Getting Over Myself

Nothing helps me recover from Self Pity Fest 2008 more than action. I suspect this is why my husband lets me have my crazy way more often than he should. Why deal with me and my angst when he can schlep me to the airport, shove me on a plane and tell me to go spend the next five days doing whatever it is will make me feel better (preferably as long as it isn't underfoot making the rest of the family crazy dealing with me).

I am the first to admit I am difficult. And, as I get older, my control issues have become an inch shy of OCD. Ok, maybe not that bad. Maybe.

So, I went to Bama to get an idea of what I was imagining from 1,700 miles away. What I found wasn't terrible. Wasn't great either. It was a mixture of drama coupled with a dose of reality. Because I was pretty dead-on in a lot of my assessments, and I only had a limited Alabama window to handle this in, I was in action.

First there was the house in Leeds that recently became vacant. Bobby the locksmith took two hours to change TWO locks. He knew everything, his opinion was right and he was cheap. But, not two hours cheap. The house was not in great condition, but I have experienced worse. My biggest challenge is--and I mean this in the nicest way--redneck neighbors who are giving my hired help a hard time. And, these same neighbors stole the refrigerator from the back patio one afternoon.

I met with a second locksmith who did not take two hours to change five locks. He did it in record time: 20 minutes. He did spend another 20 giving me his opinion of the current presidential race.

There are also a couple of problem tenants who will soon be someone else's concern. But, I am sure they will come up in a later post.

There were my meetings with two property managers, where I summarily decided I have too many control issues and am too cheap to pay for a property manager. I still might need one. My partner isn't crazy about that solution either. It still may be something to explore.

I did hire former Tenant #2 to handle the clean-up. She has a great decorative eye for things and is already taking charge, Fen Shui-ing the home (Oh the pink wall is bringing in bad energy and have you thought about adding some window boxes with red flowers to the front of the house to make the energy flow better?).

I also hired #1 for several other odd jobs that suit her talents. ("Thanks a stack!" she sweetly said.)

I had lunch with one attorney and her para-legal. I don't think we talked business over our California Pizza Kitchen salads. It was a total girl-friend lunch, and I loved it. It was a perfect stress releiver. I also had a meeting where I ended up giving unsolicited love-life advice to another attorney. Young guy--who I swear wasn't old enough to shave yet. But, he is interested in handling collections. And, I am interested in letting him.

And, I had my dinner date--my only other half-way social event. A great dinner of cheese quesidilla at a little Birmingham pub. This was about 10 minutes after I met with Teresa and I was ready for a wine IV drip. This was with my agent, who has led a facinating life and is just fun to talk to.

The last major item was Operation Mrs. Kravitz--aptly named after the nosey neighbor on the 1970s Bewitched. Mrs. Kravitz always knew what was going on with all the neighbors and that is what I want for a neighbor for any rental. So, like I usually do, I walked around the neighborhood of my latest soon-to-be vacant home, introducing myself, gathering names and numbers of caring neighbors who don't want anyone from Leeds moving in. (For my own safety, I did not do this in the Leeds neighborhood. They weren't terribly friendly there.)

When I got back, I sent a five-page review to my partner, giving him the state of the company. I included all the trivia I gained while on my trip (but I did neglect to mention Teresa the somewhat unusal non-tenant). Let his brain have a bit of information overload for awhile.

I am feeling better.