Barely closed and Murphy came knocking :)

[Audrey Ezeh]

Closed on my duplex on Thursday. Seller who happened to be pretty much a friend I met through REI forgot to give me the key to the back unit that is already rented out. He left the key to the thrashed unit that needs roughly 10k rehab. He was out of town and very apologetic, I said oh no worries, what's the worst that can happen? It'll be fine. Just give me the key when you get back into town.

What do ya know? Tenant locked himself out the next night! I had no key and wasn't going to get a locksmith out at 11pm on a Saturday night to eat up all rent that I haven't gotten yet lol. Told the kid to crash at a friends and got the locksmith to let him in yesterday. My buddy seller will pay the bill thankfully but I just got my first lesson in Murphy's law and the school of hard knocks :)

Here are a few pix of the front unit. Can't wait to transform this bad boy. Already learning lesson 2 ...dealing with contractors...the budget is already going sideways but I have a few strategies to get back on track. 

[Matthew Olszak]

@Audrey Ezeh Keep an update going on your rehab - you've got some great bones there. Just please take that water heater out of the cabinets :-).

As to the lock issue. So #1, always change your locks hours after closing. You don't need the tenant or you having something go missing then thinking that your friend with a key may have gone in. Its better to eliminate that possibility. Basic locks are cheap at Home Depot.

Also, be sure that the lease with the tenant outlines lockout costs to be sure the tenant absorbs it. If I'm getting called at 11pm to go open a door, I'm getting paid irregardless of if I have a key or not. That cost of the locksmith and your service call needs to be absorbed by the tenant. They'll balk about how expensive it is for something so simple, and yeah, it is, but what other choice is there? Its just like getting a tow off the highway.

Welcome this property into your inventory - hopefully that was the biggest issue and you'll hear nothing out of the tenant from this point forward!