Ping's Visit

Ping visited for the day yesterday. Officially, the order of business was to visit our last building that we still own to brainstorm strategy. We closed on the sale of our second building last week. He arrived by bus, and I worked the morning.

We spent some time visiting my newest acquisition. Then we walked up the block to visit our co-owned building. We raked leaves and cleared trash in the front, then raked leaves in the back lower roof as well as the upper roof. The lower roof of this building has several large trees that dump leaves on to the deck and roof every fall. It is a maintenance issue, as the leaves and branches clog the roof drain and result in a pool of water sitting on the roof (never a good idea).

After some physical labor (by our standards), we lunched at Rain, the Chinese place on Lark. We had dim sum. Then, we spent the rest of the afteroon and evening playing poker at Rivers Casino, in Schenctady. I ran into my old boss, who is retired and spends quite a bit of time in the poker room. We took a break from cards and got a drink together to catch up.

Card wise, I endured a long dry spell, but caught some decent cards towards the end and was up a pretty good amount by the end of the night. It was a long but fun day. The only down side was that I missed spending time with the family for dinner and evening. I didn't get home until quite late and the family was all in bed.

Showing a new unit

I had a tenant move out a week ago, after a 7-year stay at our Delaware Avenue duplex. This family had moved in not long after we bought the house, and was the first and only tenant in this apartment. She had three children in the Bethlehem schools, and her youngest is still enrolled in the high school. But she had declined to renew her lease this fall, and after some minor turmoil, moved out on her own accord.

I have been doing a fair amount of renovations at the apartment. Initially, I was thinking of just a minor spiff up consisting of a thorough cleaning of the bathroom, and possibly some painting touchup. But as the work got underway, the renovation scope kept increasing to the point where I am now pretty much repainting the entire interior, replacing a porch door, replacing all the door hardware, reglazing the bathtub, installing new light fixtures all around, and a minor renovation of the bathroom consisting of a new recessed medicine cabinet and a new light. It will be not an insignificant expense, but I think that this will allow me to attract the kind of tenant I am hoping for in this next chapter.

November and December are slow months for looking for a tenant, and in the week and change that I've had this unit listed, I have only had a handful of inquiries. I am resigned to holding on this unit empty until the new year if it comes to that, and not settle for a less than ideal tenant. In the years I have gotten into the landlording business, I have learned that a good tenant is absolutely crucial for success, and in the long scheme of things, having a subpar tenant that is available now is not a good idea.

Today, I had a pretty promising showing. And I have another very promising prospective tenant scheduled for a viewing next Tuesday. If I can get a signed lease (and corresponding security deposit and first month rent) this year, then I will consider this a success even if the new lease doesn't start until January 2019. The money will help to defray the cost of the renovation, but more importantly, I will have a dependable source of cash flow for this asset for the future. I am keeping some Champagne on ice in anticipation.