rental property
Folks, I don’t have a stove. I mean, there is a stove in our apartment, but it tried to blow me up yesterday, what with the pilot light going out, and big fire balls popping up at my face from underneath my pan of chicken and all. We kept smelling gas, too. Luckily for us, the gas company came out to turn off gas to the stove since our shut-off valve did not shut the gas off like it should have. That’s the good news - we did not blow up in our sleep last night. Of course, the bad news is, we’re stuck with the microwave, toaster, and an electric griddle, which is what I had to fix my chicken in last night. I managed to fix some rice in the microwave (who knew it would come out as good as stove top?) and we already had some cooked food in the fridge and freezer, so as long as our microwave is working, we won’t have to spend extra money on takeout.
But sheesh. Now we have to wait for the landlord to either fix or replace our stove, and replace the faulty shut-off valve. I know from experience that it won’t be a short wait. My honey called the landlord last night and left a message that we were having problems with the gas and stove, and we are still waiting for a return phone call. I couldn’t help but think that if I was in my own house, all I’d have to do is call a contractor and pay him, either out of pocket or from my emergency fund. We would get a service appointment, and I would KNOW when I could make cornbread again. Instead, we have to call the landlord and try to cajole him to handle his business. Cornbread is on hold indefinitely. We don’t want to ruin our distant but amiable relationship with the landlord, but I will if I have to, and I’m not looking forward to it. I can call the city, which requires a working shut-off valve in a rental property, and/or divert rent payments to an escrow account, but I’m hoping it won’t come to that.
Being a landlord is not for everyone! You have to deal with finding and keeping tenants, keeping your property up to code, and making sure your property doesn’t fall into ruin. My particular landlord seems to be one of the lazy ones. He is too unresponsive and inattentive to the property, and that would actually be okay if he had someone to maintain his property for him that would work on call, but he doesn’t. At least two of my favorite financial blog writers are landlords. One, Boston Gal, just had a recent service call on Christmas Eve. The other, Single Ma, just had tenants pull out on her earlier than expected, and is considering selling the property. Every day, some deadbeat landlord or tenant is getting hauled into court. Trust me, there is always something. My point is, don’t go renting to someone if you can’t handle the time commitment and money commitment to keep up your property and avoid run-ins with tenants. If I ever do become a landlord, which is a distinct possibility because I love real estate, it will only be after I’ve been properly funded (I’ve got an awesome emergency fund and awesome property insurance), and I’ve made contingency plans for maintenance and income shortfalls.
Edit: My landlord isn’t a heel. I guess he’s only lazy when folks’ lives aren’t in danger. He just left. He’ll be back in the morning to fix the problem.
