Busy Summer Months of Sweat equity

That was an exhausting summer. I know summer isn't officially over but I'm calling it done. The two bedroom rental was trashed, of course. Yes, I know that is my fault for not inspecting it once in a while. I bought it trashed and had 3 tenants who trashed it. Cleaning it out 4 times was my limit. 

My realtor saw it at the same time I did and recommended listing it as-is for $125,000. I said no. A little clean up and I want $160,000. She was skeptical. I bought it in 2017 for $65,000. I also said I wanted to make it available for VA and Fannie Mae loans. My intent was to sell it to someone who would make it their home. This area of South Tucson is low-income and investors are buying homes and raising rents.  I could have kept it and waited for gentrification to move in. It is located close to downtown and homes sell for $300K and up in the right area. But I wanted out. Less stress. Time to move on.

They left me a car and a trampoline. No thanks. The car was towed for free. My realtor gave me the name of an awesome junk hauler and yard guy who took the junk away and trimmed up the shrubs.

A friend helped me bag up the trash. I helped her clean out her house and she helped me with mine. Win-win.

Looks like the tenant enjoyed his beer. His dog enjoyed eating holes in the drywall. The mice were living safely under the refrigerator.

You can't see it but the ceiling and walls were coated in nicotine yellow. Actually, the ceiling was still coated in nicotine when I sold it. I tried a few methods to clean it but I didn't want to damage my neck. Scrubbing a ceiling is hard.

More presents left behind.

From the oil on the kitchen walls, it appears he only knew how to deep fry. You are lucky this blog doesn't have smell-o-vision. The cigarette smell was very strong.

I tried a few different methods to clean this hard water stain. Ended up using sand paper.

That's much better.

Tried scrubbing the grease off the walls. Finally used oil based stain cover. I wish I had skipped right to the paint. It would have saved a lot of time and frustration.

Love this paint. It stank but even that helped improve the over-all smell of the house.

I couldn't pass up the chance to add a little bit of color to the kitchen. I had never tiled anything before. I spaced them so that I didn't have to make any cuts and used grout from a tube. I don't recommend grout from a tube. It was messy and probably too thin. I think it turned out ok though. I did touch up the grout with some white caulk. I bought a fancy kitchen faucet but took one look at the 1950's water lines and gave up on that idea. 

My sister came out from Texas and painted this room for me. I was so happy for the help. It looks (and smells) a lot better. I bought a paint sprayer but she opted to roll it. She probably got less paint in her hair that way.

In order to get it on the market as soon as possible, I bought a quart of the adobe color and touched up the living room paint.

Dining room end of the living room area. The house is 950 sqft. I've never liked the layout but originally it was a 1 bedroom 1 bath and then they made a second bedroom out of the back porch and added another porch.

The bathroom didn't need much work except...the tenant had disconnected the drain under the sink because the drain was clogged and had a bucket under there to catch the water. I never did find all of the parts. The plumber charged $800! to unclog the sink, put the drain back together, and replace the shower control. That was the cheaper plumber than the first one I called. I poured drain cleaner down the shower drain and bought a low-flow shower head for $15. I think it worked because the inspector didn't mention the water backing up in the shower.

This side of the house has always had a stucco peeling problem. I painted it for the third and last time. It started pouring rain but it didn't seem to bother the wet paint.

The landscape rock was well worth the $350 for a finished look. A few weeks later the weeds came back with a vengeance.  Paid the yard guy another $100 to weed-whack and spray weed killer.

I got the house on the market at the beginning of August. Google kept suggesting articles about the housing market crashing. Thanks, Google. Inventory in this area was very low with only 2 other houses as my competition. I got 3 offers within 24 hours. 1 from an investor for $130K cash, 1 Fannie Mae for $160K and 1 VA for $165K. I went with the VA loan person and decided see what hoops needed to be jumped. The inspection report took 2 weeks and the appraisal took 3 weeks. It was a nerve-wracking time wondering what they would want and whether I would have to dump them and re-list. 

The inspection list was long, as expected, but my realtor said to wait until the bank tells us what has to be done for the VA loan. The buyer wanted a new roof, a home warranty for the appliances, the stove fixed or replaced, a grounding bar added to the electrical panel, water damage fixed on the two porches and a termite warranty. 

After the appraisal came in acceptable for the loan (they didn't share what the appraisal said) the bank said that they only needed the clear termite report which included the water damage on the porch. My realtor was able to recommend a guy to replace the wood. I had to convince him to just replace the damaged parts because he wanted to do more. We had to extend the closing for 10 more days because The wood guy wasn't available yet but it finally got done and he did a good job for only $350.

I somehow fixed the stove by wiggling the wires (one burner wasn't igniting) and agreed to buy the home warranty. I had already paid for the termite warranty so that just got transferred to the new buyer. I tried to get an electrician but no one was available for such a small job. I took a gamble and said no to the new roof. The buyer accepted my terms, the house closed and I have a much bigger retirement nest egg. Whew. I am very happy. $3,500 in repairs, 1 month of Saturday cleaning and projects. It was a lot of work but worth it and I'm so glad it is over.

Rental Update

I forgot to mention the status of my 2 rental houses.  Let's review:

House 1:  4 bedrooms/2 bathrooms.  Under property management at a cost of $100/m.  The tenant moved out at the end of October.  The maintenance group sent me a list of needed repairs/cleaning.  Subtracting the tenant's deposit, they still wanted around $2K!  $1500 just for "touch-up paint".  Since I had re-painted the year before, I looked at the walls and they only needed a little bit of paint.  I did it myself for $20.  The new tenant moved in at the beginning of December.  I hope they stay longer than a year.

This was the worst wall needing touch-up paint.  It took 5 minutes to fix.

House 2:  2 bedrooms/1 bathroom.  This is the small house I bought with home equity for the tenant who was living in my mobile home.  He moved to Brazil in January of 2018.  I was overwhelmed with getting my home ready to sell and decided to try an experiment.  I contacted the local homeless tent camp and ask if I could house a Veteran.  They recommended two people, one was a Veteran and the other a civilian with a car.  At first they seemed agreeable to being roommates but then decided not to move in together.  The guy with the car wanted to try renting the house by himself and had just got a dishwashing job so I said we would try it for 3 months. 

Well, with everything going on with my mother during the summer, 3 months stretched into 6 months but he wasn't able to keep a job to pay the rent.  Once I had completed the driveway install and fencing replacement, I told him he would have to leave so he did but left so much junk behind.  Now, when he moved in there was junk from the previous tenant and cleaning it up was part of the agreement but it didn't happen.  I took a day off, hired a housecleaner, bagged up everything and shoved it outside.  

Driveway added, metal fencing replaced chainlink.

I donated everything that was still usable.  Clothes went to the collection bin and the other items went to the thrift shop.

My handyman took it away to the dump.  A few repairs were made, sink unclogged, gates added to the side yards, and I listed the house again, this time looking for a Section 8 voucher tenant. I had 3 people interested but then the housecleaner told me she was interested.  I chose her.  She has a job and knows how to clean - Bonus!  I hope she stays a long time.

The cash flow is finally coming in instead of going out for the rentals.  I certainly lost a lot of money last year but I am back on track now. 

The Past Few Months

Maybe if I work on this synopsis of the last few months a few minutes a day, I will catch up.

1. The move: As you know, my mother bought a house and we both moved in mid-August. It has been non-stop activity since and it is still on-going. I am very tired of moving!
2. My mother's townhouse: We decided to tackle moving my mother's stuff out of her townhouse first because it was smaller than my house and close by. When we had removed most of the personal items, we asked our realtor how much stuff to leave for "staging"and what to take out. The realtor came over, gave some suggestions (less is more) and commented that another realtor in her office had some out of town clients looking in the area the next day. My mother gave her permission to show it even though it hadn't been cleaned and was still in disarray. Surprisingly, the people liked the townhouse and made a full price offer. We were thrilled and made plans to move the rest of the stuff out. It was hot and a lot of work but with a rented Uhaul truck and two rented guys, we got it done.
   
   Unfortunately, ALL of the stuff, including the trash, was now at the new house. We are still sorting through it.
3. My house in Tucson: It has been very hot and finding the time to drive to my house, 45 minutes away, has been difficult. I have made a few trips, car loads, pick-up truck loads.
   
   What remains is the miscellaneous, most of which can be given away or taken to my property. These things are most tools, gardening items, fencing, anything I won't be needing in the suburbs. The new backyard has very little garden space. I've been throwing old seeds out by the drip system emitters. That's the extent of my gardening, at the moment. The new house does have roses and citrus trees so keeping those alive is enough responsibility for now. This week, my handyman has begun the repairs I need to do before I list it for sale. I do want to replace the kitchen cabinets but haven't figured out exactly what to replace them with. Maybe IKEA cabinets if I can take a day off.
4. The dogs: I got Francis adopted the Saturday before I moved. That was very fortunate as she was the most energetic and the loudest barker. I brought 4 dogs to the new house and talked to all of my neighbors who were home to let them know to tell me if the dogs bothered them. Everyone was fine...until last week. The snowbirds who live on the corner came back and the dogs barked like crazy when they heard new voices. The neighbors complained to the homeowner's association and we got a visit from them. Turns out the neighbors like to eat breakfast in their backyard. So, out came the bark collars and I had a nice chat with the neighbors and gave them my number in case the dogs start barking again. BUT...I also got my last foster dog adopted last week and we finally got solid gates on the fence so the dogs can't see the people who walk down the alley. Big improvements.
   
5. Living with my mother: It's a work in progress. Between moving, selling my house, my job, and regular life stuff, I don't have a lot of time. My mother wants to watch movies and I just want to take a nap. She does the grocery shopping and the dishes, which is very nice. I make dinner on the weekends and try to have enough leftovers for the week.
6. Rental house #1: I got a notice that the tenants were moving out in August. Almost immediately, I got a notice that new people were moving in. There are always repairs and cleaning bills so I waited for the email. The second week in September, I got an email from the management company that said I needed to authorize $2500 in expenses so that the tenants could move in in 3 days. I was like, um, no, you're fired. They were apologetic and re-did the estimate.
   
   I looked at the property and decided to pay for carpet replacement, got my handyman to clean up the yard, and took a day off work to paint the walls with my handyman which only cost $350 rather than the $1,100 that was quoted to me. I also took down the old window shades and put up shear curtains.
   
   
   The tenants decided not to move in but I got to keep their $850 deposit and new tenants have since signed a lease. Hopefully, Rental house #1 will be stable for a while.
7. Rental house #2: My tenant, the one that was living out in my mobile home and then I bought this little house in town for him to rent, has decided to move to Brazil at the end of the month. He wants me to help him re-home his 2 dogs and 2 cats. Unfortunately, I am not in a position to foster so I can only help with advertising them. Soon, I will need to find a new tenant. I've had a few inquiries but the area of town that it is in isn't the greatest and I don't think either of the single women who inquired would want to live there. Someone will appreciate it though. Hopefully, a responsible person who always pays their rent on time.
8. My mobile home property: It's being totally neglected. I go out there to collect the mail once a month. The weeds are taking over. I hate seeing it like that but I don't have the time or money to work on it yet. Once my house sells, maintaining the property will be easier.
   
   Maybe I will even have some money for more improvements like bringing electricity to the barn-shed and building more fencing or walls to keep out the snakes.
9. My job: It is going crazy. They let one person go from our office and they have asked me to go to out plant in Mexico twice a week. So far, I've only been going once a week because I get so behind on my emails when I go down there. I want to take some time off to work on the house that I will be selling but I just seem to be getting more and more behind every day. I think I will take a half day every Friday anyway because I have some vacation time to use before December. Since I'm going to the Mexico plant, I've finally started trying to learn some Spanish. I downloaded the Duolingo app on my phone and I have practiced every night for 2 weeks. The beginning stuff was easy because I did have Spanish in high school but it is quickly getting harder. The most of the people at the plant speak English but I tell them all that I am trying to learn so they teach me new words. Todays word was carrots: zanahorias. 

There you go. The quick synopsis. My home computer is still dead and I don't have the new laptop they are supposed to be buying me yet. Maybe next month.

The Master List

Let's check the progress on my never-ending to-do list:

Laundry - Fixed!  The handyman found the leak in the wall in the drain pipe behind the sink.  Someone had over-tightened the cap and cracked the pipe which eventually grew to be a big leak.  It's a good thing we hadn't used the toilet in that bathroom because, Eew, it uses the same drain.  The laundry water was leaking under the kitchen cabinets and now I know what was causing the moldy smell.

All fixed now.  I sprayed the inside of the wall down with bleach, and the handyman will come back later to repair the drywall.  It is so nice to be able to do laundry without the added hassle of draining it into a trashcan and then emptying it by bucket in to the sink.

Dog - Adopted!  A family came to meet Sassy at the big adoption event but they needed to wait a week since the wife was out of town.

Last Sunday, I took Sassy over to their house to meet their other dog and cats.  Things went really well and they love her and want to keep her.  It is exactly the kind of family I wanted for her because she is affectionate and loves attention and there are many people in their household to give her attention, plus the parents really like her too.  With my nephew leaving and me moving in with my mother, Sassy would get even less attention from me.  And, she gets 3 walks a day!

Visitors - My sister stopped by on her way through the state.  We had dinner and then floated around her hotel pool and caught up on news.  Then Aidan's grandfather stayed with us Monday and Tuesday nights.  He was in very good spirits and it was a pleasant visit for all.

Glasses - My nephew and I spend 2 hours at the eye doctor getting a new prescription and picking out a new pair of glasses for him.  He will be off of my insurance when he turns 18 this summer so we need to get these things done now.

Truck - The check engine light went on in the truck that my nephew drives.  I switched vehicles with him and took it into the shop.  $400 for a new fuel injector, system flush and oil change.  Hopefully, it will pass emissions testing this week.

Barn-shed- I didn't take stuff out to the barn-shed because I decided to stuff it into the extra bathroom instead.  It worked.  My living room actually looks like a functioning living room now.

 I wanted it to look good when visitors came but they never went in that room.  They didn't know how bad it looked before anyway.  Oh well, it looks better to me.  I plan to take stuff out to my barn-shed and mobile home (once I clean it) on Saturday and Monday (I'm taking the day off work).

Pre-birthday Present - I was tired of spending money on necessities and decided to splurge on a 3,000 gallon water tank for the property.  I would have done this 2 years ago instead of buying the above ground pool as a temporary water tank but I didn't have the money then.  It cost $1,537 with tax and will cost me a little more to have my handyman deliver it with his flat bed trailer in a few weeks.  Then, I will spend $150 to have it filled with water.  That should be enough water to last until I get some rainwater collection systems hooked up.  It will soon be too hot to work on any big projects outside so this is my safety net if/when I sell my house and need to move out to my property before my mother and I find a house to buy together. 

Tiny House People - The tiny house people are staying another month.  I told them that I was planning to sell the house this summer.  I wish I could get their tiny house out to my property but I think the road might be too uneven and narrow.  We are planning to go out there this weekend to evaluate it. 

New Rental house - The new rental house is doing well.  The tenant is paying his own utilities so I am looking forward to a lower electric bill.  The washer is working well and the tenant loves having unlimited water.  I know the feeling.  Hauling one's own water is a tedious and difficult chore. 

May is looming on the horizon.  Only 2 weeks of high school left, then one week of finals and graduation.  The airline tickets were cheapest on Wednesday and Saturday of the following week, so I let my nephew pick.  He chose Saturday so he will have a week to relax after graduation before he moves to Minnesota and gets a job.  I'm trying to enjoy these last days with my nephew but everything is so busy and time keeps marching on. 

Moving Things Around

Whew, I took an extra day off to make it a 4 day weekend but there was still so much running around.  One of these days I'm going to get to stay home.  On Thursday, I took Sassy to her vet appointment and dropped my other foster dog at the groomer for a trim.

Got home around 11 and made some breakfast/lunch.  Watched some TV and procrastinated because I was supposed to be doing my taxes.  Worked on my taxes enough to realize that since my nephew turned 17 last year, I couldn't claim the EIC credit for him.  Sadness.  I ended up owing $1200!  That was a shock.  I will have to adjust my withholding again.  And this year is the last year I will get to be Head of Household.  I go back to being just plain Single with the high taxes that go with it.  Plus, I'll have rental income from the second rental.  Taxes galore!  I need to retire soon and reduce my income.

Later in the day, someone wanted to meet my foster dog and that went well.  Then, my nephew had a Fine Arts demonstration at his high school where he sang two songs with his choir.  I was late but made it for the last song.

On Friday, my nephew and I had planned to move the love seat, dresser, dog pool and bike for my tenant, but first, my mother misplaced her keys so we drove over to help her out and she bought us lunch.  Then we went out to the property and loaded up the truck.  We had some trouble keeping the plastic pool inside the truck bed even with a cargo net so I had to stop and stuff in behind our seats.  The stuff made it safely to its destination and the nice neighbors helped us unload.  On the way home we got blocked by a stopped train so we went home the long way but that was ok because we went by the good car wash (the one that costs $5 and actually uses soap) and got the truck washed.  We made it home by 6.

Saturday was the big adoption event at the Tucson Expo Center.  One person came in to meet Sassy and they reserved her pending a visit to their house and their 10 cats. (yes, TEN!)  We shall see how that goes later this week.

 Sunday was Easter and we spent it with my mother and also celebrated her birthday which was the weekend before but she was out of town.  Got home at 5 and took a short nap to try to get rid of my headache.  Then, time to finish my taxes and file them. (Goodbye $1200).  I did get $450 back from the state from prepaying my taxes to public and private schools so I guess that's not so bad.

I don't think I mentioned how the move went last weekend.  It took longer than planned and was a really windy day but we didn't lose anything on the road and my nephew got a lot of experience driving the truck with a full load (the bed, refrigerator, and other belongings) 50 minutes across town.  I am so glad that is over and my tenant is settled in.  He is paying for his own utilities now too so I expect my electric bill to decrease dramatically (and even more so when the tiny house people leave next month).  I do love paying tenants but, oh my gosh, I need to simplify and consolidate some things.

Next steps: 

Take Sassy to meet her potential adopters sometime this week.

Take my other foster to meet the lady's husband and dog (if they are still interested).

Take some stuff from the house and put it in the barn-shed for storage so that I can organize my house.

Clean the mobile home and haul the trash away. 

Get handyman to fix the drip edge on my roof and grease the evaporative cooler because it is embarrassingly LOUD and I am trying not to run it even though it is in the mid-90's here.

Get handyman to rearrange the laundry area so that I don't have to drain the washer into a trashcan and empty it with a bucket anymore.  That is getting old.

Plus, one of my sisters is visiting and Aidan's grandfather is visiting next week.  Only 5 weeks until high school graduation!  We can make it.

April Already

I never thought April would get here, and yet, it seems to be here too soon.  Spring break is over and I am glad because for previous breaks my nephew would go to visit his aunt in California, but this last time, he wanted to stay home.  That was fine with me except I didn't get a break from grocery shopping and thinking about how he is spending too much time on the computer and resenting, just a little, his care-free life.  But I know he will be off to college in a few short months and his life will soon be as complicated as the rest of our lives.  Is that a good thing?  My life could be a lot simpler if I wasn't trying to retire early or arrange semi-passive income from rental property, or develop my desert property with a tiny house and rainwater catchment system, or sell my house and live with my mother for as long as she needs me.  Bored, I am not.

Last Saturday, the plan was to pick up my mother, show her the rental house, go with my nephew to get my tenant and move his stuff since he doesn't have a car, and enjoy my care-free Sunday along with the usual grocery shopping.  It started out ok.  I picked up my mother and took her to the rental house.  The workmen were still finishing the inside and cutting and putting up the blinds.  The inside was still a mess.  I wiped down the new tile in the bedroom so that we would have a place to put stuff.  It's funny how a tile color called "sand" would seem like it would go with almost anything but in reality it clashes with the red tile in the living room and the orangish color on the walls.  

Oh well, that's what I get for not bringing color samples with me.  Did I really expect to get everything done in one week?  Hahaha.  I'm so naïve.  I did find this awesome little vanity sink and cabinet for $89 at the used building supply store.  

Plus a pre-hung front door for $109 and a metal security door for $39 (the existing front door was very small), and a gas stove for $75.  I wasn't planning on replacing the door and also rearranging the windows but since the outside is going to get new stucco, I thought this would be a good time to do it.  One of the double pane living room windows got removed and put in the front of the house to replace a single pane window.  The single pane window went to the back bedroom to replace a broken window.  And I bought one new double pane window for the dining area.  If I had more money I would have replaced the other 3 windows but they are on the north side so they aren't as important.

By the time we got home it was 1, I was tired and hungry so I told my tenant I would come out at 3:30.  At 3 I jumped in the car and noticed raindrops and the wind picking up.  The plan ran off the tracks and I postponed it until Sunday.  By Saturday evening I had a headache that wouldn't go away.  Sunday it was worse.  I cancelled the plan. 

My mother had spent the night and luckily, my nephew was able to take her home.  He was very proud of himself for not getting lost.  I was very proud of him too.  Not one complaint.  I started feeling better around 4 in the afternoon.  The workmen will have another week to work on the outside stucco, paint and fencing.  I am still on the hunt for a washing machine and hope to have one by next Saturday, which is the new move-in date.  It will be good to get "phase one" completed so that I can move on to fixing up my own house, if I have any money left.

Equity Shuffle

It's been a very busy month and I haven't made the time to sit down and sort out my thoughts until now. 

Old Plan:

Nephew goes off to college in May.

Mother moves in to my Tucson house after I turn my carport in to an apartment for her.

But the more we thought about that, the more we decided that it wasn't ideal since my mother would be bored and dependent on me for things that she can do herself now like go to church, see her friends, go to doctor appointments, etc...  The only thing that made sense was for me to move to her retirement town which is 45 minutes away.  Safer streets, less traffic, familiar routines. 

New Plan:

Nephew goes off to college in May.

Fix up Tucson house to sell and mother sells her house.

Move to my property temporarily.

Buy a house with mother near mother's current location.

I wasn't sure if I was even allowed to move to her town because it is mostly 55 and older housing.  But, only one person in the household needs to be 55 and older so, yes, we can live there together.  Then, I needed to figure out if there were regulations for pets.  I have heard of homeowner's associations limiting pets to only 2 and I currently have 3 dogs and 2 foster dogs.  I narrowed down the area that would work for both of us and the HOA does not have a pet limit so I'm good there as long as their barking doesn't annoy the neighbors.  Now I am watching homes for sale.  I have identified around 40 that have a large yard, as in more than .2 of an acre lot.  They aren't for sale but maybe one of them will be by the time we are ready to buy.

And, to kick off this plan, I bought another house.  This one is an investment.  Since the house that I live in now would only get around $850/m for rent, I decided to buy a small house and rent it out to my tenant who is at my property in my mobile home for $600/m.  He wants running water and accessibility to public transportation, and I want my mobile home back because I plan to move there temporarily and store more of my stuff there after I make it pest-proof. 

Here's a little more explanation:  I am emotionally invested in my Tucson house.  I have toiled in the yard, fostered loads of dogs and puppies in it, housed my parents and nephew, visited with other family and friends.  I don't want to rent it out and see other people change it.  I want to sell it and never go back.  Plus, the house is worth around $160K and I don't want to keep a mortgage on it so having that much money tied up in it does not work for my plan.

So, I took out a home equity line of credit for $70K and looked around for something small.  Something that I would never live in and not get attached to it.  But I have to back up again because I didn't start with the HELOC idea.  I started just looking for some place for my tenant to move to.  It was hard to find a place because he has two dogs and it is difficult to find someone else a place to live.  Then I had the bright idea to look for something to buy.  It would be win-win.  I would keep a paying tenant and he would have a better place to live than my mobile home.  The houses that I found in the areas that weren't either crime-ridden or way far out from civilization were all fixer-uppers and not able to be financed traditionally.  Thus, the HELOC.

It took a month to apply for the HELOC and get the money.  I was watching two houses but on the day my funds were available, both houses had multiple offers.  I scoured the listings again, asked my tenant about areas that he wanted to avoid, and checked trulia.com for their crime rating.  I found this little two bedroom, one bath house close to downtown and a block from the bus stop.  I went out to look at it asap.  My realtor said that the house was probably still available because it had a tenant.  We couldn't see inside but I wanted to put in an offer anyway.  The realtor wrote the offer up contingent on seeing the inside and there being no major issues.  Then we waited for the tenant to leave, and waited, and waited.  Finally he moved out and the inside was dirty with a few water hose leaks, cockroaches and some termites.  My realtor made a list of things to be fixed and we waited some more.  The closing day was getting close so I offered to take the house as-is for $1,000 off the price.  The seller agreed and we proceeded with the sale for $64K.  It's been a week now and my handyman has been painting and repairing.  It's been treated for cockroaches and termites and all the junk is gone.  We are focusing on the inside first so that my tenant can move in the first of the month.   

Needs some stucco repair.

Dirty but functional.

Water leaks and clogged drains.

I don't want to know what was living in the couch.

Now you are caught up with my plans and rental house adventure.  When I sell my Tucson house I will pay off the rest of the mortgage and the HELOC and have some leftover to put down on the house with my mother.  I will also have 2 paid-off rentals giving me income.  That's pretty awesome.

Tiny Neighbors

This post should be named "My Crazy Thanksgiving Day" or "How I Got A Tiny House in My Yard".  So, I'm a member of a Facebook group for Tiny House enthusiasts.  There is another group for people looking for places to park their Tiny Houses and people willing to let them park.  I've been lurking on that group and if someone mentions Arizona or Tucson, my ears perk up (or my eyes since I'm reading it?).  Some people were looking for parking on the west coast.  I didn't take much notice because I didn't think I could compete with what others could offer.  They came back a month later and posted their plea again.  Still, they were looking in multiple states and my property doesn't have water so I didn't offer.  Another month later, they came back with a more desperate plea for Arizona, Utah, New Mexico.  I sent them a message about my property but said they would have to haul water in.  We friended each other on Facebook so we could send instant messages but then weeks went by and I assumed they found a place. 

The day before Thanksgiving, I suddenly get an IM from them.  They were asking more questions about water and electric.  We went back and forth and it seemed like it wouldn't work because they need a place now and I would need to purchase and set up a water tank and pump.  Finally, I asked if they would like to come down from where they were in Phoenix and take a look for themselves.  They could park temporarily in my side yard at my house in town.  We started talking about parking space needed - the house is 13.5 ft tall so I would have to cut the lowest branch of the pine tree.  Water would be easy with my garden hose.  Electric was more complicated because my house only has one outside outlet and it was only 15amps, they needed 20amps and a double outlet not single.  Thanksgiving morning I was dragging an extension cord and lamp around and flipping circuit breakers to find an available 20amp outlet.  I did find one in the bathroom which used to be a laundry room but it only had a single outlet.  Finally, I asked it they could plug one of their giant extension cords in to the 15amp outlet and the other into the 20amp.  Yes, that would work.  By the way, I think having the tiny house powered by two cords is genius.  It gives them a lot more options for getting power.  They also can plug in to a 30amp RV outlet if that is available.

I asked them what was wrong with their current parking space and they said the property that they were on had a well and the pump kept breaking down.  They had to haul their water by bucket.  They were eager to get to a spot with reliable water and electric so they headed down and in 4 hours, they arrived.  After some back and forth, squeezing the tiny house in to the side yard, and some switching of the vehicles to make sure everyone could get out and in without hitting each other, they were settled for the night.

The door is on the other side next to the oleander hedge but they don't mind because it makes the entrance more private.

Meanwhile, I was running around, pruning shrubs, raking pine needles, chopping off a tree branch, while simultaneously trying to watch movies with my nephew and make Thanksgiving dinner.  Whew.  It was a long day.

If you want to see better pictures, go to this article.  The builders talk about building the house and there is a video tour. Yes, this is the actual house.

http://tinyhousetalk.com/tiny-house-with-round-door-and-curvy-roof/

What do I get out of this? $300 for one month rent plus utilities. They have the option to stay longer if the neighbors don't complain. I doubt they will want to move the day after Christmas but if something better comes along they can tow their tiny house away. That's one of the benefits of a tiny living.