Our first "emergency"...

Saturday early afternoon, one of our tenants knocked on our door. A pipe in the garage was leaking all over her car. Neal and I went down to investigate and, sure thing, one of the sewer branch pipe that heads towards the street was dripping from the end cap.

LANDLORDS MOBILIZE!! We called AP Plumbing - the guys we would always call at our old place (who would bill our landlord) - and Tony was able to come by a couple hours later.

 

After taking off the end cap and letting all the water drain out,  Tony discovered a blockage in the pipe. Using an incredibly scary rooter machine, Tony and his guy basically raped our pipe, got out whatever gunk was blocking it and put a new end cap on it. Problem solved...until we have to replace that pipe sometimes in the next month or so to keep it from happening again.

It wasn't a particularly cheap fix, but he did it on a weekend, pretty much right away. We got to tell our tenants that the problem was fixed within only a couple hours. GO LANDLORDS!

However, only hours later, while doing our first load of laundry in our half done kitchen, the washing machine went bananas. Rattled and walked itself out of the nook, and somehow wedged itself between the brand new fridge and the freshly painted wall, while shaking the entire house like an earthquake. Oh man, this will not do. Imagine running downstairs to see a double stacked washer/dryer shaking like a paint mixer on your brand new wood floors. Freaky.

 
Neal did some research and we think there's some bolt they put on for transportation that wasn't removed during install...if it's not that, this could be a big problem. Stay tuned.

Our new neighbor...

This is Alister - he is one of our new tenants. Already loves the window sills and has been keeping watch over our driveway.

Let's hope...

...we don't need to make a guest appearance on this new TV show:

Leased!

We did it! We found renters for the other half of the duplex! Well...WE didn't exactly. Here's the deal.

In the midst of moving, renovating, working to pay for moving and renovating, we got overwhelmed. When the place didn't rent after 5 days of our Craigslist and Westside rental listings, we got frustrated and impatient. Yes, I know that is a little silly, it was only 5 days, but when this rental is covering more than half our mortgage - first payment due June 1 - we started to freak.

So we could at least put some of the stress behind us, we hired, on the recommendation of a friend with a duplex nearby, THE RENTAL GIRL. In exchange for half of the first month's rent, the lovely Zaya handled the listings, showings, tenant screenings, paperwork and check collecting. We didn't need to worry about it.

 About a week after she signed on, we got an email with an information packet about our potential tenants. Personal info, references, credit scores and financial information. We're really running a small business - so all that stuff matters. No dead-beats please. These guys seemed great, and after meeting them in person, we felt like they would take good care of our place.

Who are they? Three 27-year olds, who went to college together in New York, who all work in creative fields - an ad-writer, a TV production assistant, a guy who manages fashion designers. Two boys and one girl - we for some reason decided a combo would be cleaner than three boys or three girls. Oh, and a cat. (They had to pay an extra $300 security deposit for him.) They are definitely fun, definitely wanted to live in our neighborhood for it's "hipness" and seemed very relieved that "you guys are cool" since we are living so close. (I have never felt older in my life after hearing that!)

They signed their lease on Thursday and I cashed the rent and security deposit checks on Friday. Tried to make it feel as ceremonious as possible. By myself, at the Vermont Avenue Chase Branch. Our FIRST PAYMENTS AS LANDLORDS. It's pretty cool. Even if no one there noticed how cool it was.

So far so good - they got the keys Saturday morning and will start moving stuff over this week. And after we send our workers in today for a couple finishing touches they forgot, we can put that place and all it's fixes behind us...

...until something breaks of course.

Before and Afters - Rental Bedrooms

The rental unit is ALMOST done - still a few lights to hang, corners to touch up, and floors to sweep. Here are some before and afters for you.

In all the bedrooms we PAINTED, put in NEW CARPET and replaced the gross LIGHT FIXTURES. We also washed the windows and the mirrored closets, which makes more differnence than you can even imagine. Here we go:

SMALL BEDROOM BEFORE:

SMALL BEDROOM AFTER (bye bye little cartoon men!):

SECOND BEDROOM BEFORE:

SECOND BEDROOM AFTER (bye bye crazy purple!):

MASTER BEDROOM BEFORE:

MASTER BEDROOM AFTER:

Ahhhh, I know it's just paint and carpet but it feels so much better. Let's just hope potential renters like it!

Apartment for Rent...

Last weekend, we listed the rental unit on Craigslist and Westside Rentals (a local LA apartment hunting site) and are waiting on bites. We had a few people come by last weekend, while the place was a bit of a disaster zone with workers. Now it's nearly ready to go, we've been replacing lights, drawer pulls, cleaning, and tomorrow, new carpet goes in.

WHERE ARE OUR TENANTS? This is getting really stressful, really nervewracking and we will both feel soooo much better when someone is living happily inside and we can just focus on making our half a cozy home. (Wood floors starting going in today! yay!)

WHY DOESN'T ANYONE WANT TO LIVE WITH US!??? WE ARE CALM NORMAL NICE PEOPLE...TOTALLY CALM. REALLY REALLY CALM! AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH...

Is it too much to ask...

...for ATTRACTIVE flush mount lights for under $50?? Why must they all look like boobs or spaceships??

I want to replace the cheapy gross ones in the downstairs of the rental unit. Need 4. Don't want to spend much money. Ugh.

What a difference white paint makes...

Oh man, the painters have been hard at work...and just look at what a difference some fresh paint makes in the rental unit. Here is the kitchen (view from the dining room) before:

Here is after:

I think it works.

The elbow grease begins...

The cabinets in the rental unit are not particularily pretty, but they are in decent shape and do the job. However, they are covered in a greasy goo from years of use. The previous owner didn't put drawer pulls on the cabinets (or ever cleaned anything, ever) so the corners and tops are grungy and sticky. Yesterday, while waiting on some prospective tenants to stop by, we used a combo of Goo Gone, Fantastic, and arm muscle to start scrubbing away the years of gunk. It's not fun, but it works. Check out these - The left's been scrubbed, the right is still grungy.

Better right? A little? Regardless, they DO look better in person and I feel better about renting it now. Today, I bought some wood conditioner that I'll apply when we are totally done, just to give them a little love.