House #1 Update and Brainstorming

House #1

As I mentioned ever-so-briefly in my last post, I managed to get House #1 rented, but not without some stress beforehand. The tenant took forever in getting me the application back, but I still managed to run through the app and call her previous landlord, her work, and a couple of references. With the delay, I totally forgot about the utilities. I never had an account with the gas company, so I told the tenant late Thursday (when I told her she was accepted) that she would have to call the gas company ASAP to get the gas turned on. I told her I doubt they'd have it on Friday, so she would be without gas (i.e., hot water, stove) through the weekend. She didn't seem to have a problem with it. The electric company was straightened out, too. I sent the transfer paperwork for the water company this am, and need to call the sewer company at lunch (the sewer and water company will prorate service, so I'm not too worried).

I went over the lease itself, utilities, rules, etc., with the tenant on Saturday. They gave me the rent and security deposit in the form of a cashier's check, and I went to my credit union to deposit them. They wouldn't deposit them since the date was set for Sep 4th. Huh?!?! I thought cashier's checks were different in that they "withdraw" the funds when it is made out, but I guess not. So I went across the street to the bank that issued the check and they cashed it for me. I then went back to the credit union and deposited the cash.The tenant's bank said the tenant got the checks that morning, and since it was a Saturday, they put the NEXT business date on the checks. Needless to say, I wasn't too happy with my credit union.

Brainstorming

I managed to actually sit down and brainstorm some business ideas this weekend. I never had complete isolation, but I still managed to come up with some ideas that could end up bringing in some more income. All-in-all I have a total of 13 ideas now. The thing I need to do is prioritize them, so I concentrate my effort on the "best" one, and then start the ball rolling. I also found my locale SCORE chapter, who can hopefully help me in my endeavor(s). I just need more time to get things organized. :-(