Lost! - Lord Protector

Closing in on...closing

ken@rustbelt.com (Keng) — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 18:05:00 -0700

I'm exhausted with the process of closing. I took off for Chicago for a few days to get away from it all. On Thursday, I geared up to close the deal by hiring a contractor to install a fence as required by the city's planning department. I thought I was finished...but on Friday, the mortgage officer tipped me off on additional paperwork needed to document my divorce settlement. That warranted a trip to Cleveland.

Although the seller is required to handle certain things per our agreement, I'm also finding that I need to take care of them if there's going to be a deal at the end of the week. I bagged a ton of rubbish from the bag yard (I think that this property was used as a neighborhood dump for a while) that included a car gas tank, car battery, a couple of coats, loads of branches, railroad ties...and I had someone haul it out. Today was spent in the yard repairing the "trip hazard" caused by the upheaval in my front walk. Sure...the seller is supposed to do this, too...along with removing the vines growing under the aluminum siding.

I've also been working on planting the recently bulldozed backyard with perennials and weeding the front yard. I'm exhausted....Pepperint is dropping by later tonight...

I'm exhausted...

Landlord Step 2

ken@rustbelt.com (Keng) — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 01:01:00 -0700

The work crew is in the backyard digging away so that the property will meet with the zoning code for a multi-unit. ICK:

In order for the mortgage to go through, this property must meet proper zoning. Since the property was once vacant in the 1990s, the current owner was supposed to bring the property up to code. The current zoning law requires that multiunits must have a paved parking lot. Although the lot is big, the concrete slab is still going to dominate the yard: my parking lot will be 30' x 50' I hate concrete.

The process is ugly as well. There's a ten-foot pile of dirt on top of my daffodils. The Bobcat is leaving tracks all over the yard. I'll still be stuck with a ton of gravel (figuratively speaking; I don't really know how much) spread all over the back yard.

Right now, the excavator has bulldozed the area, laid a drain, and has started to grade the area with gravel from the old driveway. He has already pulled the permits, surveyed the lot and also started to install the forms for the concrete. He is also going to leave behind a 4' wide gravel path to the driveway. I'd like to install either a brick or stone walkway, but this is a couple of years off, probably. Reusing the railroad ties would be an idea, but I suspect that they would be slick in wet weather.

My gut tells me that the seller never got this work done in the past because he's a gardener, too. He dropped by last night to show me the various plantings in the front yard. I've been fighting a cold, so I'll need to ask him about it all again later. He's been super towards me, so I don't think that asking later will be problematic.

Still no tenants. The people in the two-family next door were all told on Monday night to leave. Someone just bought the place and has different plans. I tried to get one couple to lease here, but I suspect the units upstairs will be a bit small for them...I had wanted to buy that place, convert it to a single family and flip it, but since I'm not a real estate mogul with deep pockets, I opted for this place as a long-term investment. No regrets; just wish I had had a chance to jump on both places.

Moving Season

ken@rustbelt.com (Keng) — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 08:30:00 -0700

I'm picking up keys today. I start moving stuff into the new (building? house? studio? palazzo? maisonette?) starting today. I hope that I can get the other two units rented out soon.

My day job has been filthy busy, hence my lack of updates here. How I'm going to swing a move in with everything else has helped contributed to the ongoing headache I've had for the last two weeks. Despite the stress of everything that's going on, I have a smile on my face.

Buying a business...

ken@rustbelt.com (Keng) — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 15:25:01 -0700

Signed mortgage papers this morning for over an hour and a half. Established phone and DSL service in the new house (dang! the phone number is going to change). I've been looking for the landlord, but I think he's avoiding me since I called last night to tell him that I'm giving notice. I have a rent check and written notice that I'm leaving. Inspection on Friday...appraisal on Monday. I could have a mortgage as soon as Wednesday, if I'm lucky...

I'm nervous that the repairs that the seller needs to make will not be completed on time (paving a parking lot in back). I also hope that he's able to get some tenants soon...

Taxes Suck.

ken@rustbelt.com (Keng) — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 22:45:37 -0700

Taxes rile everyone roughly this time of year and usually they irritate most self-employed people even more since we have more forms to fill out and more taxes to pay to compensate for the lack of employer-shares of certain taxes (like social security).

I'm under the gun to complete the 2005 taxes ASAP because the mortgage lender uses tax returns in lieu of conventional pay stubs. I could claim that I made $20 million last year, but then I'd better be prepared to pay the taxes on it if I want a mortgage commensurate with such an income.

2003's taxes were a bear because I hadn't filled out a tax form in something like ten years. Last year's taxes weren't too bad and I was eligible for a federal refund. I use an online service to prepare my taxes and I'd swear that they were easier last year. At one point, I owed $3300 to the feds, added my daughter as a dependent, found that I owed $440 instead and a few clicks later somehow ended up owing $1300. I've been reviewing page after page of CRAP all night. Can I claim depreciation for business use of my home if I live in an apartment? Just what the hell is depreciation in real life anyhow?

I'd rather be editing Toledo right now...did I mention that my large 3'x4' light table will fit through the door of the new place? Currently its used as a hamster display table at a former residence with a former spouse. It will really be nice to be reunited with that...

Just call me Lord...

ken@rustbelt.com (Keng) — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 08:25:25 -0700

In 1645, Oliver Cromwell led the Puritan Roundheads to victory over the royalist Cavaliers during the English Civil War. This victory initiated an era called the Long Parliament, the beheading of King Charles I, and one of the coolest titles ever bestowed upon a leader (Cromwell himself): Lord Protector.

Barring any unforeseen exigency, I will be signing lots of papers today that will commence the process of buying a home. In my case, a three-unit rental property of which I will claim one space of my own to live in.

Self-employment can be a real joy, but sometimes it leads to real anxiety. There have been several times where my monthly income from clients amounted to nothing (which is really irksome when you're swamped with work!). There have been several instances where my monthly income was $500. In those cases, I generally have to survive off of a stash of reserves which every business maintains. I pay myself a monthly draw from those reserves which helps even out my cash flow, but I frequently have lingering phobias about the upcoming months.

Enter the Lord. By maintaining a rental property, I am, in essence, buying another business to tide me over in lean times. I've created a separate category for these specific misadventures...enjoy what will surely become the Property Management Blog...(what next? The Joy of Accounting Blog?)