I have slacked. I started out last week pretty well and even wrote something on a Wednesday. Then I fizzled out.

The HELOC process is proving to be a pain. We have Trust paperwork that we have to fill-out and get notarized. I have to explain a repair from 2020. I’m leaving for a vacation with some friends Thursday through Sunday, so not much will be getting done.

The guinea pig tenants are out. My wife and I visited the property on Saturday. It stunk like rodents inside the unit. There were a lot of patches on the walls. The dryer filter was dangerously full. They were just gross people. The floors were in pretty good shape. My wife wasn’t too pleased with the condition but she is somewhat of a newbie when it comes to being a landlady. We hired a handyman to clear the yard of trash, weeds, etc ($2,000). He is also going to paint the inside of the unit Swiss Coffee. Labor and preparation ($2,500). We are looking into xeriscaping (I googled “zero scaping” lol) the yard because water is expensive. I have to visit the property today and pay for the services. I would also like to buy a coin-op laundry station to offset costs.

As for our upcoming vacancy at our triplex where we live, I have increased the rent $100 to $2700/month. It has definitely slowed down the number of inquiries but ours is the only unit on the better side of a main thoroughfare and is close to the action. There is another 1/1 further south of ours, but it bigger and has a small yard. We will see.