A Week in the Life of Low Income Landlording
Friday, March 06
Last week I did a blog post about the first two months of the year. But it seems like enough has happened in the past week to blog that.Our tenant who went off the deep end last month paid this month, and only one day late. When she called Bruce told her a $30 late fee was due. She says she mi...
Two Months in the Life of Low Income Landlording
Friday, February 27
I would love to report that it has been a very quiet first two months of the year for Fischer Rentals. That is not quite the case. I can report, though, that it has been very manageable.One tenant went off the deep end and hid from us and her father. Her dad is not only a co-signer, but is act...
Book Review: The Rich and the Rest of Us
Friday, February 20
My first non-fiction read for 2015 is a book I heard about on CNN, The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto by Tavis Smiley and Cornel West.The problem:Stagnant wages and increased costs for food, housing, health care, and education contribute to income inequality. 77 percent of American...
Inspired by Paul Allen
Saturday, February 14
Today I’d like to put the spotlight on Paul Allen, a high profile resident of the Pacific Northwest.He is creating a sense of community in Seattle with his investments and philanthropy. He has invested in the Seahawks, both state universities in Washington state, created the unique EMP museum, a...
Maintenance Inspections for Low Income Properties
Friday, February 06
We will be doing a maintenance inspection next weekend. Our philosophy on inspections:Frequency: We don’t have a cut and dried schedule for inspections. At move in we let the tenants know we will do them “periodically”. I keep a spreadsheet of tenant information and one column notes the last ...
01.30.15 - 2014 by the Numbers
Friday, January 30
2014 was our roughest rentals year yet. It looked like one of our units would be negative cash flow. We had 8 move outs, most of them ugly. It felt like things would never let up.With the year complete and work on income taxes beginning, thought it might be interesting to reflect on some of th...