Sactown Update and Dilemma

I called to verify my potential renters' claim that they have been faithful in paying timely rent with their current landlord and two things happened:

1) The number for the landlord was disconnected

2) When I called to verify the number (after all she gave it to me in Spañol and my numbers get mixed even in Englisho sometimes) her number was disconnected

So... the last time I talked to this lady I told her that if all went well with the reference we would move her in on Sunday evening (the only day I can be in Sac since I am going to Napa Monday for work). What if she shows up on Sunday? I figure if she has $2000 in hand to pay me deposit and first month's rent, it would be hard to say no to that, right? If she shows with less, then what, I have to be the bouncer?

If she doesn't show, I guess I will cruise the streets looking for a new renter... If you know anyone, here is our posting on Craigslist

Bring a Random Relative to Remodel Day

Okay quick catch up post on the house in Sac...

My cousin, who I have only seen a few times since high school, was available to help us fix up the house to make it available to some new renters we are going to be welcoming on the 19th of July. The previous tenants we asked to move out since they were delinquent for the 3rd time and surprisingly, not only did they leave but they cleaned it very well. The walls were in bad shape-o and they had a few holes in the doors, etc. (and they drove into the garage and knocked it off the runner) but the house was clean.

Some weirdo stuff about the house includes a very ugly bathroom situation in which the walls were caving in around the faucet. I was going to get rid of the tub and refit the whole thing with a surround wall, etc. but my cousin said it would be way easier to just tile it up--so we did! Here is my cuz:


























And here is the bathroom torn apart:













































Here he is putting up the tile:





















And the completed tile:














































The amateur paint job that would have taken us another week if it hadn't been for the paint sprayer my cousin loaned us.... here are the befores:






































































































And the afters:





















































































You can't really tell here, but believe me, it looks WAY better. Then I have to give a shoutout to my floors. The original hardwood is in the house, which I assume you can tell by the pictures, but in the kitchen and dining room we had a friend of ours replace the very ugly linoleum with vinyl laminate when we first moved in five years ago. The laminate brand is Wilsonart and he really pushed us to go with that even though it was more expensive because he felt the quality was so much better. We stretched our budget but did it and it was soo worth it. Of course I have nothing to compare it with but check out this situation... spilled paint, streaked all over the place:


























After about 2 minutes with a scratchy green 3M sponge:


























Gone!!! It looks brand new. Also note the indoor grill in our dining room. It was one of the features that sold me on the house, that we could Q in the winter. And we did.

After being in the house we missed it so much we wanted to move back. My cousin said we should tear down the bonus room because the wood underneath is damaged due to poor construction (it was done without a permit and the construction is really crappy apparently) and we were sad about that because we really fixed up the bonus room and made it liveable, but he fixed it enough to last another couple of years and then we will see what we decide.

We are considering moving back in a year while Steve works on his dissertation but if we have great renters we might just stay by the beach. Here is the outside with our beautiful tree. And our fixed garage door:

House Update

Renters actually cleaned the house! Looks good though bonus room
carpets completely trashed and walls problematic. We will be painting
the whole place and looking into hiring a ne'er-do-well cuz to do the
bathroom. Pics coming soon.

-posted from camping out in our empty slums

Sent from mi teléfono i.

You Can't Live for Free.

So my renters are now about to be served up another "pay or quit" notice. This is something that is really bothering me.

I heard that when you have ghetto renters who don't pay you should offer them money to vacate because the process can be really painful if not. There is something called "unlawful detainer" that I have to file and that sounds like a headache and kind of meanie too.

I don't want to be responsible for sending a family with a child to live in the streets. In my heart I am not a good capitalist. Can someone give me a better reason than "because you can't live for free?" as to why I should bother to go through the eviction process?

Travel Schedule and other non-juicy tidbits

I know this is boring stuff but since I consider this a bit of my personal journal as well I have to record it.

Wed-Sat NY. Yes I am taking Meg who will be babysat by a total stranger. Highly recommended by someone I trust but still, you know.

March 8-14 NC. Taking Meg again. Yes that is two cross country trips within two weeks with a 6 month baby. I know.

March 16-19 work HQ. Hoping that I have a babysitter but haven't heard for sure yes or no but for now, taking Meg I think.

Luckily I don't have to travel again until April at which point I will be in Indiana. Still figuring out babysitting so if anyone knows someone awesome in Indianapolis hook me up.

Four days after I get back from Indy, Steve is heading to Europe with his pops for 10 days. I am trying not be jealous but I keep hearing phrases like "we need to coordinate where we are meeting in Vienna." Punks.

I am thinking of heading up to Norcal while Steve is out of town and putting my kids on independent study or something so I don't have to deal with early morning carpool and my awesomest Aunt Judy will be around if I pass out from four kids alone.

Renters are one month+ behind in rent though they called Saturday and said "Check is in the mail." She wanted me to call her and work out her situation but I am not returning her call until her check comes AND clears. It really is killing me to not return her call here, but I feel like I can't negotiate or talk to her until we at least have her payment otherwise I think we have to evict them. I was never meant to be in this slumlord business as I have no backbone. Part of me feels like I was blessed to be able to buy this house in the first place and this lady would be homeless otherwise. The other part of me feels like without the rent from the house we can't fix up the things we need to and my investment is going down the toilet along with the economy.

Ugh. Anyone know a low-income family in Sacramento who would at least make their rent payment every other month?

New Renters on Deck...

So we found some stellar renters. Here are the specs:

1 Married couple who lost
2 homes to delinquency in the subprime era with
2 daughters and over
3 years of self-employment with
0 years rental history so
0 rental references available and now legally we can run
0 credit checks though I did check
1 personal reference from a pastor who barely spoke English (curses I was too embarrassed to make him switch to español) and said we would "probably be fine" as they are very consistent people.

At the end he said they were "very faithful."

Hey that is good enough for me.

Trouble in Paradise...

So I checked my email when I got home tonight and had this little gem sitting in my inbox:


Dear slumlord fleming,

It looks like your tenant has skipped--I am immediately marketing the home
again. I am changing managers to Lady X as she is in the South
office and much closer to your property. You can reach her at blah blah number.

- Property Manager