webLOGfor.US

Life: 

    Sorry I've been away for so long.  My full time career has been getting in the way of my blogging.  We're up for another re-compete of many positions we have filled around the United States and I've been working on seeing how they are going and writing proposals as needed.  I pulled an all-niter finishing one proposal only to hear of another that should be coming through sometime today.  I needed a stress release so I took a few minutes to browse the Internet, catch up on some news articles I've been putting off reading and figured I should update everyone on what is going on.

    In addition to the re-compete I've been traveling quite a bit lately to prep the customers for what was coming.   I wanted to prepare them and do everything I could to help out before the positions were actually advertised.  Once they are advertised I am no longer allowed to speak to the decision makers.  These are government contracts and I would end up disqualifying my company from the work if I were to have any questionable contact with the decision makers.  It looks like I'll be spending about 2 weeks on the West Coast next month.  Heres to some good weather!

New Tenant in House #1: 

    The new tenant is working out well.  He's honest and keeps me informed of things that go wrong.  For example, while moving in he was backing his car up with the trunk open and hit the outdoor light that is next to the back door.  It ended up cracking the base where the light attached to the metal plate that is affixed to the stone wall.  He wired it up so that you can't tell it was damaged unless you get very close to it.  Actually I had driven past the property twice and never noticed it until he pointed it out to me.  He said he'll fix it and I'll give him a couple more weeks to get it done.  If it is still broken by the time fall comes, I'll go out and buy a new fixture and replace it.  I'll forward the bill for the fixture over to him.  If the fixture was old I probably just let it slide and replace it free of charge but the fixture is about 3 years old.

Existing Tenant in Condo #1:

    I never received the rent from my existing tenant in Condo #1 for August.  This was the first month that the increased rent was due.  The rent increase was just about 5%.  I know he works split shifts and ends up sleeping odd hours.  I've been keeping crazy hours with my travel and proposals so I typed a letter out to him one night and sent it off explaining that I hadn't received the rent payment yet.  I let him know what my schedule was like and that I didn't call because I didn't want to wake him in the middle of his sleep since I know he keeps off hours for work.  I explained what the amount due was and what the late charge was.  I asked him to let me know if the payment was lost in the mail so we could work something out.  The letter was sent out last Wednesday I believe so he should have gotten it by Friday.  

    This tenant has been with me for just about 3 years and has always paid his rent, occasionally falling behind, but catching up quickly  He usually lets me know when he's running behind so this is an unusual circumstance.  The rent is still well below market value for the area which is OK with me because he is a great tenant.  Pair the lack of communication with the fact that this month was the first with a rent increase and it gets me thinking. If I don't get a check by Friday or at least some type of response I'll call on Saturday and pop over with a Pay or Quit notice.  I'll keep you updated.

CISSP Examination:

    Well, the CISSP examination was quite an ordeal and I wasn't sure if I passed.  Turns out I just missed passing.  I received a score of 689 in the CISSP certification test.  700 is the minimum score required for obtaining your CISSP certification.  Coincidentally another person in the class received a 689 also.  I think that is just plain weird.  I've tried doing some research to see if a 689 in the CISSP exam actually means something like I passed the test overall but failed one section but I haven't been able to find anything.   Even though the entire class exchanged emails and a ew of us sent our results out for all to see, only a handful shared the results.  out of the 8 of us that shared the results, 6 passed.  that's a 25% failure rate which actually works out to the percentage of the class that was there the 2nd time taking the test.  Interesting statistic. 

    I want to take the certification test again before I lose too much of this knowledge.  I was planning for the end of September to re-take my CISSP test but that doesn't look like it's going to happen.  With the plan of being on the West Coast for 2 weeks and a mini vacation scheduled in there the second week of September I am booked up.  One good thing though is that I'll be able to get a decent amount of studying done while I am on travel.  There's 4 6 hours plane rides plus the evenings are open while I am away.  No dinner to cook, no family to be responsible for, it could turn out to be a blessing in disguise being away for 2 weeks.  My CISSP certification pursuit continues….

web log for us – those that can multi task…and succeed

    When the tenant initially signed the lease last month he was planning on moving in on 8/1/07.   After signing the lease and giving the deposit he called back asking if he could move in earlier.  Since he gave me the deposit as a cashiers check and he and I use the same bank I was able to deposit and have it in my account the next business day.  First month's rent was paid.

    I met him and gave him the keys.  I also gave him a bill for the early move in for 18 days of rent.  The formula I use to pro-rate rental payments is:

• Monthly Rate * 12 = Yearly Rate
• Yearly Rate\365 = Daily Rate
• Daily Rate * number of days = Balance

    Anyway, all went well and since he had paid the first month's rent prior to moving in I told him he had 30 days to pay the partial month.  I was pleasantly surprised when I returned from my CISSP Boot Camp to find a check in the mail.  

    The check was for more than he owed to me.  He called me after I returned to say he lost the paperwork that listed how much I owed him but he believed the check he wrote covered it.  Needless to say he owes me $57.00 less for September's rent as he overpaid for the 18 extra days.

web log for us – those that look for the best tenants possible for their properties

    Saturday was move in day for the tenant in House #1.  I usually like to pop over when this is happening but I had a trip to Hershey Park planned with family and friends that day so I missed it.  The trip was planned before the move in date and i would have been shot it I canceled.  I wish I had.  

    Let me give a slight description of one part of the house before I get into the tale.  The previous family that lived there had an elderly woman who had a hard time walking up the steps.  This was why they eventually moved.  To help her traverse the steps, there was a wrought iron railing installed on the left wall of the steps.  The rest of the railings were changed tso everything matched.  There is a wrought iron railing on the right side that goes up the steps.  There is also a small landing at the bottom of the steps where there is a turn.  There is a wrought iron set of railings that closes this off and goes down the 3 steps into the living room.

    I get a call that the movers are having a hard time moving an armoire up the steps.  Does the landing railing come off?  Now everything that goes on can come off  but I don't trust movers to be the ones to take of or put something back on correctly.  They aren't contractors….man that was a loaded statement.  Theres a bunch of contractors i wouldn't trust that with with either….but that's a different post.

    I explain that I don't think it does without causing damage.  The tenant explains that he needs to get it off and will pay to get a contractor back in to replace it if he needs to.  I am totally out of the loop as I am about 2.5 hours away at this point in Hershey Park.

    He calls me back about 20 minutes later to let me know that the railing indeed does come off.  It bolts into the floor under the rug and that they had to cut and pull part of the rug away to get to it.  He says that he will get it repaired.  He called because he thought he might have freaked me out with the previous phone call.  He read me well on that one.

    I see two things here.  First, on move out day there is going to be a repair to the rug that needs to be done.  Even if he fixes it now to live in the place, he may not when he leaves as the railing will need to be removed to take the armoire out.  Second thing is that he did call me to check and to try and alleviate my fears.  That's more than most tenants would do.  Needless to say that I will be popping by shortly to see how things are.  My trip to the CISSP training class is getting in the way of me visiting this week.

web log for us – those that trust but verify 

So I've taken a page from some of the other blogs I read to name the properties I have.  So from now on I will number the properties I have.  As of this day there is Condo #1 and House #1.  Here is a description I have for each of the properties.

Condo #1 – This is a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom unit located in Northeast Philly.  It's approximately 820 sq. feet.  Tenant is responsible for all utilities except water.  Water is included in the condo fees.  The unit has forced air heat and central air conditioning.  I provide a dish washer, refrigerator, clothes washer and clothes dryer.  The tenant in this unit has been there for just over 3 years and has just had the rent raised by $35.00 per month as the unit is currently way below market value.  

House #1 – This is a 3 bedroom, 1.5 bathroom house in northeast Philly.  It is one of the typical "row homes" that are prevalent in Philadelphia.  This unit is unique in that it has a breezeway.  That means that there is a break in the center of the block.  This house is basically the end of a row but situated in the middle of the block.  This provides for a slightly larger house than the standard row homes on the block.  It also has more land as there is a side yard and the front lawn extends beyond the side of the property.  Tenant pays for all utilities.  The first $30 of the water bill is included in the rent.  This house has forced air heat and central air conditioning.  This unit has a finished basement with a gas fireplace.  I provide a dish washer, refrigerator and clothes dryer.

web log for us – those that learn from the other blogs we read 

    The vacant house is finally rented.  Friday night I met with the new tenant to sign the lease and collect the deposit for the property.  This unit has been vacant for about 2 months looking for the right tenant.  

    The rental market in Philly is picking up quite nicely and rents have been increasing but I kept running into prospects who did not qualify.  It was either no job or a short time at the current job or a horrible credit score (or a combination of the above).  I try and weed these people out before they come to see the property with my phone interview but I was amazed at the amount of people who came and filled out applications knowing they had this on their background.  I guess they thought I wouldn't check their information out.  They thought wrong.  Since there is a $35 application fee they were basically throwing away their money.  I guess that is part of the tenant mentality.

    As Murphy's Law would have it I ended up getting a few good applicants all at one time so I had my "pick of the litter" so to speak.  I actually went against one of my normal items of "no pets".  I figured it was best because I know that I will need to replace the carpeting in about 2-3 years and I am hoping that these tenants stay that long.  If they do I will just go through the normal replacement schedule as I had planned.  The $600 pet deposit fee will help cover that cost if there is any damage anyway.

    It's times when I have to turn down good applicants like these that I wish I was faster at acquiring properties.  Hopefully this tenant will be a winner.  I'll keep everyone posted as to how it goes.

web log for us – those that have others pay our mortgage for us.