Missing something.....

When we first began our hobby with the properties, we had dreams of restoring our now 105 yr old house. That was 24 yrs ago. Seems all our time now is spent fixing the rental units. I insist though that I get some time out in my garden. What would I do without that little piece of land out back that I can call all my own. There I can create, reconnect and toil in the dirt and in my mind. There was a time when all I could think about was what I could be creating in my beds. I yearned to make it my haven.

I miss that. That feeling of being so lost in something so enjoyable. And it has been the last couple days that I feel so apathetic about all the work we do at the rentals and how much time we spend doing it, and what gratification does it bring us anymore?

When we first started this hobby it was because of our love of old houses. And there were so many around Waterloo abandoned and needing love. I painted houses during the summers because I was a stay-at-home mom. The first house we bought was right next door to one I was painting. (they had me paint it BLUE!!!) A beautiful old home with massive porch pillars and grand woodwork inside.

Years prior, there had been a fire and the roof was never repaired so from much rain, the inside was in need of lots of work.

We were young, with very little credit. Those were the years when times were tough- high interest rates, no banks looking to loan money to any young unexperienced rookies. We came up with the $2000 to buy it. But with no one to lend us money to fix it up, we had to let it go. Before we did, we left with the porch pillars, most of the woodwork and hardwood flooring. In just a few short years, the city tore the house down. What a shame...with our love, it could have been a grand home again.

And that was our first property.

Dang!

Sure has been a downer. All the repairs we have to do at the apt. My husband and I spent so much time over last summer fixing this place up only to have someone move in and in five months do so much damage. During all the 21 yrs we have been landlords, this is by far the worse and the most time consuming damage that has been done to any of our units. Every door totalling 4, had to be replaced and since all of them were kicked in, the frames were cracked so those had to be replaced also. And..and...the list goes on.

Time spent on that is time taken away from more fun things..Fun things like---fixing up the apt that has been sitting for about a year just waiting. Yeah, that's it. Those kind of fun things

Day's end

Nothing like a beautiful sunset out in the country where I grew up to wash all the stress away. A peaceful drive up to mom's last night proved to be just that.

Today I answered no phones, did no bookwork, cleaned nothing and never saw one tenant. Instead I spent the day with mom. The biggest thrill of the day was getting to see one of the Decorah eagles. He sat up in a tree as if waiting for me. Loved watching him fish for breakfast for his brood.

How oh how?

What a day! How in the world did I do all this when the kids were little? All the running I have to do for the properties, collecting rents (or trying to) at the beginning of the month, phone call after phone call, showing apts., cleaning, and paying bills. Than I did it for my house and my family.....laundry, groceries, the never ending cooking, bookkeeping, paying bills, keeping the house clean, yard work, shopping for the kids and this all having to be done before any of their concerts and sporting events; help with homework, art projects!!!!! I yi yi yi!

Today I have just been spinning spinning. I have some good prospects for my one bedroom-and some not so good. I got a 30 day notice for two other apts and about four tenants are having trouble with their rents for April. They all want a 3 day from me so they can go to organizations for assistance. All meaning I wont get money for those until April.

Supper on the stove, laundry in the machine, bills in their envelopes and now headed out the door to load some piles of yard waste I raked together yesterday.

Get out of the house before the phone starts ringing-again!

Shattered and moved on

Anything glass was broken, evidence of more abuse from the holes in the bedroom wall-one the size of a fist, another indentation appeared to possibly be a body. This door was shredded and it was obvious someone did their best to get it open because it was ripped off the hinges.

How frightening it was for me to be clearing all the stuff out and cleaning up, just thinking about being in such a situation as this gal must have been.

No dark cloud over me

Hoping there is no dark cloud over me today

TGIF

Never has been a secret that I do not enjoy cooking. Maybe that is why I am glad it's Friday. We usually grab a sandwich on our way home from working at the apts. So since we work most nights and through the weekends, Friday is jut like any other day.

What a feeling to get my Efficiency rented today. I am tired of the phone ringing non-stop. It is rare to have an efficiency open for so long. Word of mouth, or demand for them gets them filled very fast. For some reason this time around I havent had very good luck. Three different times I had someone to rent it, and they ended up losing their job or just disappearing.

I try to do as much screening over the phone as I can. What a rash of 'just out of jail, been in jail, drug charges, just started work, looking for work, have a record of domestic abuse...theft charges, many FE&D's'....it is so difficult to find a good tenant especially when some of my units arent in the best of neighborhoods.

One unit rented now on to clear out and clean up the one I evicted the other day. Gonna take some work. The gal had an abusive boyfriend and it was 'abused'...