At Least There’s No Dumpster Fire

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I finally drove over to see my dumpster yesterday morning. The stepladder in my trunk came in handy. This is what I found:

I’d say that bottom is rusted out. I was pleasantly surprised to find the trash outside the dumpster to be at a minimum. I’d hate to have the local paper confirm I’m a deadbeat landlord just because our first duplex is on the worst street in town and now we don’t even take out the trash.

I received two quotes yesterday for repair/replace. Both quotes were for replacement; neither company thought this was worth saving. I shaved another $200 off the purchase price by getting a slightly smaller dumpster, Big Dave the Dumpster, and he arrived yesterday:

Now somebody better pick up that trash!

P.S. Still NO letter from the City.

I Bought a Dumpster?

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In yet another learning experience, it has come to my attention that, along with a 6-unit apartment building, we purchased the big dumpster that sits in the parking lot. I finally broke down and called the real estate agent that helped us with the deal, and he was as surprised as I was to learn this fact. Now, I understand that most people in most of the country would know something like this because they pay a regular trash bill through a private company. Our City collects the trash, so it is paid for through property taxes and the water/sewer bill. I have never received a bill from anyone about this dumpster; as long as nothing is blocking it, it gets emptied almost every week. The City will also make bulk pick-ups of items like couches and mattresses upon request.

Unfortunately, two Tuesday nights ago (May 12th), one of my tenants texted to tell me that the dumpster was upside-down. What?! Why would it be upside-down? I drove by Thursday morning, confirmed that it was upside-down, and called the City’s information line to figure out what was going on.

I was told that when a dumpster becomes unsafe, the garbage truck will flip it over and then send the property owner a snail-mail letter with the reason and next steps within a week. Silly me - I believed her.

I waited until Wednesday’s mail came, a solid week, and called again when I failed to receive a letter. Oh, well, there still was nothing in their system. Great. We are at 100% occupancy without a place to throw away trash. And I have no idea where this dumpster came from, what is wrong with it, or how to get it fixed. I’m just waiting for a code enforcement citation, too, as the trash continues to pile up.

So, now it is Friday afternoon before a 3-day weekend and I’m waiting for the City to call me with an update that they have 1-3 business days to make. Our real estate agent has also promised to reach out to the prior owner to see if there is any other information available.

I’m probably going to put the tarp in my car to haul away some trash because it is still ultimately our responsibility to provide trash removal for this property. Yuck.

Woohoo! Before I could even post the above, the City called. The bottom is rusted out and the dumpster needs to be repaired. He’s going to try to get this put into the system today, or Tuesday at the latest. Isn’t that nice.

You Can’t Win Them All

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I took a detour on the way to the office this morning. It was reported, yesterday, that two vacant homes had fires on the same block as the duplex we own (“other rental unit” on Net Worth Tracker). Thankfully, those houses were across the street, so the duplex seems fine. We are in the midst of selling the duplex on a land contract for $29,675 over 5 years. We are just under a year into it. Basically, the duplex is still in the name of our real estate LLC, but the buyers are paying off the purchase price, plus interest. When they finish paying, we give them the deed. They also pay the real estate taxes, insurance, and for any maintenance issues or repairs. If they stop paying, I can take back the property, either through an eviction or a foreclosure, depending on how much they have paid.

The duplex is our first investment property that we bought for $13,900 in cash in the summer of 2010. It was a REO property listed on HomePath. Someone had completed most of a rehab, so it was almost ready for tenants. I used public records to look at all of the houses around it; this property was sandwiched between two homes that were part of a $200,000 purchase of about 10 properties by one investor (which I assumed meant he would do his best to take care of his investment). The block looked like it had hit rock bottom, and could only go up. I had always been a clean and respectful tenant, and expected everyone acted that way. I was very wrong.

I’d have to look back at the tax returns to be sure, but I think we always at least broke even on this property. There’s no way we would have made any profit if we had a mortgage payment. I’m not sure how many stoves and fridges we’ve gone through due to defects and stealing. The house on one side has already been torn down and the one on the other side is on the chopping block as well.

Ultimately, I’m glad to be getting rid of this property. The lessons learned and confidence gained has been invaluable. But it isn’t fun to think your house might have burned down.

DIY Privacy Screens

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I love our neighborhood and I love our house, but the fact remains that we often have people living in our backyard. Our next door neighbor’s garage was converted into an apartment a long time ago. See:

Through the years, I have done my best to create natural privacy screens, but plants take time to grow. Most of the people that have lived in the apartment never open the blinds on our side of the apartment. Unfortunately, our newest neighbor isn’t so shy. I know this will also be a drawback when we try to market and sell the house.

I spent a good deal of time trying to find privacy screens to buy. I’ve done this multiple time in the past. I couldn’t find any I liked for a price I liked.

Then I remembered that I have like a hundred slats that I saved when I shortened up our Ikea wood blinds to make them custom length.

Talk about killing two birds with one stone! Repurposing and decluttering! I knew I saved them for a reason…

I found some garden stakes at Lowe’s that should form the base. I already have wood glue, a nail gun, and stain/sealant. I’ll need a new paint brush, too, but I think that should be it. This project should cost less than $20.

The stakes are 5 feet long (length of the tape measure). The short slats are 2 feet long. So, I’d like to put a support at the very top, at the 1 foot down mark, and at the 4 feet down mark, leaving the bottom foot clear. It will be just over three feet wide and six feet tall.

I’m going to stain this bench/firewood rack while I’m at it. Mr. PFL made it a couple years ago from scratch with scrap wood.

After securing the stakes at Lowe’s, it turns out the nail gun is off; the nails are too long. I found a heavy duty stapler to use instead. Lesson learned: don’t overfill the stapler or it won’t latch properly. I staged my staining area (Norman is such a good helper):

I finished staining all of my pieces. I’m going to let them dry for a bit and then work on my cuts.

I conquered the measuring, sawing and assembling. My first privacy screen looks like this:

I completed two more screens, one large and one smaller. This is my initial installation:

Instant privacy! I’m going to need to shore them up a bit, but they are currently free standing.

Real Estate License Class Musings

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I graduated from law school ten years ago this month. Taking these real estate license classes are like a refresher course. I’m starting to understand why people fail the real estate license test; we’ve basically gone over three or four semester-long law school classes in three days (including Contracts, Property and Business Associations). I imagine these terms and concepts would be really difficult if I hadn’t learned them before. There are very few brand new ideas for me (surveying, for one), so I struggle to pay attention, but I know the best way to pass the test is to pay attention in class. I’ve almost always done well on tests when I pay attention; they usually tell you what’s on the test in class. Three classes down and only five more to go. I hope the financing and appraisal classes are more interesting for me.

Before I left class, I also talked to the instructor who provided the contact person who hires the teachers. My instructor had offered to get this information for anyone that was interested in teaching. I taught sociology part-time at our local community college for about three years when I was finishing up law school and starting my law practice. The hardest part, for me, about teaching higher education is navigating the underlying politics of the academic world. That is also a major reason I went to law school after earning my Master’s degree in Sociology instead of moving forward with PhD coursework and a lifetime of academia. This is also the reason I confirmed a contact person for hiring; I’ve sent in plenty of online applications to the local colleges and never heard back.

Week 1 Goal Report

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I’ve completed Week 1 of my 13-Week Challenge. The Results:

Monday: Jillian Michael’s 30-Day Shred, Level 1

Tuesday: Steps (17,412)

Wednesday: Jillian Michael’s 30-Day Shred, Level 2

Thursday: Steps (17,542)

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: Shovel-tilling vegetable garden w/Mr. PFL

Sunday: More shovel-tilling to incorporate compost. My lower back hurts.

Overall Achievement: Week 1 Goal Met

13-Week Challenge

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Being goal-oriented is a double-edged sword. When I set a goal, I generally reach it. Without a goal, nothing happens. Thus, I have heretofore provided myself a 13-week challenge. The challenge rules are simple:

  • I must complete a challenge objective 6 days a week, with the week starting on Monday; and
  • The challenge objectives are to either a) do a 25-minute workout or b) get 17,250 steps (about 7.5 miles for me).

Today is Week 1, Day 1. I came home from my first real estate license class and completed Jillian Michael’s 30-Day Shred, Level 1.

Extreme Early Retirement

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Looks like retiring early is becoming a “thing” now. And here I thought we were so special. 😉 I found this extended article on how to retire in your 30’s. It is definitely worth a read, and has the stories of several other bloggers that are already living paycheck-free.

The main thrust of the article, in my opinion, is that you need to change your values in order to have an extreme early retirement. I disagree. I think there are many people out there that already have the values that could lead to an early retirement, myself and Mr. PFL among them. I mean, Mr. PFL maxed out his 401(k) contributions since Day 1 of his first post-college job. I still drive my 2003 Toyota Corolla. Most Americans don’t do these things. I think it is important to realize that these values can lead to an extreme early retirement, which I don’t think I fully appreciated. I do now. And I’m grateful that I didn’t realize how much we “sacrificed” to get here.

Real Estate Education

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A semi-annoying ad followed me through Facebook for the last week or two. It had a picture of Christina from Flip or Flop on HGTV. After signing up for my real estate license classes earlier this week, I signed up to attend a free seminar. I knew that there would be a “catch” or that they would try to sell me something, but I thought I might learn something about flipping houses. So I went. And they did try to get me to sign up for their 3-day class for close to $2,000. They have a company called Success Path. The main benefits, in my opinion, for paying to do the 3-day class were 1) gaining knowledge about a wide range of real estate opportunities and 2) having access to their “preferred lenders” that allegedly will give you up to $500,000 per flip without a credit check.

As I continue to pay for my law degree (a.k.a my student loans), I see the value in spending a few bucks, instead of tens of thousands, on education in a new field. The travel agent class was super cheap; I got my TEFL certification with a Groupon; and I should be able to get my real estate license for less than $1,000. All of these are a minuscule investment compared to a total of eight years of college. And, I’m in the position that, even if I don’t ever make any money from these endeavors, the investment hasn’t hurt our bottom line.

There were quite a few people that signed up for the 3-day class (due to the deep-discount to sign up that day, as opposed to waiting), but there were also a lot of people that didn’t. I do feel that it was worth my time, even though it was basically an extended sales pitch, in that I learned some new things, including that: 1) REO’s (bank-owned properties) are generally great for flips; 2) they believe Central Ohio is in position for a big run-up in real estate prices in the next 3-5 years; 3) adding a rehab-estimate clause as a contingency in an offer is essential for a flip, and; 4) their system teaches never to flip a house unless you’ll clear at least 20% or $20,000, whichever is greater.

One of the factors they stressed, that I firmly believe in, is having Multiple Streams of Income (MSI’s). Part of the 3-day class is to teach basic principles of investing in rental properties. One of the disappointing parts of the seminar for me is that they never once mentioned taxes. While giving examples of the profit on flips, they never cautioned us about how much of it won’t actually make it into our pockets. I know I overly obsess about the issue of taxes, but it is a reality, and it can have a significant impact on the bottom line.

Can I claim that this was a life-altering experience? Absolutely not. But, maybe it was for someone else that attended the seminar. Maybe they are starting their own journey to financial independence.