant rental to a young couple.

That was it for today. By the time I got home, it looked like rain (both outside and on the radar), so I decided to cancel the bike ride for the day. Nevertheless, I have now lost 5 pounds and have 20 to go.

I'm hoping to work on the Pink Elephant tomorrow.

I rented the only one bedroom apartment that I had available today. That leaves me with only one available rental - a 3 bedroom house (that isn't yet ready to rent). I continue to be amazed at the demand for rentals in the area!

My project for the day was to work on the one-bedroom apartment that I rented today. It wasn't quite done, but the applicants wanted it anyway. So, I replaced the kitchen faucet and some of the associated waterlines; installed numerous light bulbs; did some cleaning, and a few other minor chores. Of course, I also had to sign the lease and other paperwork with the new tenant AND COLLECT THE MONEY (my favorite part).

Six of the seven units at the Pink Elephant are now rented and the remaining unit needs major rehab. I have already started on that and will be doing more of that work as the week progresses.

That was about it for today - nothing too exciting.

Who spends more time in court than the judge? In the past, I would frequently joke that I did! That's because, in the past, I was in court an average of at least once a month - usually evicting an inherited deadbeat tenant. Now that I'm making good progress getting my buildings stabilized and most of the tenants are mine, my eviction rate has really dropped. As I was building my business, my monthly eviction rate was 1% per month. Now that things are more stabilized, my monthly eviction rate is about 1/4 of one percent, which means that I only evict .25% of my tenants each month. I believe that March has been the 6th straight month in a row that I haven't had a single eviction, which is a record for me. The lack of evictions for 6 months is not because I have suddenly become a rental property genius, but rather it's just a statistical anomaly. I'll probably pay for that with 2 or 3 evictions in a single month sometime in the future.

Even though I haven't been to court for evictions lately, I have still been in court for other things. You may recall that I recently posted about going to court to testify against a criminal who attempted to break into 6 of our apartments and then set an arson fire at a neighboring building. Subsequent to that hearing, I got a temporary restraining order for that criminal who continually comes back to that property and has in-fact basically stalked me, possibly because I have kicked him off the property and have had him arrested several times. This guy has a wrap sheet of more than 200 criminal offenses, including a couple of felonies.

Anyway, today was the court proceeding for a permanent restraining order, based on him stalking me. Needless to say, the judge already knew who this criminal is. I testified about the contacts that I have had with the criminal and the threats he has made toward me. I also explained that I am a concealed carry holder (I carry a handgun) and that I thought the situation was very dangerous. The judge did grant a permant restraining order against this criminal for a full five years. I was surprised that a restraining order would last that long. In addition, the judge not only ordered the criminal to stay 300 feet away from me, but also 300 feet from my apartment buildings. That will be a very valuable tool for me as I can have the criminal arrested if he even comes within 300 feet of my buildings. I'm hoping that once the criminal understands that he's going to be arrested everytime that he gets within 300 feet of my building that he may finally give up and stay away.

Furthermore, a felony arson charge and possibly attempted murder charge is still pending and awaiting evidence from the state crime lab. I'm a witness in that case as my surveillance system caught all the action! So, if I can keep him in jail for the next few months, he should eventually be tried on the felony arson and attempted murder charges and should do a long stretch in prison.

After court, I did some work at the Pink Elephant (one of my apartment buildings). I'm getting ready to rehab the final unit in that building and as part of that preparation, I replaced 3 windows and a door today.

The weather in Ohio was cold today, so I didn't go for a bike ride.

My normal workdays during warmer months usually go something like this. I like to get up early and watch the news; watch CNBC; put in any stock or option trades I might be doing (just a hobby); answer e-mails and do a little posting on internet forums; and then go to work sometime between 10 am and 11 am. I typically work for 3-4 hours and arrive home before the last hour of stock market trading. After the market closes, I like to do something like ride my bicycle; ride my motorcycle; or even go scuba diving. Believe it or not, Ohio has excellent scuba diving in a lot of quarries.

The weather today was forecast to be excellent early in the day and then there was a slight chance of rain later in the day. So, I decided to change the order of events for the day. About 11am, I headed for the bike path and rode 14.3 miles. It was a grueling ride as there was a strong wind in my face for the last 7 miles. I'm trying to get into shape for mountain biking season, but that 14 mile ride just about killed me! I think I'll take a shorter ride, maybe 7 miles, tomorrow to give myself a day to rest.

After riding, I took my bike to the bike shop. My bike has disc brakes and the back brake is badly bent. That happens on these mountain biking courses as we jump obstacles and occassionally wreck our bikes trying to get over or around obstacles. At any rate, the brake was dragging every time the wheel made a rotation and was producing an annoying squeak. The technician at the bike shop attempted to straighten it, but it still wasn't right. So, he ordered a new disc brake, which should be in Friday. I took the bike with me and will ride it until he gets the part in.

About 2pm, I finally got to my 3 bedroom house to continue working on the rehab. The project for today was to remove the carpet in one of the upstairs bedrooms. While I was working on the carpet, I had two people stop by to look at the apartment. One was a Section 8 tenant that says she'll take the apartment and will put down a deposit tomorrow. That just shows how incredibly strong the rental demand is in the area. This house still looks TERRIBLE and under more normal circumstances, no-one would have committed to take it in this state of ugliness. Of course, I will be working on this house for the next week or so and it will be very nice before the tenant will be allowed to move in.

I had an ealy dinner engagement, so I had to quit early today (about 4pm). Although I only worked a couple of hours, I was happy with the work I got done and happy about finding a potential tenant for the house.

If you're following my weight loss saga, as of today I've lost 4 pounds with 21 more to go. I probably won't be able to lose a whole pound tomorrow as today's 14 mile excursion really tired me out and I won't be riding that far tomorrow.

My primary project today was to work on the only 3 bedroom house that I have vacant. The tenants left suddenly because they couldn't afford the rent and they left the house a mess. A lot of the carpet needs to be removed or changed and that's where I started today. I started in the living room and removed all the carpet and the pad. As you've heard me say, I NEVER put pads in rentals, but this particular house was my very first house from 5 1/2 years ago and I wasn't very smart about rehabbing rentals at that time. Fortunately, I installed that pad and there weren't a million staples in the pad like there often is when a "professional" installer goes crazy with their staple gun. I spent about 3 hours removing the carpet, pad, and staples. My plan is to sand the floor and then paint it with oil based floor paint.

After finishing the living room, I spent another half hour cleaning the carpet in the downstairs bedroom. Fortunately, the carpet in this room will be salvageable.

By this time, I was tired of working inside and wanted to go for my daily bike ride. The weather was absolutely perfect - sunny and about 70 degrees! I brought my bike with me to work today because there is a bike path near the house I'm working on. I ended up riding 12 1/2 miles and got a very good workout. My weigh-in when I got home showed that I have lost 3 pounds and have 22 to go. No carbs today. I'm hoping that I can lose another pound tomorrow, but I'm sure that my weight loss is going to slow down. The last time I lost 25 pounds, I averaged about 1/2 pound per day.

Tomorrow, I'm planning on working on the carpet in the upstairs bedrooms. I'm also planning to take another long bike ride - hopefully 14 miles!

I had a very nice 3 day weekend. The weather is starting to really improve here in Ohio and I have started training for the upcoming mountain biking season. Unfortunately, I've got a lot of work to do. I have gotten too fat over the past couple of years and need to lose about 25 pounds to be in top shape for the aggressive mountain biking that I plan to do this year. My friends and I are even planning on entering a couple of mountain bike races this year.

Losing weight and getting in shape is just like running a rental property business. First, you need to understand the basics and then you need to work your butt off to succeed. For me, the basics of losing weight is simply to stop eating carbs. I have done that. To get in shape for mountain biking, obviously I need to do a lot of bike riding (today I rode 7 miles with many hills). To help keep me accountable, I'm going to report on my progress on this blog. So far, I've only lost 1.5 pounds with 23.5 to go! My goal is to ride my bike everyday that the weather is suitable. If that doesn't help me pick up the pace, I'm going to start riding twice a day. WHATEVER IT TAKES!

Since this blog is about my rental property business, I guess I better say something about that! Since my last report, I did get a restraining order against the convicted felon that I've been having trouble with. The day after getting the restraining order, I saw the felon on my surveillance cameras at the Pink Elephant (one of my apartment buildings). I reported it to the police and he was arrested again for criminal trespassing. He has more than TWO HUNDRED criminal charges on his record and will be facing trial for felony arson (and maybe attempted murder).

Tomorrow, I will be working on one of my 3 bedroom houses. It needs quite a bit of work to get it ready to be re-rented, including a lot of work on the carpet. I've got to get moving so that I can rent it for April.

Forty eight days - that's the penalty for the attempted breaking and entering of 6 apartments and criminal trespassing. As I reported yesterday, I went to court today to testify against this scumbag criminal that went on a crime spree in January. Upon my arrival at court, I was told by a court officer that the criminal pled guilty on February 27th and was sentenced to 48 days in jail which he had already served. He was released on February 27th, but then arrested again for committing another crime and is currently in jail. Today's court proceedings were on the breaking and entering and criminal trespass charges only. He has not yet been charged with the felony arson charge. I'm not sure what the delay is - maybe they're waiting for a grand jury.

After the court hearing, I talked to a court officer about filing a restraining order against this criminal. The paperwork to accomplish this was ridiculous, but I got it done. Hopefully the judge will sign it today and I'll get it from the Sheriff tomorrow. The point in filing a restraining order against this criminal is to give me one more tool for having this scumbag arrested if he shows up at my property. He is a convicted felon and had been convicted of felony assault as well as assaulting a police officer. He also tried to kill the family in the building next door to my apartment building by arson. My hope is that the restraining order will keep him away from me and my property. It will be a great thing if I can have him arrested every time he comes within 1,000 feet of me! After he's arrested a few times for violating this order, he may catch on and learn to avoid me and my property.

Once the paperwork for the restraining order was complete, I went to the police station to talk to one of the Police Captains. There has been a resurgence of scumbags (convicted felons) congregating down the street from the Pink Elephant and I want the police to help me put an end to it.

On a lighter note, I did get the floor painted in the one bedroom apartment. It looked GREAT! I'm hoping to get that apartment finished this week and then rented!