Property Management and Network

So far I've done an adequate job of managing my lone property. Of course, it's only been two weeks, but still the hard part of getting the tenants settled in is almost behind me. All I need to do is get the key to the community pool from the HOA management company and give it to the tenants, and I'll be okay. Of course, knowing my luck, I'm sure I'll have to put on my PM hat several more times before this lease is up.

I'm reconsidering going forth with the CPA I called yesterday. Several things lead me to believe she is just fresh out of school or in other ways not very advanced in her industry. That said, I'm now contemplating on cancelling my meeting with her today. Why? Well, there are pros and cons with using a not-highly-experienced on your network team. From what I can ascertain, the cons far outweight the pros, too. I still may meet with her to see if my assumptions are wrong, but usually my instincts about people are correct.

Speaking of networking ... You may recall my mentioning of a friend at work about REI a few weeks back in my blog. Well, I thought he had a change of heart and was genuinely interested in learning more about this industry. Events over the last couple of weeks have pretty much nixed that idea. About two weeks ago, I touched base with him and asked if he'd like to have lunch and discuss REI in further detail. From his answer, he seemed eager to learn more. So, we agreed on the next day. The next day comes, and he sends me an IM saying he "promised" another friend of his to lunch and wanted to know if he could tag along. I told him I'd go to lunch, but wouldn't discuss REI unless it was with him alone. It kind of offended me a little that he "promised" a friend of his after we had already agreed to have lunch alone, but I took it as the first sign he wasn't as interested in listening to me about REI. I then told him we could meet for lunch the following Monday to discuss REI to which he agreed. Seeing as how I've been the extrovert in this ordeal, I decided to see if he would follow through. Well, today is going on two weeks since that incident and I haven't heard a peep out of him. Suffice it to say, I am through trying to "help" this person understand REI. I can't twist someone's arm into realizing the benefits of REI. I guess the old adage 'you can lead a horse to the water, but you can't make him drink' is true. In a way it's kind of sad, because he and I used to always talk about starting a business together and releasing ourselves from the grip of corporate slavery.