It's Gonna Be A Long Walk Home

Nothing about real estate this time, but this is so cool, I just had to share..Back in 1985, my friend Jim and I were 16 and on a YMCA summer camp trip that traveled up the coast of Southern California, from Orange County, where we lived, to San Fransisco and back again. On the way north, we stopped at the town of Solvang. As we did when we got to any new town, the first place we went was the local...

October, Please End

This has not been the best month for me. It started off nice. I bought a new bed that cost a couple thousand dollars. My wife needed it for her bad back, so we had to bite the bullet and buy it, even though I would have preferred to wait a bit. Shortly after that, the wheel bearings on my car needed to be replaced. $800. Then I got the oil changed and was told my power steering hose was leaking. Took it to the dealer and it turns out the news is...

Identity Theft! (Updated)

It appears my wife has been a victim of identity theft. We got a letter last week from a check approval company saying a check had been bounced. The account number was not ours and it was written at a store we never shop at. Further, my wife never writes checks. I mean, like never! I pay all the bills with our joint checking account and she has her own checking account that she only uses a debt card with. So when we got this letter, we figured it...

Damaged Doors At Rental #1

I received my September statement from my property management company today and was unpleasantly surprised to see a bill for $150 for some door repairs to my property. The bill states one bathroom door was repaired and two other doors were shaved to fit properly.My lease states:Lessee will, at lessee’s sole expense, keep and maintain the leased premises and appurtenances in good and sanitary conditions and repair during the term of this lease…Major...

General Update

My tenants in Rental #1 have opted to not renew their lease. On Monday, my property was not yet listed on my property manager's website, so I emailed her to ask if they put it up as soon as the tenants give notice, or if they wait until they have moved out and they have cleaned the place. I never got a response, but my property is now listed on their website. And the PM must have felt rents could be increased, because it is listed for $775 a month,...

Rental #1 Tenants Have Given Notice

My management company told me today that the tenants in Rental #1 have chosen not to renew their lease, which expires on November 1. This stopped me from making a decision I wasn't really looking forward to making - should I continue to rent to them or not?The reasons for not renting to them were fairly clear - they paid their rent late several times. Given that the management company keeps the late fees, there is really no benefit to me to accept...

Foreclosure Papers Filed For Louisiana Property

When I last wrote about the Louisiana commercial property I'm invested in, the buyout of "Joe's" interest in the property had fallen through and he was once again late on his payments. We (the other mortgage investors and myself) had decided to start the foreclosure process as soon as possible.I received word yesterday that the process has begun. On September 15, Joe was officially late for the September payment and late fees started accruing. A...

Real Estate Slowdown Hurts My Cashflow

For the past four years, I've had some investments in four LLCs that flip properties in the San Francisco area. As you might have guessed, 2004 and 2005 were pretty good years for these investments and every couple of months, I was receiving checks for hundreds of dollars - and sometimes over a thousand. Now, however, the resale market has slowed down dramatically. Instead of the checks for $1,000 or more I was getting, the last check I received...

Got The Bug

I'm feeling the urge to buy another rental property and the blame lies squarely at the feet of Trisha for recently posting about two properties available in Tulsa. The problem is I am looking at a lot of upcoming expenses in the near future - we need a new bed, we're traveling for Thanksgiving, Christmas shopping time is quickly approaching, and next year, we're going on a cruise. The cruise is a birthday present for my 40th birthday, which will...