Today was supposed to be the day my mom Rita was coming over to visit. She called me a couple days ago to say she wasn't going to make it due to an unforeseen complication. At first I was relieved that I didn't have to squire her around town. I miss her, but I'd rather see her on my terms not hers. I only like people visiting me when I feel comfortable in my own situation, and right now isn't a good time. My relief changed quickly to disappointment when I realized the two fold problem her absence causes.
The first issue is with her not seeing property Chi. Joe Dockers has done an excellent job rehabbing Chi and it's about a day or two away from being rental ready. I wanted her to see the work that's being done and the property itself, and to see what it really means to be an investor. She's one of those investors that throw money at something and expects her coin to multiply easily. Investing isn't like that, and seeing property Chi as it is right now would have been the first step to Rita treating this like a real investment. She would understand her property more and wouldn't second guess me as much when I tell her that a problem needs fixing.
The second, and more problematic, issue with her not coming is money. Her "unforeseen complication" is going to cost her money. It will cost her the money that I wanted her to use to help me fix her roof. I was going to ask her to put in $1000 of the $2500 it's going to cost to fix the roof. Now I may have to wait until she's finished with her "complication" before I get that money back, and who knows how long that will take?! So I'll be forced to cover the full charge of the roof until she can pay me back. After doing the math it looks as if I may be able to take the $2500 hit, but it leaves my account dangerously low for a while.
A large part of me wishes that Rita had never invested in Smalltown. I've always tried to heed the warnings about families getting into each other's business, especially when it comes to parent/child partnerships. I can't even call this a partnership, as it's me spending my money and her collecting money. A small part of me, however, appreciates the fact that these mistakes didn't happen with any of my properties. Managing property Chi has taught me so much about real estate maintenance and the do's and don'ts. The lessons I've learned there have helped me prevent similar issues from happening at properties Alpha and Beta. It's the way I have to look at the situation. Putting the horror story that is property Chi into a lesson-learning, experience-building perspective is the only thing stopping me from blowing it up and giving Rita the insurance money.
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