I've started my property management company

I've called it Responsible Property Management, which was the fourth name change.  Now I have a DBA (doing business as) which lets me use that name on my bank account.  There's no going back!

I drew the logo for it myself.  It's the first artistic thing I have done in a long time, except for taking photos.  I've been neglecting other stuff too, like cleaning my house!

I'm doing a rehab of a 3 unit building on the northside.  It's had bad tenants and been really neglected.  It's nice to be able to be in charge of a project like this, where I can find someone dependable to do the work.  It will be done this weekend and I'm going to start marketing it and find some good tenants.

I've hired someone for a few hours a day to help me keep track of my schedule and all the things I have to do.  This is the busiest I have ever been and I am enjoying it.

A Busy Week

No, I wasn't driving when I took this!

This is supposedly the last warm weekend of the year.  It's great convertible weather.

I've been busy with real estate stuff.  First, we have a lot of sales.  I have also a lot of photos to take of new listings.  I have spent the last two weeks recovering from a sinus infection and cough.

The big news is we have a new property management company.  It's called Clyde, which is named after my grandfather who was a real estate agent.  I'm not sure if it will be Clyde Properties or Clyde Asset Management.  I like Clyde Properties better but there is one in Scotland already.  I want to have the name of the company as the web page.

It was hard to chose a name.  I liked the name Access Syracuse but wanted to choose a name where it was not limited to Syracuse.  I wanted to call it 315 Properties, as that is the area code in all the areas I would be able to consider managing from a distance perspective.  I figured as soon as I did that we would get a new area code around here!

We have clients already, we are managing 32 units!  One of the buildings we have almost no idea who lives there, what rent they pay or if they have paid any rent.  So it's my job to get all that straightened out.  The other buildings we know who is in them at least.

After the Snowstorm

After the Snowstorm, originally uploaded by Melsky.

This is from January. I really like snow and I enjoy the winter. Sometimes it can be very challenging though! I have a lot of pairs of snowboots. I have to wade through uncleared snow a lot for my job. I carry a snowshovel and road salt in my car all winter.

This is next to an apartment building we manage. The footprints are from me and the National Grid (power company) worker going to check the meters. There was a problem getting the power turned on because someone had tampered with one of the meters in the past.

Me in our driveway

Me in our driveway, originally uploaded by Melsky.

So tired today.

Mostly I love my job, I enjoy property management and I like helping people find apartments and writing ads. But like any job today was a day where it all went wrong. Sometimes it is very frustrating. It's frustrating to open a refrigerator in an apartment that someone moved out of and a million baby cockroaches run out.

It's frustrating to show up to show people apartments and they don't show up or call. Then the one person who does show up, it's a building where the resident manager changed the locks and didn't give me keys. Of course it's someone who seems like they would be a great tenant, and I can't even get them in to look at it.

It's frustrating to find someone for an apartment who seems really nice and as soon as they move in they start playing music really loud and having lots of coming and going in the building.

Sigh.

Every neighbor in that building has complained about her. The thing is she seemed really nice and was talking about how she wanted to live there and get a job and save up money and how much she loved the apartment and was politely thanking me and the housing advocate for getting her into the apartment. The next thing we know she's calling us up and screaming obscenities.

I had some idea that she was going to be a problem because she wanted to hug me after signing the lease. So far, everyone that has tried to hug me upon signing a lease has turned out to be a big, big problem. Everyone who wanted to hug me after signing the lease has been evicted or is about to be evicted, or has gotten many complaints.

I don't like it when people want to hug me after signing the lease. That makes me so uncomfortable. It's a business transaction. I will hug my friends and family but I don't want to hug people with whom I have a strictly business relationship.

Then I had a lease signing at the end of the day. She tried to hug me!

I am so tired today.