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How can I Vacation as a Landlord?

beach-641548_1280-PDIt’s been a few days (weeks?) since the last post.  All things are going well, September rent is starting to come in already.  I was out of the area in International Falls, MN for a few days, and did not have much of a cell signal.

I was able to keep in contact with my tenants, although no major issues were encountered.  As I begin the mental (and financial) transition to living on rental income alone, I have started to document the process and thoughts as I go.

While this blog is important to me, it has a lower priority than my real job, or my rental responsibilities.  It’s even lower than my daily 3-mile walks with my dog and girlfriend.  The dog certainly thinks so.  I do try to keep life in perspective, especially over the past year, as my true few ‘free’ hours are often commandeered by another higher priority task with very little notice.  I am slowly getting into the retirement mindset.

Here is how my recent vacation as a landlord went.

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Landlord Work

plumber-35611_1280-PDIt has been a bit busy here.  There has been a lot of landlord work on the rental front that has been taking a bit of time.  I updated the landlord maintenance log, and added times to the chart.

 All My Rentals are Full (for now…)

I was able to take in a pretty decent renter in my vacant apartment in my duplex.  Now that the winter is over, the calls on the rental seem to be exponentially more in volume.  The tenant had lived at her old place for about 10 years, and was ready to move out of the apartment scene.  She was slightly more risk that my original plan, so I went with a month-to-month lease.  Overall, probably less risk than 90% of tenants, but I saw a few things that I would have preferred to have been different.  The fast move in was one red flag, although that was due to procrastination on her part.

So, February and March 2015 will be a 100% full months, that is the first time since July 2014.

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The Best Way to Pay off A Mortgage

paid-160126_1280-PDI am going to pay off one of my mortgages on my rentals this week in additional preparation for Financial Independence and Early Retirement (FIRE). It is non-owner occupied, so a refinance would only drop the interest a little bit, and cost a few thousand to do it.  Here is how I plan to do it, and I think it’s one of the best ways to pay off a mortgage.

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How to Find a Mentor for Financial Advice (or Not)

male-213729_1280-PDI have always been enamored by people that are successful.  I have been to seminars, meet successful people, and sought out ways to ask questions directly to people that from my vantage were successful.  Finding a mentor is key to success at any endeavor in life.  Of course, as I found out, you need the correct mentor-ship to follow.  With the wrong mentor, things can be a disaster… Continue reading “How to Find a Mentor for Financial Advice (or Not)”

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How I turned a Class ‘D’ Apartment Classification complex into a Class ‘B’ complex.

PistolWhen I purchased my first 4-plex, it was in a first ring suburb, in a nice area of town. It was built in 1985. You could throw a rock outside the complex, and hit $300K homes on all sides. By anyone’s definition, this should be a great place.  Unfortunately, the apartment classification was less than to be desired. Continue reading “How I turned a Class ‘D’ Apartment Classification complex into a Class ‘B’ complex.”