I managed to get over to House #1 last night to hang up the blind I damaged the day before. After I hung it up, I couldn't tell it had even been damaged at all. Hopefully this will be the extent of the "repairs" I need to do on this place, but ...
The more and more I think about it, I am going to have to do something about the garage door's access. As it stands now, there is no way to unlock it from the outside. It has a lock on it, but since this was a HUD foreclosure, it didn't come with the key. I never gave it much thought because I had planned on selling the property - not renting it out. To have it rekeyed will probably be around $30, I'm guessing. I got a flyer in the mail yesterday from Lowe's that has a special on certain garage door openers. I may just fork over the ~$250 and get one installed after the tenants move in. Speaking of ...
I still haven't gotten any updates from my RE agent regarding the tenants. Last I heard, they were still planning on coming in on Saturday, but I really don't see how. I scheduled electric service to be shut off today, and I know the electric company here is S-L-O-W about getting service connected. And the lady at the gas company said they need a week's notice to get things set up. My RE agent supposedly told the tenants this earlier this week, so it's really out of my hands now. The only things that ARE on are the water and sewer. I've got the paperwork for the water to be transferred, but I need the tenants to verify the meter reading with me and sign it. I'll touch base with my agent today to see what the status is.
Also, I haven't heard a peep from my mortgage broker. We met with him last Thursday to start the refinancing of House #1. He said he will probably need me to send him some documentation, but he would have to wait to see what the lender wants first. I guess he's still waiting. I'll follow-up with him today as well.
4 comments:
I have a recommendation on the utilities. You could leave them on in your own name until the tenant has a chance to transfer it to theirs (request that they do so immediately). Since the utility companies take so long there, you could probably cancel the request to terminate them. All you'll need to do is get an itemized report per day from the day they move in and subtract it from the security deposit. This way, your tenants won't be without power and won't hate you. ;-) I also learned the hard way not to turn off the utilities to an older house, or run the risk of the utility companies refusing to reinstate service without you purchasing some expensive newer meter. Yes, it happened to us. We had to pay $450 just to get the stupid meter upgraded before they'd turn the electricity back on in the tenant's name--even though it was on just days before.
Ugh. I guess lesson learned. I terminated the electric already, so there is no going back as it will cost me. I never had the propane gas on at all, since I never needed it. The water and sewer will be on, though. If the tenants have a problem, I'll tell them the truth and we can go from there. Five days isn't a lot of time for me to prepare. I was hoping they would move in on Aug 1st at the earliest.
I'm sure they'll understand. And, chances are, they won't be living in the house from day one. They'll probably move their stuff in and live in the old place in the meantime.
Unfortunately, the are moving from Houston. :-(
Post a Comment