The weekend started pretty well. I finished up a few things in the apartment that I was turning over. The tenants were scheduled to arrive at 12 noon, so I had some time to do a virtual tour and a final once over.
There were also two sliding patio door handles that needed replacement. I had ordered new ones as the locks were broken on the old ones. The new handles had just arrived the night before; I am glad I ordered those 10 days ago, and not 9…
The tenants showed up, and all was well. I had never met them, and they had never seen the apartment before this. On paper they looked great, as in person they did too. I always worry about renting to someone who looks great on paper, and turns out to be a psychopath, or just a real creepy weirdo that scare all of the other people in the building away… I worry also that they were expecting the Taj Mahal and think they are getting a tent.
So, I collected the remaining portion of the security deposit and rent from the new tenants. They told me they already contacted the utility companies to switch the utilities in their name. I loaded the remaining cleaning supplies and tools items that I had at the property into my truck and left. It was a successful Saturday by anyone’s definition.
To make it even more successful, one of my tenants whose lease was up on 4/1 texted me and said he wanted to renew. Perfect!
On Sunday evening, I was at home relaxing and just looking over some blog stuff, HOA stuff, and some financial planning. I got a text from an upper unit tenant that said “Pipe under sink broke and we have a lot of water we are cleaning up. Heads up for the neighbor downstairs in case it leaks through”. Yikes! So goes a day in the life of a landlord.
The tenant said he fixed the pipe and all was well. I told him I would look at it Monday after work. Water is something you never want to leave to chance.
About 10 minutes later, I get a text from a different tenant that said “The washer is not working”. The main common area washer had the entire display panel messages lit up. There was a problem. It is a Maytag front load, coin op machine. The amount is set to $0, so my tenants have a solid washer, and it is free.
In this building, I have a common washer, and a washer in the individual unit. The washer in the unit is a vent-less washer/dryer combo, so it sucks. She also said that that machine was leaking when she tried it. I have been replacing these combo units with ‘real’ machines as tenants move out.
Monday, I did some troubleshooting on the washer, and realized it was probably a computer board, so I called the repair place. The machine has a 5-year parts warranty, so only the labor is at issue. I could have swapped a circuit board with a different washer to do additional troubleshooting, but I am out of time at this point with the things I have in motion, including plowing the coming snow.
I dropped off leases to the tenant’s that wanted to re-sign. I placed my key stickers on the new tenant’s doors. I had a post previously about how I do my keys. I looked at the kitchen sink that was leaking. The plastic pipe had some lose, but the tenant did an OK job of fixing it. I re-tightened it to make sure.
All in the life of a landlord!
Do you manage any property? Have a hectic day with your own house?
