The favor

Aver dear friend of mine has rentals. She moved a couple hours south of us which was a bit too far to care for the rental she has in our area. The most recent tenant moved out after 5 years and no one came to look at the house while it was for sale for a month. My friend asked if I could show the place for rent and I could keep the first month's rent.

It seemed an easy task as the house is not far from where we live. She called the listing agent to take the lock off the door and give me the key. The agent called and said she had left the key but that the neighbors were out on the street at the time and she feared they had seen her hide it.

She also asked if I was a property manager as she was desperate to find a good one in town. She had the demand if I was interested. I said I would think about it. I will have to look up the qualifications, if there are any. I think finding a good handyman is half the battle for a good property manager. And being a good judge of character. Get the good renters in the first time. But good renters want good houses and I am not sure what I am going to get with this property. It is an interesting neighborhood.  

I took Riley with me since it was after dark and popped down to the house. I had told Riley it would just be a quick stop to get the key so he just threw on his sweats and no shoes for the trip in the car.  The house really isn't that far away from our house but it is amazing how quickly the neighborhoods change quality.

This rental sits almost under a bridge. I counted 12 grocery carts just left to sit kitty corner to the house. A neighbor told me, when I asked what was being done about the carts, a woman comes by every few days and returns the carts to the stores. I wonder if she gets a finders fee. I asked once how much the carts cost. Those carts cost $400 each. The stores probably have someone designated to round them up, or all the homeless people would make a business of stealing them and bringing them back.

It was after 8:00 pm. The sun had set and it was very dark. I had brought a flash light as I thought the power had probably been turned off. I wanted to be able to find the hidden key. It was right where it was supposed to be but I thought I had better do a walk through of the house. I unlocked and opened the door and  the door fell off its hinges. I called out to Riley in the car and flashed my light at him to get his attention. He had to walk over to me in his bare feet. The neighbors across the street, about 5 of them, were hanging out on their front porch watching me, a young crowd enjoying the warmer night without rain. I couldn't make out much more than that in the dark and they didn't have their outside lights on, just standing around in the dark.

It took Riley and me a good thirty minutes to get the door back into its frame and lock it so it would stay in place until I could come back with new bigger, fatter,  longer screws to reattach the hinges to the door jamb.

I swung by Ace in the morning and picked up the screws and made copies of the keys for me to have a spare. I waited until Riley got home from school as I knew this was a two man job. Someone would need to hold the door in place while the other screwed the hing down. Riley commented on our way down to the rental  asking if we were bringing a gun with us for our safety. I told him it was daylight and he was there to protect me. Trev had after school activities, so it was up to Riley to be there with me. I told Riley I would pay him to mow the lawn at the rental, but he declined and said he wanted to spend as little time in that neighborhood as possible.

We got the door fixed. It really needs a new surround, but it will hold for a while. I could have used longer screws but I didn't have a cordless power drill so we had to use a Phillips head screw driver and do it all by hand. Riley and I traded off who was holding the door as both our wrists were soar with twisting.

 Just as we finished the people who were going to view it showed up. Riley watched me in action. These girls did not qualify to rent as one was unemployed and the other only made $1200 a month. The rent would be over half their income. I told them if it was still available when the other woman had a job, they could come back and talk to me. I hope to have it rented sooner than that.

As Riley and I headed back to my car after locking up without incident, A skinny man started to walk towards us. I speed up my pace to the car. The man called out that he was the room mate of the house next door. He was pretty scruffy and missing his four top front teeth. The house next door has piles of discarded furniture and broken bikes in the yard. I had met the neighbor next door at my first visit when my girlfriend took me to the house. He was a nice stout older man. Single guy who doesn't care what his yard looks like. Perhaps a hoarder with his life spilling out into the yard. 

The man with missing teeth asked if I would like the yard mowed or anything done to the house. I had remembered the gutters on this one story vintage cottage needed cleaning. I said I would find out what the owner wanted to do. Honestly, I might pay him to clean up his own yard so I can get this place rented. You don't necessarily want to put up bushes to block views because someone could hide in them. Since Riley didn't want to mow the lawn I probably will have this guy do it. At least then The rental will have someone keeping an eye on it and it wont look neglected.

So I have something to distract me while Tom is gone, and definitely an eye opener for my boys and me, on the choices you make in life and where you can end up with the wrong choices. I just want to hug Tom and tell him how much I love him and appreciate everything he does for us, and the lifestyle he has given us. I miss him terribly.

I am showing the house again this week. It has a lot of interest, but being qualified for the rental price is important. I don't want to have to deal with this house again for a while. I call it Adorable Vintage in my ad, built in 1922. My friend remodeled the bathroom and kitchen. It really is quaint. I tell people the neighbors watch each other, but I don't say they may not be the kind of neighbors you want keeping an eye on you.