All Forum Posts by: Vicki Gleitz

 I'm thinking the rehabbers thought they WERE on the right drugs at the time.

Rachel. I didn't even see your responses and our ideas are similar. As far as "thinking outside the box", because of my "creative wiring" I have not only never been in the box, but do not know or care about the box.

Unless...unless there are mint girl scout cookies in the box!  Are there? Okay,Where is that damn box anyway.

I would rent out my house and buy an inexpensive RV or fifth wheel and take the family with. What a fun and bonding experience that will always give you interesting stories at large holiday gatherings.

an example of why drugs and remodeling do not mix.

Yes, and thank you very much.  You are obviously a person aware of the "law of reciprocity." If you aren't, well, you probably will be quite soon.

I am not actually an investor.  I am trying to help out my son. We do, however rent out our home and live in a travel trailer in the mountains. [ I sit on the deck every morning with my cup of coffee as I "visit" with the deer.

We have had 2 sets of tenants. The first family moved in 3 weeks after I had a double mastectomy. They actually sent in cleaners, at their own expense, because they did not want me to hurt myself [ no, we did not know them beforehand] and then they raised the rent by $50 a month because they said we were charging too little. Before they moved [bought a house] they found our new tenants for us. 

They are also wonderful people. The woman is stay-at-home, with 4 little ones and the man works. He lost his job about 2 years ago. He found another one, but got 2 months behind in rent. After he got a new job we sat down with him and figured out a payment plan and they were caught up within a year.

So, we are not investors, but we do rent out our home, and that is what we did. First we asked ourselves what we would want if we were in such a difficult situation. Kicking us out would not have helped us out, so how would it have helped our renters? Of course, this is coming from an Autistic families' perspective, and we perceive the world in slightly different ways than non-Autistic people tend to[understatement]

how much approximately, would it cost to have someone add a half bathroom to a bedroom? A wall in the kitchen [plaster and cinderblock] would have to be taken down enough to put in a door from kitchen to bathroom.  Also, there would be dry wall with a door for the entrance from the bedroom. This is a tiny one bathroom house and this is the only place I can see where a half bath could be added. 

The house costs my son $30,000. With the work put in it is worth 40 to 43 thousand.  An added half bath would probably add about 7 thousand in value. Would this be possible to do in a way that will not cost more than its' value?

So many of you are being straight-out mean. This is a young man who got sucked into a deep depression and he is now attempting to drag himself out via RE investing and OUR support. Be kind.

Okay,my son has already decided to have a couple open houses for his rental. Would it be alright to offer refreshments?  We figured that would keep people there looking at the house for a longer time period, which would make it feel more like their own, and I do LOVE to bake.  All floors are hardwood, so there would be no worries about food spilt on carpeting. So, what do you think?

Yay!  You are starting over!  That is NOT  loser thing to do.  Find a job, any job.  Save every dime you can.  Keep learning.  Make connections. Find a mentor [at this point, a plain old life mentor would be as good as a RE mentor.  Better yet, find both types of mentors]

Take care of yourself as you make these changes.  How is your exercise routine?  Grooming habits? Sounds like you are living off our mom, so be nice to her and appreciate her [actually, everyone should be nice to their mom]

And get rid of those game systems.  Donate them somewhere so that an impoverished teen can have a great Christmas.

You CAN do this! And you will if you persevere, learn, and make smart financial decisions. I am praying for you.