Decisions, Decisions

House #1
I got a call from my tenants last night regarding them getting some of my mail. Specifically, it was all from my insurance underwriter. Argh! I apologized to the lady and told her I could meet her this weekend to pick it up. In the mean time, I'll call the insurance office and try to get them straightened out to where I REALLY live. I then asked her if everything was going alright to which she replied they finally purchased some land. I knew the day would come, but it was disheartening all the same. It won't be long now until I lose these great tenants. I figure it will still be a while before they get their house built, so I'll still have some rent checks coming in for a few months.

After chit-chatting a little longer, I hung up and told my wife the news. She still wants to rent the place out even after they leave, but I'm also considering on doing an owner finance sale. I quickly ran the numbers and figured I could profit $45-50k in two years, however, with recent news of an impending boom in central Texas, I may hold off. I think I'll just take my wife's advice and continue renting the place out. My only hope is I find someone as great as these current tenants have been.

Business Items
I swear I've been REALLY dragging my feet getting my systems in place. I've researched things for my marketing until I'm blue in the face. I've finally decided on the following items:

1. Toll-free Number - I have a cell phone used primarily for business, but I want a 1st-line of defense to incoming calls, and use my cell phone for other business matters. So, I've decided to get a toll-free number that will have a nice greeting and allow the caller to leave their information, or to call my cell phone if they want me to come over NOW. I narrowed down the choices to Freedom Voice and Kall8. I think Freedom Voice offers more for the money, but I don't need a lot of bells-n-whistles, so I'm thinking of going with Kall8. Cost: $5/setup, $5/month, 6.9 cents/min, for a repeating 1-866 number.
2. P.O. Box - I'll get one of these, so that I don't expose my home address on any marketing material. It just so happens my in-laws already have one that they rarely use, and said I was more than welcome to use it until I get my entity established and get my own. I figure the main thing people will want to know are my phone number and web site address, anyway. Cost: $0.
3. Web Site - I have known for a while that GoDaddy.com is one of the cheapest ISP's out there, and I can't find anyone else to host my stuff cheaper for what I need (just HTML & PHP hosting). I also have a great web site name in mind that's available. Cost: $39.12 for 1yr hosting and $8.95 $1.95 for domain setup.

So total startup costs: ~$51 (+tax). Not too shabby. I'll also spend about $115/month for my postcard mailouts, and I'll need to set up and appointment with a RE attorney to make sure I have all my bases covered, so there will be other recurring costs. I'll try to get the toll free number and web site started today.