the craigslist blues

Trying to rent out a house is a bit nerve-wracking. I'll randomly get calls from people who always sound either harried, anxious, or apologetic. Then I have to set up a time for them to flake out and not show up to see the house.

Luckily we're not in the position that our financial solvency depends on getting the rent money, but boy it sure would help. So I have to worry about whether the price is too high, whether the ad is right, whether I could be doing more to get it out there. And whether the tenants will give me troubles when I finally find them. There's a lot of uncertainty about the whole thing, and I'm trying to keep a lid on it so it doesn't bubble over.

I think it's going to be well worth it when we do get someone in there, but it sure is nervous-making in the mean time.

2 comments:

  1. I hear you on the it would help financial solvency part! I understand completely what you mean about that situation.

    Are you doing this all on the books? Given how much you work, you may want to outsource this task to another group and take their fees as a tax deductible business expense. Time = money and not rented time = money lost. As long as the fees of whatever agency you hire is less than money spent+money lost, you're good. If not on the books...another story.

    But the bubbling over part...I empathize completely. This year was so crazy for the two of us...we're happy with our house but I don't think anyone wanted to be around me for months because I was worn thin between the house and work and life and I wasn't trying to rent out anything. Not that you ever have physically talked that much (or to me...or 10% of the words that come out of my mouth), but if you ever just wanna bitch about the house or get some ideas on the venture (pricing, ad writing, etc.), the two of us are here.

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  2. I would think about outsourcing the bookkeeping, but since we only have 1 unit to rent, I think I may as well suck it up. I only have to deal with it when it's vacant, and I think I'd resent not getting the full check the rest of the time.

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