Landlord Shmandlord

The unit will be ready to show early next week.

We had to paint the whole master bedroom, which the previous tenants painted a hideous shade of purple. We also had to patch the holes left in the other rooms. Interestingly enough, one of the holes, which I noticed only after all of the junk had been removed, is fist-sized and was conveniently covered up by a wall hanging.

All of the rugs have been ripped up and the floors are being sanded, which will be completed tomorrow. We will then finish them, and cover them with throw rugs (easier to replace). I have a list of potential tenants, but am going to wait until early next week to show to show it (by then the apartment will be cleaned too). Hopefully I’ll get it rented by Oct 1.

I am also replacing the two windows that the last tenants broke. Actually, the previous owner replaced every window in the building except for these two, so I suppose I was fortunate that these were the ones that were broken.

Once I have the bills for all the repairs *and the place rented*, I will start tracking down the old tenants and bring them to court. I have a few leads, but as of now do not know where they are living.

The place is now getting painted and the floors redone. I’m bartering with my tenants (the ones who cleaned the newly opened unit), in exchange for their work I am going to give them discounts on their winter rent. For me, this is better than discounts on current rents, because I’m already not collecting rent in the unit that is getting fixed. For them, this is better because they typically work outside, so the winter months are when they are most stretched.

They are very hard workers and charge very reasonable rates. Hopefully it will be finished within a week or two.

I was able to schedule a garbage cleanup, where a truck gets sent specifically to pick up the stuff at my building. I then contacted different tenants of mine who are always looking for some work. They looked over the trashed apartment, and offered to move all of the garbage out to the curb and clean the apartment for a reasonable price. I accepted.

Now, they’re just about finished. I am going to meet them up there tomorrow to discuss the other work that needs to be done before I can rent the apartment out. Currently, it looks like the place will need to be painted, windows will need to be repaired (which I will be doing through a different person), and the floors need to be fixed.

I am not going to be able to rent the place out by September 1st, unfortunately, but hopefully sometime before October 1st.