I May Start Freaking Out Tomorrow

Experience tells me I really should be freaking out right about now. But currently I am not.

Grayson Valley is still not rented. I am told it is partially because I am not allowing for pets. Which I am not. I have brand-new flooring in this place. I have an emotional attachment to my new flooring. I told Kirby this and he just politely laughed and muttered something about me being the one to make the decisions.

The house in Waterford came vacant at the end of last month. The tenants moved out because the air conditioning wasn't working right--though it has been fixed (and don't ask me why it wasn't working once again. The house is 10 years old!). And the second reason is there were termites. The house was also treated for termites immediately. I am not convinced there were termites, but I have no reason not to believe the three people who said otherwise. Kirby gave me the punch list of what needed to be fixed for this house. There are a lot of small maintenance items and that surprises me. Don't you think the tenants would have been able to take a screw driver to a door and tighten the hinge themselves in order to make the door close properly? After all, the husband is a mechanic. He probably owns a screwdriver or two.

Hysteria Lane--the home Mario manages--is also coming vacant at the end of this month. The tenant asked for a ridiculous reduction in rent as an enticement to stay. I countered back and suggested she move into Waterford. And, just to make things more tidy, the tenant at Waterford could move into Hysteria. Apparently nobody took me seriously. Mario's people sent me an "action plan" as a way of saying, "yep, we are on this." The action plan cleverly includes staying in touch with the tenant while they are in the process of moving out, conducting a final walk-through and advertising the home for rent. Frankly, they lost me at "staying in touch with the tenant while they are in the process of moving out." When one is in the process of moving, they don't really have time to stay in touch.

Mrs. Roebuck also moved out last week. A long-long time tenant, this home is now vacant. Kirby gets this one this week. In some ways it is easier to turn over a home where a tenant has been living there for a year, than one where a tenant has been living there since the dawn of time. Not looking forward to that punch list.

And then, mix in the impending fact Mr. Partner and Marty Sunshine's company has jumped on the lay-off bandwagon and neither of them expect to be employed there past the summer and you can see where I am coming from. However, I am not hysterical. I am totally zen. Or, I am an ostrich.