12.19.13 Update on Frozen Pipes
Thursday, December 19
We think we got off easy with our frozen pipes after all. When we arrived there was water streaming out of the duplex, but by the time our handyman arrived the next morning, he thought that the water had all drained well, and it was an easy plumbing fix. We'll have to continue to monitor th...
12.08.13 Frozen Pipes
Sunday, December 08
We've been trying to get through this year with minimized rental expenses; it's been an expensive year. Nature, it seems, is conspiring against us. We've had unusually cold weather in the Pacific Northwest. This afternoon my husband tried thawing a frozen pipe at our personal residence a...
12.02.13 Rental News on Vacation
Monday, December 02
I’ve always said that the unfortunate part of owning and managing rentals is not having much control over the timing of vacancies and tenant issues. Shortly after starting our landlording adventure, we got a call while on vacation in Chicago that our new tenants, placed for less than a m...
11.16.13 Tenant Tailspin
Saturday, November 16
Currently living through our third terrible move out of the year. What would you do in this situation? How long would you let this train wreck continue? One of our tenants lost her job in the spring due to a fast food restaurant closing down. We waived half of April rent to give her a c...
10.22.13 The Cost of Vacancy
Monday, October 21
I use a 5% vacancy loss for planning purposes. Quarterly I calculate our percent occupancy, by comparing the days in the month to the days of paid rent received for each unit. Since starting in spring 2010, our running combined occupancy is 96%. One house is lowest at 90%, because we too...
10.17.13 Landlord Training Learnings
Thursday, October 17
I attended a local landlording training session this week. The focus was on behavior management (getting and keeping quality tenants by the way you set the tone) and making healthy communities. The trainer hit the nail on the head when he said landlording is all about people management. So...