Michael Rossi's Landlording Blog

As usual, nothing goes as planned. I had planned on working on the carpet in the basement of a 3 bedroom house today. The new tenant had the water turned on at the property this morning, in anticipation of his move-in. So, upon my arrival at the house, I decided to check the water. As I checked under the kitchen sink, I discovered that the left side of the sink was leaking and that the cause was a leak around the sink strainer basket. After I saw this leak, I decided that I probably should check the rest of the water in the house, and I discovered that the chain was missing from the flapper valve in the toilet. So, to check the water to the toilet, I stuck my hand in the toilet tank and actuated the flapper with my hand. That was when I noticed that water was running out from the bottom of the toilet. Obviously, the toilet wax ring needed to be replaced. Next, I checked the tub/shower and discovered that the side of the fiberglass tub had been damaged by the previous tenants and that they had attempted to patch it (without success).

So, at this point, I realized that my plan for today needed to change. I made a list and headed for the plumbing store. A few minutes later, I was back at the house. The most pressing problem was the toilet leak, so I started there. I replaced the toilet flapper and checked it's operation. So far, so good. Next, I flushed and drained the toilet and removed it from the toilet flange. I installed the new wax ring and re-installed the toilet. To my amazement, there were no leaks!

The next priority was to repair the kitchen sink leak. That consisted of removing the old basket; tailpiece, and cross piece; and replacing them with new. Again, I was astonished when there were no leaks. That was two plumbing repairs in a row with no leaks - A NEW RECORD!

While I was on a roll, I decided to undertake the fiberglass repair in the tub. That went pretty well and I moved on to change the flourescent bulbs in the kitchen.

By this time, the grass was dry and the sun was out. I decided to mow some grass. It looked like it was going to be a great afternoon and evening - the weather was looking great for a change. So after mowing grass, I headed home for a bike ride. Right on cue, the skies darkened and the rain poured from the sky. No bike ride today. As I said earlier, nothing ever goes as planned!

After my 5 day weekend, I wasn't in a hurry to get back to work today. I did get a little done, but not much. I spent an hour or so this morning organizing the bills that came in while I was gone. Then, I made a trip to the post office and bank. Next, I went to the local Sprint Store to have a billing mistake corrected.

About that time, I received a call from the local police about a theft that occurred a couple blocks from one of my apartment buildings. The police had reason to believe that the thieves may have walked past my building, which has an elaborate surveillance camera system. The police asked me to check my surveillance tapes (really a DVR) to see if I could spot the thieves. The theives were not on camera and I called to police to give them the bad news.

Next, I showed an apartment to a potential tenant and then went to the hardware store to pick up a metric screw for my bicycle seat. That was it for today!

I'll try to be a little more productive tomorrow.

We returned this afternoon from a wonderful 5 day weekend, which was our first camping adventure of the season (largely because the weather has been so lousy in Ohio this spring). This weekend, we went camping at the Forked Run State Park, which is located on the Ohio River near Reedsville, Ohio. It was an absolutely fantastic 5 days, with perfect weather every day.

During our trip, we enjoyed mountain biking, frisbee golf, motorcycle riding; walking along the river; and a lot of good fellowship with friends. One of the main focuses on the trip was to ride the mountain biking course at Lake Hope State Park (about an hour away from Forked Run), which is rated number one in the state for single track mountain biking courses. Although we got a very good workout on the course, we were extremely disappointed in the course. In fact, my friend and I would rate the course the WORST in the state of Ohio!!! The course did not flow well and there were NUMEROUS trees that had fallen during the winter still obstructing the course. I would definitely not recommend this course and I won't be going back.

I would rate Forked Run as a very nice state park. It was scenic and had many nice camping sites. The frisbee golf course was excellent, and camp store was well stocked. In fact, the only real detractor I would list for this state park are the very hilly, winding roads surrounding the park (obviously not the park's fault).

I plan to get back to work tomorrow, but I haven't even thought about what I will do yet. I'll think about that tomorrow.

I'm finally installing a second security camera system. This one will cover 3 buildings on the same street. In preparation for the installation, today I ran wiring from the electrical box to the location for the power supply company. The cable company is scheduled to install the high speed DSL line with static IP port tomorrow morning and then I'll begin installing the cameras and DVR.

I'm REALLY sold on these security camera systems. They are a powerful deterrent to crime, as well as a deterrent the tenant's misbehaving. When there is an incident, I can copy the evidence to a DVD and take it to the police. I can also check on my rentals without ever leaving home, or even while on vacation. All I need to view my property is my laptop and an internet connection!

In addition to installing the electrical wiring for the surveillance system, I showed a 3 bedroom house to a potential tenant; mowed the grass at 3 apartment buildings; and installed a ceiling light in a 1 bedroom apartment.

Once home, I headed over to the mountain biking course for another workout! I've ridden a bunch of different mountain biking course and this one has the longest sustained vertical run of all of them. It's a killer!

Today I got to do my favorite job (OR NOT)! That job was pulling staples out of the living room floor of the 3 bedroom house where I removed the carpet pad yesterday. There were probably 200 staples and the floor was a horrible mess, with slimy stick pet urine attached to the floor along with mouse droppings. Of course, it's hard to sweep or mop with hundreds of staples in the floor and it's tough to remove staples with mouse droppings and pet urine slime goo all over the place. Fortunately, I don't have much of a sense of smell, but even so, the smell was terrible. I took those plug-in air fresheners with me and hopefully the house will smell better tomorrow.

Now that the staples are out, tomorrow I'll sweep and mop the floor and then install the new carpet. THAT ROOM WILL LOOK 100% better with the new carpet!

In addition to working on the room, I also got the security deposit for a new tenant in my one of my 1 bedroom apartments. Her rent is supposed to be paid by a government agency and I went over there to get the paperwork signed. What an experience! I was sitting in a waiting room with a bunch of low-income riff-raff who were looking for a government handout. It looked like the entire circus was sitting in that waiting room. I imagine that this is exactly what it will be like when universal healthcare comes to town - sitting in a crowded waiting room awaiting my turn to be seen by a benevolent government official. Fortunately, I am not too lazy to work and I don't have time to sit in a government office all afternoon. After waiting about 10 minutes, I gave the clerk the paperwork I had and told her to have the case worker call me when she had all the paperwork done. The tenants won't be able to move in until I have the signed paperwork!

After getting off to a slow (lazy) start this week, I got a lot of things done today. This morning, I paid rental bills and took care of some personal stuff. Then, I went to the bank and post office. My first work project of the day was to show my 3 bedroom house to a possible tenant and then to remove all the carpet pads from the house (I removed the carpet the other day). I found that one of the bedrooms had a good wood floor under the carpet and pad. I'll paint the floor in that room. The living room and other bedrooms did not have floors suitable for painting, so I'll replace the carpet in those rooms (without carpet pad).

The rain decided to hold off, so I decided to mow some grass this afternoon. I managed to mow the grass at 2 apartment buildings and 1 house.

The next task was to have a stern talk with one of my tenants who was involved in a big brawl last night. I don't know what it is with low income tenants, but a bunch of young adults decided that they were going to have a brawl last night. The police were on the street for 2 1/2 hours trying to break this up and they cited several people for various infractions. One of my tenants was involved and I told him today that any further problems from him would result in eviction!

I received a call from a woman that was looking for a one-bedroom apartment. I showed her my only vacant one-bedroom apartment and she said that she'll take it. I gave her an application and she's supposed to return the application tomorrow along with the paperwork from the government agency that is paying her first month's rent.

About the time I got home, it started to rain - so there will be no bike ride today!

It FINALLY dried up enough to actually ride a local mountain biking course today! So, I spent about 10 minutes changing a broken lock on a rental and the rest of the day doing personal tasks. My number one priority today was mountain biking. Number two was to get some work done on my pickup truck. I went to Walmart to get the work done on the pickup. That consisted of getting an oil change; getting new windshield wipers; and having a tire repaired (or should I say replaced). The tire had been slowly leaking due to a screw that was imbedded in the tire. However, when they took the tire off to repair it, they discovered that there was also a nail in the sidewall of the tire. The sidewall could not be patched, so I had to get a new tire. I know what you're thinking - that an irate tenant sabotaged the tire. However, I don't believe that's the case. I think this is just one of those road hazards that strike once in a while.

As all these things were being repaired, I walked over to a local sporting goods store and bought an AirSoft Handgun. This CO2 powered handgun is very similar to my concealed carry gun and I will be using it to practice in the house. As with many things in life, training is a critical issue when you're dealing with handguns. I wanted an airsoft gun to practice drawing and firing my handgun and I can do that a LOT cheaper and more often with the airsoft gun than with my .40 Caliber Baretta. Although slightly lighter than my Baretta, it is otherwise nearly identical to my Baretta in size and function. Of course, in addition to the practice aspect of the gun, it's fun!

My decision to buy the AirSoft gun for training purposes was partially due to an incident that occurred on Sunday. Here's my account of that incident:

I carry my handgun almost all the time. I work with a lot of riff-raff in my business and have evicted literally dozens of criminals and deadbeats over the years. I never know when I am going to meet one of these losers who wants to blame me for their situation (being homeless, put in prison, etc). In addition, some of my low income rentals are in relatively bad areas and there is occassional violence (usually among the riff-raff).

Sunday was Mother's Day. I wasn't working and wasn't planning to be in any public areas as my wife and I were going to a relative's house for a family gathering. After we left the house, my wife reminded me that we needed to stop by a convenience store to pickup one of their delicious salads. We were already running a little late and I wasn't very happy about it. We stopped at the convenience store/gas station and my wife went inside to get the salad. After an extended period of time, I went into the store to see what the delay was. I was thinking about the time and I was also perturbed that some moron had parked parallel to the convenience store door, blocking several parking spots. So, in the store I went and I asked my wife what was going on. Instead of answering my question, she asked "do you have your gun"? WHAT??? I asked, "what are you talking about"? She told me to look at the checkout counter and sure enough a loud and angry conversation was going on between some very iffy looking people and the clerk. These were the people from the oddly parked car just outside the door. MY HANDGUN WAS IN THE TRUCK! As it turned out, the people must have had their credit card declined and were yelling at the clerk about it (as if that would help). They ended up getting in their car and leaving without paying for the gas and the clerk called the sheriff.

Everything ended up being ok and obviously no-one was hurt. However, this was certainly a good opportunity for self-critique. I did just about EVERYTHING wrong in this situation. First, I wasn't wearing my gun, because I didn't think I would be exposed to the public. The lesson here is that you just never know when a dangerous situation will occur. I was so distracted by being late and the delay in getting the salad, that I lost situational awareness. The car parked parallel to the store, blocking several spots should have been a red flag that something wasn't right (think getaway car). In addition, the oddly parked car combined with my wife not returning in a timely manner should have been even more evidence that something might be amiss (maybe a robbery was in progress). Wost of all, I walked in the store (still unarmed even though my gun was in my truck), RIGHT PAST THE PEOPLE WHO WERE YELLING without even noticing because I was so pre-occupied with being late! I've gotta tell you that I'm a little embarrassed that I didn't do better. When I'm working in relatively dangerous areas, I'm always armed and always on guard; trying to maintain good situational awareness. However, yesterday, I let a sense of complacency and a minor distraction completely destroy my situational awareness. I definitely learned a lesson and will strive to do better in the future.

That incident from Sunday reminded me once again that I must take responsibility for my safety. Whether I'm working on my rentals in a low income neighborhood or stopping at the gas station, it is my responsibility to be aware of my surroundings and be prepared to act accordingly should an safety issue arise.

I received a call from the city prosecutor's office today. She wanted to inform me that the pre-trial for the felon that has been stalking me has officially been moved to June 3rd and the trial is scheduled for June 4th. I also found out that he is charged with a 1st degree misdemeanor of violating a protection order and the maximum sentence is 6 months in jail.

My project of the day was to mow my grass at home; mow the grass at two of my rentals; and haul away some old carpet from a 3 bedroom house that I'm making ready to be re-rented. I also bought some solar powered sidewalk lighting; planted a tomato plant; and did a few other things at home.

I forgot to mention that I once again won't have any evictions this month. I did collect all the rents (along with several late fees), so this month makes the 8th straight month with no evictions. I currently have two rentals that are vacant and ready to be rented.

I haven't had time to post the past few days.  My wife and I took another 3 day weekend and we've been quite busy.  We spent most of the day on Friday working on landscaping at our home.  Then Saturday, we had a big family gathering during the day and a party for our small group (from Church) in the evening.  Today we had another family gathering for Mother's day!  It was a busy 3 days.

Before my three day weekend started, I had one last work related issue to take care of.  Friday morning was the pre-trial hearing for the Felon that has been stalking me.  If you haven't been following my blog, it's a long story.  However, the short version is that this loser has a "wrap sheet" of more than 200 criminal offenses, including several felonies.  He is now awaiting charges on a felony for an arson and possibly attempted murder in a building next to one of my buildings.  I'm the primary witness in that case.  

Anyway, this criminal somehow got out of jail a little while back and the same day approached me on the sidewalk in front of one of my buildings, violating the restraining order I have against him.  I called the police and he was arrested.  He's still in jail awaiting trail on that charge and his pretrial was Friday morning. 

I have VERY LITTLE confidence in our criminal justice system, so I called the court to be sure the case was still being held.  It was.  I arrived at the courthouse about 10 minutes before the case was scheduled to be heard.  This is the same courthouse where evictions are heard, so I know all the officers that provide security.  Before they screened me, I asked if the case was still on.  This criminal is frequently violent and they always have extra security when he is brought to court from the jail.  They said that the hearing was still on, but that I needed to check with the main bailiff to determine which courtroom was holding the hearing.  So, I went to talk to the bailiff and sure enough - THE PRETRIAL HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL JUNE!   I can't tell you how many times I've been subpoened to testify in a criminal trial, only to have it either dropped or postponed!  It is VERY FRUSTRATING!  The only good thing is that the criminal will be in jail at least until the hearing in June (or at least that's what they said).