In the past few years, companies have gotten more attentive to their inventories as a way to cut costs. That may be a good way to control inventory costs, but it is VERY inconvenient and frustrating for the customer.

I've had several incidents lately where I had to make trips to multiple stores to find materials that I needed for my rental business. Earlier this week I was only able to get one scaffold at a local store, but had to drive 30 miles to another town to get a second scaffold. Today, I wanted to buy several miniblinds for one of our new rentals. Unfortunately, WalMart did not have enough miniblinds in stock and I will have to get the remaining miniblinds at Lowes on Monday. Worst of all, I recently wanted to buy some paint for an apartment building. Sherman Williams did not have the paint in stock! Now that's RIDICULOUS! A paint store without enought paint to fill a customer's order!

Except for picking up the miniblinds while I was at Walmart, I didn't do any work today and don't plan on doing any tomorrow either.

This has been a week of real work. I haven't worked this much in months and am not wanting to repeat it anytime soon. One of the things that I really like about owning rental properties is that I typically only work 3-4 hours each day and only normally work 4 days each week.

This week was quite different. We are in the middle of taking over four small apartment buildings. One of the buildings is a duplex which needed painting so that we could get a Section 8 tenant with young children in one side (the other side is already rented). The duplex is huge with sides approximately 25 feet high and 48 feet long.

After working almost 28 hours this week painting, I finally finished this monster today. The duplex is ready to pass the inspection on Monday. I am planning to put up some new miniblinds tomorrow and do a little mulching which will finish the job.

In addition to the painting, I spent another day installing a shower in one of our apartments. All in all, I worked almost enough hours to make it a 40-hour JOB. YUCK! I am very thankful that I don't have to work that many hours every week! Fortunately, that won't be continuing and I should be getting back to my regular 3-4 hour schedule next week. We are also yet to take our first camping trip this year (mainly due to bad weather) and I am anxious to get started.

Another good thing happened today. I found a new Section 8 tenant for one of our vacant 1-bedroom apartments. A good end to a long week!

Have a great weekend!

Let's talk about the good before I confess my mistake.

Today was a beautiful day here in Ohio. Sunny and 65 degrees - nearly a perfect day for painting. So far, I've painted about 3/4 of the new duplex and today I made more progress, completing the lower half (about 13 feet high) of the final side. Tomorrow, I'll get a chance to work on my fear of heights again as I the paint the top 12 feet of this side. Then, all that will be left is to paint some trim and have the Section 8 inspection on Monday.

I returned home from the painting today at about 5pm. My plan was to have dinner and then go for a bike ride with my wife. Unfortunately, nobody told my tenants that I was planning on having a fun evening. Just after dinner, I received a call from the college girls that just moved into one of our 3 bedroom houses. There was a pool of water in the laundry room, which is in the basement. The girls didn't know where the water was coming from, so I told them that I would check it out this evening. On the way to check out the water problem, I received a call from the tenant that received the new shower yesterday. He said the water was not going down the drain. Ugh! That needed to be checked out also!

Fortunately, the pool of water in the girls' house turned out to be a very simple problem. The condensation tube for the air conditioner runs into the washer drain tube. When the previous tenant moved out, she apparently took the condensation tube out of the drain tube and left it hanging in the air. Leak fixed and in record time!

Next, I went to check out the problem with the new shower. This is where the "oops" comes in. It seems that when I installed the new shower, I failed to level the shower floor. The water is pooling to one side of the unlevel shower floor instead of moving toward the center drain. Oops! It looks like a simple fix - putting a shim under one side of the shower base. Although a relatively simple fix, I'll do that another day. The shower is usable and this is no big deal.

That was it for today. No bike ride, but no major problems either.

Spring showers may bring May flowers", but it also really messes up a day of painting. I had planned to do some more painting on my new duplex, but the weather just simply would not cooperate. Therefore, I decided to change my plans and replace a shower in one of our low income apartments.

It seems that nothing is ever easy when it comes to repairs. In this case, the shower floor had cracked. In addition, the shower walls were in marginal condition. It was obvious that the shower was many years old and needed to be replaced. The problem was that the shower was 32" X 32", which is an abnormal size. Lowes had one 32" X 32" shower, but it was $300 and was meant for new construction. After visiting and calling several plumbing and home improvement stores, I finally found a Mustee shower of the proper size. The Mustee shower is a free standing shower that is easy to assemble and exactly the right size and configuration for replacing an existing shower. Best of all, it was only $85 - perfect for a low income apartment!

After 6 hours of work, the water-damaged floor beneath the shower was repaired and the new shower was installed and functioning properly. I also showed one of our vacant apartments to a Section 8 tenant who appears to be serious about taking the apartment. This applicant brought her "Request for Tenancy" form with her and I will fax it along with the rest of the required paperwork to Section 8 in the morning.

Tomorrow, I'm hoping to get back to the painting!

I've spent parts of the past three days painting our new duplex. As you already know, I had hired a painter to do the job, but he didn't follow through with starting on time. I despise working with contractors. They are, almost without exception, long on promises and short on performance.

This is a very tall duplex - I estimate about 25 feet. For someone who doesn't like heights, it has been a challenge reaching the top. To make this job easier, I bought two sets of scaffolding. I buy most of my tools at Lowes, but I was surprised to discover that Lowes didn't have any commercial type scaffolding. I bought mine at TSC (Tractor Supply Company). It was about $180 per section and well worth every penny. I also ordered the safety rails today (about $150). That should make future jobs a little safer.

This is the first time I have ever used scaffolding and I am surprised at how wobbly it is! Ugh! Each section of scaffolding is 6 feet high. So, with two sections, my feet are at 12 feet and I can reach to about 20 feet, which is still about 5 feet from the top of this duplex. I don't think I will feel safe with a third section of scaffolding, so I bought a special brush holder today that can be placed on an extension pole. The brush holder will tilt to any angle and does a good job. It cost about $13 at Lowes.

So far, I've spent about 16 hours painting this duplex. I have completed the front, back, and one side of the house. I probably have about another 12 hours to go including the trim. I saved about $1,000 by doing the job myself. That means that I made about $35 per hour for painting this house. Not great money, but $1,000 here and $1,000 there could add up to real money.

I'm hoping to get this job finished by the end of the week so that we can get the Section 8 inspection completed early next week and get the new tenant moved in.

More of the glamorous life of a landlord! Where is that yacht when I need it?

The only thing that is constant when you own a business is CHAOS! If you read my blog from yesterday, you know that I had hired a professional painter to paint one of our new buildings. The painter said that he would start either today (Sunday) or Monday. Well, this morning I got a call from the painter who made a lame excuse for why he couldn't start on the project as agreed. He wouldn't commit to a certain start date and asked if I had someone else that could do the project because he "didn't want to hold me up." It doesn't take a brain surgeon to understand that he didn't really want to do the job. I told him to forget it!

I will now be spending my Sunday afternoon painting.

I normally do all the rehab and maintenance work myself. Due to the fact that I needed this project done right away, I was going to hire someone to do it. Lesson re-learned! It is almost always easier, faster, and cheaper to do the job yourself than to deal with IDIOTS!!!

By the way, I have the perfect solution to the immigration problem. Why don't we legalize immigration from Mexico and deport the same number of useless, lazy Americans?

Got to go. That building isn't painting itself.

If you've been following my blog, you know that we're taking over four buildings effective April 1. One of these buildings is a large duplex. This is a side by side duplex with one side currently rented. Obviously, it would be better for me if both sides were rented when I take possession of the building. To that end, I have been working in conjunction with the current owner to find a suitable tenant. After a lot of effort, we finally found a Section 8 tenant for the vacant half and have gotten a non-refundable deposit from her. The Section 8 inspector came out and would not pass the duplex unless the exterior was painted because he felt that the paint was in marginal condition. Although I normally would do the painting myself, the paint needs to be finished ASAP so that we can get the new tenant moved-in and started paying rent.

Therefore, I contacted several painters and got bids from $1,500 to $5,000 to paint the duplex. One of the painters expressed a strong desire to do additional work for me and was willing to do this first one for $1,000 (labor only). If he does a good job, I will let him paint at least one of the other newly acquired buildings. He will either start tomorrow or Monday at the latest, which should allow us to be done and get the tenant moved-in by the 1st.

In addition to talking to the painter, I also had to go to one of my apartment buildings today to check out a smoke alarm that was reported to be sounding in the basement by one of the tenants. The basement is all brick including the floors. It is my experience that in these damp basements, smoke alarms often fail and sound a constant alarm when they do. The alarm was indeed defective and I replaced it with a new one.

While I was in town, I also showed one of our vacant apartments to a potential tenant. After my trip in town, I spent some time riding bicycles with my wife. It's been a long cold winter here in Ohio and we're both out of shape! My goal is to start getting some serious exercise every day and with spring finally arriving, I think that is certainly a goal that can be accomplished!

That was about it for today. Tomorrow is Sunday, so I'm planning to take the day off. Have a great weekend!

Pig Sty - the definition of "pig sty" is "an enclosure for pigs" or "a filthy place." My adventure today was in just such a pig sty. However, this enclosure wasn't for pigs, it was for a particular Section 8 tenant, who keeps her place in a condition that isn't fit for pigs. This tenant has lived in this apartment for many years and her choice is to live in filthy conditions. She has two dogs and there is constantly dog feces on the floor. She is a packrat and the place is filled to the rafters with junk. Despite my repeated requests, she simply will not keep the place clean.

Section 8 has no problem with the filthy conditions. A tenant apparently has the right to be filthy. However, they do not have the right to have sagging ceiling tiles. Therefore, I spent a couple of hours today wiring up sagging ceiling tiles and replacing damaged ceiling tiles. Due to the constant smoking in the apartment, the ceiling looked like a jigsaw puzzle when I was finished. Several brand new white ceiling tiles mixed in with a bunch of dark, dingy, smoke-stained tiles. I would be happy to change all the tiles and really improve the apartment if the tenant would just keep the place clean!

That's it for today! Pig Sty with a beautiful jigsaw ceiling!

Good things happened today. Our dog had an ultrasound today and was diagnosed with Cushing's Disease. Although this is a serious disease, it is not nearly as bad as things could have been. In fact, it was about the best we could have hoped for.

The dog's tests didn't take as long as expected and I got home about noon. Shortly thereafter, I went to town to work on our 3 bedroom house that is already rented for April. I steam-cleaned the carpet for the third and final time; did some painting; installed a bunch of lightbulbs; filled nail holes; and mopped the kitchen floor. DONE!

About 4pm, the new tenant came by to pay the April rent and pick up the keys. We completed all the appropriate forms and this house is done!

Not bad for a day that I was expecting to take off.

I had fully intended to clean the brush out of the back yard of one of our rentals today, but that just didn't happen.

We have a Peachtree Patio Door at the back of my house (my personal residence). The handle has been broken for the past couple of months. Since it has been so cold, I have been waiting to fix it until the weather warmed up. Today, it was 75 degrees and it is expected to be warm the rest of the week. We like to grill out frequently when the weather is suitable and therefore need that door (which leads to the deck) to work. Therefore, this morning seemed like the perfect time to work on it.

If you've never had one of those Peachtree Patio Doors - don't rush out and buy one. This is the second time in 15 years that I've had to repair that door and that seems excessive to me. At any rate, the door latch mechanism is badly broken and will have to be replaced. The door is quite complicated and requires quite an effort to disassemble. It was nearly noon by the time I got it taken apart and was ready to take it to the local parts supplier for Peachtree.

By noon, it was sunny and in the 60's, so I decided to take the rest of the day off. I rode my motorcycle into town to order the parts for the door. I took some country roads home, which made for a very enjoyable ride. I then decided to change the oil in the motorcycle, so I rode my motorcycle into town to get the filter and oil. After changing the oil, I felt obligated to take another ride to check for leaks (yeah right). So, I took another motorcycle ride through a local state park. I made it back home for supper and then decided to go back to the state park for a bicycle ride before sunset. All in all, it was a very nice day.

I'll be taking tomorrow off also. My dog (who is like a member of the family) has an enlarged liver and must go to the big city of Columbus to see a specialist and have some tests done. That will take a big part or all of the day, so I'm not expecting to do any real estate related stuff tomorrow.

To me, this flexibility and freedom is the best thing about operating rental properties. I really like the ability to set my own schedule and take a lot of time off.

Today was a very good day. I finished rehabbing the apartment I have been working on. I installed a ceiling light, repaired a cabinet door, put glazing on a window, and installed a new toilet handle. DONE!

Next, I had a meeting with the owner of the 4 apartment buildings we're taking over. We're "buying" these buildings using a unique lease option. The "unique" part is that the option price will be fully amortized over 30 years, just as if we were buying it directly. In other words, our price gets lower exactly as if this were being financed by a bank. The owner is tired of dealing with tenants and quite anxious to get rid of these buildings, thus the good purchase terms.

Finally, I got home in time ride my new V-Star motorcycle. It was a great day for a ride and a great day overall.

I'm still looking for another property to buy. I have looked at several properties; attended two auctions; and been actively hunting a property to buy. I looked at another house today. It is a 4 bedroom, 2 bath house with a 1 car detached garage. The house is in very good condition and only needs cosmetic work. It is a REO and is being offered at $37,500. It is a fair deal at that price, but would be a great deal at about $30,000.

There is currently a big demand for 3-4 bedroom rental houses in our area. I will probably make an offer on this property tomorrow. Normally, I would have made an immediate offer on this property. However, the housing market is very fragile and I am expecting (and starting to see) an avalanche of foreclosed properties hit the market. I believe that it is critical that each property is bought at a Huge discount. This particular property has a retail value of about $80,000 and will only require about $5,000 in rehab to be in retail condition. This property will rent for $700 per month.

I also found a 2 bedroom, 1 bath house that is being offered for $24,900. This is also a REO and I will look at it tomorrow. It would be a GREAT deal at something less than $20,000.

Tomorrow, we are finalizing the deal on the 4 apartment buildings that we are taking over at the end of the month. The owner is coming over and we will finalize the details. This deal will add another 10 units to my portfolio.

Today, I worked for about 3 hours on one of our rentals. I did some general painting and am hoping to finish with this unit tomorrow.

Summer (or at least spring) is scheduled to return to Ohio this week. We are planning a 3-4 day camping trip later this week. With temperatures returning to the 60's and 70's, I'm looking forward to getting out of town. I've got a lot of work to do this week to prepare for our trip. I need to de-winterize the motorhome; get the motorhome restocked with food; check the oil/water/and fluids in the motorhome; change oil in my motorcycle; and much more. It is going to be a busy week. The sun is scheduled to start shining tomorrow!

It seems that all of my problems this month are focused on a single apartment building. A few days ago, I received a call that an angry boyfriend had thrown a brick through one of my tenant's windows. Of course, this is the responsibility of the tenant. She will either have it fixed by the beginning of the month or I will evict her.

Last evening, I got a call from one of my tenants in the same building. He complained of a gas smell. After asking him a few questions, he said that he had smelled the gas a few days before also. This tenant is a mental health patient who is paranoid-schizophrenic. He often thinks people are after him and calls me to see if people have complained about him.

Obviously, I couldn't ignore the possibility that there was a gas leak, so I went down to the building to investigate. I entered the tenant's apartment and didn't smell any gas. The tenant said that he thought the gas smell was coming from the adjacent apartment. I entered the adjacent apartment and again found no smell at all. I also checked that the stove and all other gas sources were off. When I told the tenant that there was no gas smell, he stated that he had a bad cold - he couldn't smell anything at all! Ughhh! I honestly wondered if he was taking his medication and now wish that I had asked him.

I rarely get called out for these after hours maintenance issues and I'm glad that this was a false alarm.

Tomorrow, we are going to look at another house that I discovered for sale. There is a tremendous demand for 3 bedroom rentals right now and I'm hoping to add another one to our portfolio. All of mine are currently rented.

My wife and I were hoping to start our spring fun with a 3-day camping trip this weekend. Unfortunately, mother nature decided to spoil our weekend with the return of winter. Kind of a gray ending to a gray week.

After my 26 hour marathon of tax preparation fun earlier this week, I really haven't accomplished much. Yesterday, I worked for about 3 hours on one of my apartments and showed a couple of apartments to a potential tenant. (Boring!) Who said real estate investing was exciting?

Last night, my wife and I went to see the movie "Premonition." It was an OK movie, but not nearly as good as Wild Hogs, which we saw the week before. We will definitely be buying Wild Hogs when it comes out on DVD!

Today, after lunch, I'm going to go do a little more work on one of our vacant apartments. There is a little painting to do and I need to install a new Flushmaster Valve in the toilet. I'm planning to work for about 3 hours and then call it a weekend. The weather is COLD and miserable today and therefore I won't be able to go biking or have any other outside fun. Fortunately, with my rental business, I can set my own schedule. If the weather improves, we might go camping this week! I'm anxious to get out and enjoy some good weather! C'mon Spring!

Have a good weekend.

My appointment with my CPA was Wednesday (yesterday) at 9am. I had already completed entering the tax info for several of my rental property companies and only had two to go when I started working on Tuesday morning at 6am. All I really had remaining to do was put all the info into Quickbooks Pro so that it would be ready for the accountant. Unfortunately, I didn't realize quite how much data was left to enter. One of the checkbooks had over 400 checks to enter.

I worked and worked and worked on these companies. It wasn't until 9pm that I got one of the companies finally done. By that time, I knew that it was going to be a very long day. I continued to work on the second company and at about 2:30 am had it done. By this time, I had been working over 20 hours. I started gathering all of the company folders in preparation for the trip to the accountant the next morning. Then it dawned on me that I had forgotten a company. I was tired and ready to go to bed, but I was determined to finish my taxes and have it done. So, I started working on the last company and finally finished at 8am, a full hour before I had to be at the accountant's office. I had worked 26 straight hours and had pulled my first all-nighter since college, many years before.

You may be wondering why I have so many different companies. The answer is that we have the rental properties divided into different LLC's for asset protection purposes. With several dozen rentals, we try to divide them into companies with no more than 10 rentals each. Therefore, it takes several entities to do the job.

I spent about 2 hours with the accountant yesterday and then took the rest of the day off. After working 26 straight hours, I was quite tired and needed a break.

Today, I worked on cleaning one of our vacant apartments and got caught up on my e-mail. Nothing too exciting!

Well, I've been working all day on the bookkeeping for my rental property businesses. It is now 11pm and I've still got 200 checks to enter before I can quit. I HATE TAX SEASON! I HATE TAX SEASON! I HATE TAX SEASON! You get the idea.

My appointment with the accountant is tomorrow morning at 9am. I am going to get this done tonight (early tomorrow morning) so that I'll be done for this year. The good news is that I've set up a very good accounting system with Quickbooks Pro. Once we're finished, well have a lot of valuable information about my rental property businesses.

After having a great week and weekend, this week didn't start with a lot of fun.

It is almost always bad news to get a call from a low-income tenant before noon. Why? Because the reality is that most low income tenants don't work and many sleep-in until late in the morning. In fact, I almost never get calls from tenants in the morning.

This morning I received a call from one of my tenants at about 8 am. The tenant said that someone threw a brick through the picture window of her daughter's apartment. The daughter is another of my tenants. It seems that the daughter had kicked out one of her many shack-up boyfriends and he decided to retaliate by throwing a brick through the window. The boyfriend was arrested. The tenant had her mother call so that I wouldn't drive by and discover the broken window (which would not have been pleasant for the tenant).

My lease says that the tenant is responsible for all glass breakage, so she will either fix it or be evicted.

I spent the rest of the day working on taxes. I do all my own bookkeeping, so I must put everything into Quickbooks before I visit the accountant. My properties are divided into different companies. I finally got all but one of the companies done. I will do whatever it takes to finish that company tomorrow as I am scheduled to see the accountant Wednesday morning.

Although I really like the freedom that the rental property business provides, not everyday is sunshine. Today was a little cloudy!

We had a great weekend! I started the weekend yesterday by steam-cleaning the carpets in one of my 3 bedroom houses for the second time. I am always surprised at the amount of dirt and filth some tenants cause. This carpet is only a couple of years old, but really looks bad. Even though I have now steam-cleaned this twice, the waste water is still coming out black. Fortunately, the carpet is looking better and I think that one more steam cleaning may well do the job.

After cleaning the carpets, my wife and I took a bicycle ride on a local bike path.

Today, we started the day by going snowboarding (for the last time this year). It was a beautiful day for spring skiing. The skies were sunny and the temperature was nearly 60 degrees. The resort was almost deserted and we enjoyed having the place to ourselves.

I only recently learned to snowboard. I had two goals for my snowboarding this year. The first goal was to learn to snowboard "goofy", which means boarding with the non-dominate foot first. My second goal was to learn to do basic jumps in the terrain park. I was very happy to have achieved both goals this year.

To end the weekend, my wife and I rode my new motorcycle to Church this evening for our small group meeting. One of the other members of our small group is a biker and I am looking forward to doing some short trips with my friend.

All in all, it was nearly a perfect weekend!

I am often asked what I like about the rental property business. Of course, I like receiving the monthly cash flow and building wealth. However the number one thing I like about the rental property business is FREEDOM! The Freedom to be free from a 9-5 job. The Freedom to set my own schedule. The Freedom to make as much money as I desire (if I want more money, I simply need more rentals). Freedom is very important to me.

To see what I mean, here is a synopsis of my week:

Monday, I went to a real estate auction and then worked all afternoon fixing a clogged main sewer line in one of our single family houses. That is the glamorous part of real estate investing!

Tuesday, I worked about 3 hours on one of our apartments.

Wednesday, I attended the Sheriff's Sale/Tax Sale in the morning. Didn't buy a single property at either auction because all 10 of the properties sold at a higher price than I would pay. Just after the sale, I got a return call from a guy that was selling his motorcycle. I had seen his ad on the internet the day before and thought this was an absolute steal. I took the rest of the day off on Wednesday to go buy the motorcycle.

Thursday morning, I spent about 3 hours steam cleaning the carpets in one of our houses and meeting potential tenants at the same house. Four college kids came to look at it and did rent it. I took the afternoon off to go play with my new toy (motorcycle).

Friday was the first day of spring in Ohio. After several weeks of TERRIBLE weather, it was sunny and 61 degrees!!! I took the entire day off. My wife and I rode our bicycles in the morning and then spent the entire afternoon riding my new motorcycle. What a GREAT DAY!

Today, Saturday, I'm planning to spend about 3 hours this afternoon working on one of our rentals. If it doesn't rain, I'm going to work on overgrown brush in the back yard. If it does rain, I need to do a second steam cleaning of the carpets.

Next week, my wife and I are planning to go camping 3 days, weather permitting. My plan is to work 3-4 hours on maintenance and cleaning projects four days next week. Then, we'll take the 3 days off for our camping trip.

The rental business really boils down to this: the tenants tear up the rentals and the landlord fixes them up. With several dozen rentals, it takes me about 12 to 16 hours each week to keep up with the maintenance/cleanup/painting, etc. Obviously, this is work that must be done. However, when I do the work is up to me. I could work two 6-8 hour days and take the other 5 days off. I could work six 2-3 hour days and take the vast majority of every day off, or I could choose to work four 3-4 hour days each week (which is what I normally do). I could also choose to work four 6-8 hour days one week and take the next 10 days off. It is my choice!

Do you see what I love about the rental property business?

Well, first the bad news. I attended the Sheriff Sales Auction yesterday where I was interested in buying five of the properties, four of which were tax sale properties. Since tax sales are not normally part of the Sheriff Sale Process, this auction attracted a LOT of attention. Unfortunately, all of these auction attendees bid up the prices far beyond anything that I would pay. Therefore, between the auctions on Monday and yesterday, I am batting zero!

I am still considering the mobile home on a nice lot for $20,000. It will make a great rental, but will require cash. I hate to spend so much cash on a single deal, so I'm still considering it.

Now, for the exciting news (with a real estate lesson). I learned to ride a motorcycle last summer. At that time, I bought a 1979 Honda CX500. It is a great bike for learning to ride, but wasn't really what I wanted. Like many others, I wanted a HARLEY! Recently, I decided to buy a new bike for this year and started looking. I looked at all the new motorcycles, especially the Harleys. However, after looking at all of the bikes, I decided that I thought the Yamaha VStar was the best looking bike. The good news about that is the price BRAND NEW is only about $7,000 for the 650cc. model. I was about ready to buy a new one, but decided to apply the same technique that I use for real estate purchases to look for a bike. I looked and looked and finally found a 2000 model year VStar with only 3,900 miles for only $3,500! Best of all, it had many extras and looks "showroom" new. The moral of the story is that patience and hard work pay off, whether looking for motorcycles or buying rental property! Her she is... (click to enlarge)

Well, I went to the auction today hoping to get a good deal on some properties. Five different properties were auctioned off, and every one of them went for more than I was willing to pay. Sometimes you win and sometimes you don't. However, in this case I won because I did not overpay for a property. I would rather not own a property than to own a rental that loses money! I still have 6 more properties that we're looking at this week and I should know about all of them by Wednesday. I'll keep you posted.

After the auction, I went to finish working on the wet basement issue from yesterday. As it turned out, the main sewer line was clogged. I tried using a hand operated snake to no avail. In the past, everytime this happens, I have called a plumber to fix it. However, I'm getting tired of spending $120 to $175 to have these clogged lines fixed. Therefore, I decided to buy a powered snake. I looked at the local plumbing supply store and at Lowes. Lowes had a 100 foot powered snake for $397, which was about the same price as the 50 foot snake at the plumbing supply house. I was surprised at the weight of this machine. It must weigh 60 or 70 pounds.

I had a little bit of luck at Lowes today. As turned out, today was commercial customer appreciation day. That means that commercial customers get a 10% discount when using thier Lowes card. Good Deal!

I have been so busy the last 2 days that I simply haven't had time to post a blog. I've been looking at (and doing our due diligence on) the 11 properties that we will be considering in the next 3 days. Tomorrow is the auction for the 1st five properties. This is an absolute auction, so the results will simply depend on who shows up. Obviously, I'm hoping that I will be the only one to show up. If so, I'll be the proud owner of all 5 properties for a total of FIVE DOLLARS! Dream on! At any rate, we'll either get them dirt cheap or we won't buy them! I'll give you the details and the results tomorrow night.

In addition to looking at all of these properties, I have also finished collecting the rent! Did I mention that I like collecting the rent? I DO! In fact, I look forward to the first of every month because that's PAYDAY when you're a rental property owner. Everybody paid this month with no late fees and no evictions. It was a good month.

I did a little rare maintenance today. My rule is not to work on Sunday but today I didn't really have a choice. After church, I received a call from a tenant who had about 3 inches of water in the basement. I pumped the water out and looked into the problem. Apparently, the main sewer line is partially plugged which is causing a backup when a lot of water is used. I did a temporary repair today and will have to finish the job after the auction tomorrow.

That's about it for today. I'm looking forward to tomorrow! Hoping to buy a couple of properties tomorrow!

Things have absolutely exploded around here! I am now looking at 11 total properties, and that's in addition to the 4 apartment buildings that we're acquiring at the end of the month. That's the way it seems to work with real estate investing. All of a sudden, a bunch of potential deals fall in your lap that weren't there yesterday. Even though all of these deals could be great deals, I don't yet know whether any or all of these deals will occur. The good news is that I'll know about all of them by next Wednesday.

However, I do know that I can't do all of these deals simultaneously. Because of that, I've already called a relative who is also an investor. This relative has a bigger rental operation than I do and could take some of these deals if several look good.

This is the greatest number of serious deals that I've had on the line at one time. About a year ago, I had 5 deals all come together at once. They were simply too much for me to do at the same time, and I ended up wholesaling two of them to other investors. If more than 2 or 3 of these deals actually occur, we'll probably wholesale some of them this time also. That would be great for me, because it would provide some extra cash for the deals that we do keep.

Not only was there a lot of excitement today with all these deals, but today was one of my favorite days - RENT DAY. Starting today, and for the next 3 days, I will be collecting the rents and making several trips to the bank. About half of my portfolio are low income tenants who pay with cash. I try not to carry a lot of cash around, so I make a trip to the bank at least once each day.

Tomorrow, more rent will be collected and I'll also be looking at more of those 11 deals. I will be taking pictures of each property to e-mail to my relative so that we can come up with a strategy for all of these properties. I'll keep you posted on our progress!