Beat the Clock

I remembered the advice of Robert Kiyosaki in one of his audiobooks, where he lightly condemned landlords who take too long to make a property rental ready whenever a tenant moves out. I gave Joe Dockers and his crew the job of getting property Chi rental ready and they're doing a great job so far. As good of a job as they are doing, they won't be finished until at least June 1st. I had to find a way to get a tenant interested in the apartment even though it's not done yet.

I decided to take a page from the advertising world and make it seem like a secret Monday madness sale. Here's part of what I wrote: "Special appointments being made for Sunday (5/29) and Monday (5/30) morning while work is still being done. Apartment will be completed May 31st and will "officially" go for rent Wednesday. Get the inside track and make your appointment now!" Sounds cheesy, but it paid off. I had 3 interviews today and have 5 appointments tomorrow.

This also means that I haven't slept for a while. I did the three interviews today, one of whom was a public assistance tenant from one of Sha's properties. Now I'm at work, working from noon to midnight. From here I do a 12am-8am at the bank, then do the 5 interviews from 8:30am til noon. Much to do but, if I can get someone signed before June 1st, that would be a major relief on my bank account. And, with Annie also agreeing to leave tomorrow morning, the clock is ticking to get both apartments rented before Wednesday.

This won't be easy and I know it's a long shot. But Kiyosaki is right. I learned the hard way how important it is to get tenants in as fast as possible after one moves out. I once had an upstairs tenant of property Alpha leave a complete mess when she was forced out. It took 4 months to get that place rental ready, not because there was so much damage (Laurie did much worse), but because I was lazy and didn't see the value in hurrying up. 4 months. 4 months x $850= a $3400 lesson about letting a property go vacant.

So I have to hurry and get these units rented out. In my cautioned haste, I'll never forget the lessons that Laurie and even Annie taught me. If nothing but public assistance people keep applying, I'll wait. I'll wait until I can get people that actually work for a living. I'd rather have the place empty for this month than to go through that hell again.