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OMG! Good luck to me!

September 26th, 2013 at 05:46 pm

Husband just received a call from one of the tenants in my soon to be vacant rental property.

She wants to renew her lease for another year!

She had moved out in September and into a place on the other side of town. When I saw her a week ago about collecting her rent for the last month of her existing lease with us, she said she had been sick for the last few weeks so that's why she had been unresponsive to our calls/texts/emails.

When she called husband today she said she had found mold in the new place, there was construction going on in the apartment next door- the new place is a nightmare for her.

So she and her 4 new room mates want to move back into our place starting Oct 1st!

So the apartment will have NO VACANCY! We are running at 100% full on all the rentals!

I just sent her a new copy of the lease to sign.

YIPPEEE!

AND! My California guy that owes me money called today requesting my address so he could get the money out to me! That's a good sign! I love Georgia. Smile Everything works out for me here. Smile

Monthly Numbers Revisited. Because of YOU!

September 25th, 2013 at 10:35 pm

ok you guys were so horrified by my last post that: A) it made me feel pretty stressed. B) I kept re-running the numbers and had a stern talk with husband.

First, in my defense, being short $1700/month for a few months until I start working is not bad to me because in CA we were short about $6000 a month. This is a breath of fresh air!

So I have been reworking the numbers all day. I tried to get some cash in hand and also reduce our monthly debts.

I called my CA homeowners Insurance Company to see where our refund was because we canceled early. They sent the check to the CA address, but once it gets re-routed it will be $700 to me.

I had an Auction House come by today to pick up extra furniture/antiques to put in their next auction. I wasn't thrilled seeing my mom's antiques load into a truck, but they have been in an attic ever since I got them- so I think I have determined I'll never use them. I will get a check a few weeks after they sell, and that will be for about $500-600 after the house takes their cut.

I still have a Full sized bed sitting in my dining room leftover from CA. When it sells on Craigslist that will be $150. Just hoping it sells.

I have $230 pending in Paypal from recent ebay sales. When it becomes available I can withdraw the money.

I have already purchased everything for the baby. But I have the receipts so I can return anything that I receive duplicates at the baby shower being held in 3 weeks. I have also identified 2 items I can just do without and return anyway. So that will get me back about $100 plus any duplicates from the shower.

I called my CA person who owes me money. He promised to send me $8k this weekend. I'm cautious though because by this time he has already not sent me 2 promised payments totaling $18k. But fingers crossed just the same.

So those actions will put cash in hand. Next I worked to reduce our monthly expenses.

I called our insurance company and cut back on policies. That takes off almost $300/month in expenses. I'll add them back after I start working.

I made husband PROMISE to only buy groceries & gasoline until we get this turned around. If we both stick to that promise we'll save about $800/month.

That brings our monthly shortfall from $1700/month to $600/month.

I emailed a potential tenant for our pending vacant rental unit. She was interested last month while it was still being occupied.I told her it will be move in ready for Oct 2. If she has not found housing yet then I'll clean for 24 hrs straight to get it ready for her! Unfortunately, I am sure she has found housing by now.

I also looked online at my old employer's career site. There are 3 jobs I'm qualified for. I'm NOT going to apply right now though because of a baby coming in 5 weeks. I think it would tarnish my reputation with them to come around trying to land a job and expecting weeks off shortly after starting. I appreciate your responses that you think 6-8 weeks will be timely for me to start working again.

I appreciate that you reminded me to shop around for Health Insurance. I am holding off counting on Obamacare because it seems equally likely to be delayed as to be enacted at this point. I am also not comfortable changing my insurance so close to giving birth. I am leery of undisclosed maternity clauses, or my hospital being out of network or something where the lack of coverage costs me money in the end.

Oh and Laura- I will be breast feeding and I have 17 cloth diapers! I'm doing those for non-financial reasons, but glad that my frugal friends think it's a good idea!

So that's what I did all day. I did good, right?

New Budget- the Numbers are NOT Working

September 25th, 2013 at 04:18 pm

OK, so I have spent this morning mulling over our monthly budget, trying to tweak numbers.

Its not awful, but its negative for a little while.

Before California, after paying my 401k & Health Insurance, I was taking home $1875/ month from my job. We were also living off $2000/month rental income. So our living expenses were $3875/month.

However- our NEW living expenses budget will be $5405/month because we have an added $1530 COBRA bill now.

Currently husband & I are without jobs. When the rentals are all full-they bring in $3700/month after insurance/mortgage.

So if we use up all rental income every month we are short $1705 a month. We can curb a few hundred a month maybe from our lifestyle- I'm not really sure because we have our first baby coming in 5 weeks. So we might be trading lifestyle expenses for baby expenses.

And obviously we cannot use 100% of the rental income every month to live off- nothing would be saved for repairs or savings.

So we need additional income.

Husband has a court date in mid December to qualify for disability. He has been applying for 2 years now- and this is the final step (we have been told). He feels confident he will get it but nothing is 100% sure.

If he gets it- our income will boost by $1200/month.

In December we will once again be property manager for the rental property we gave to FIL (still gets me mad to think about) and that will bring in $180/month.

I am working on a side business that will conservatively bring in about $500/month after expenses. However- it will require about $2k in immediate start up costs and take about 5 months to produce product. So that wont be anything for a while.

After ALL of those come to fruition- we will have a surplus of $175 a month for savings.

Oh jeez. I have to get a job. ASAP.

I'm wondering when a realistic time is to start a job after having a baby? Is 2 months realistic? Husband will be home to care for the baby.

I know my old employer will try to find something for me when I am ready to return. It's a matter of something being open. Often there are entry level jobs open...that's the same job I took when I started with them. But I guess that's what I will take to stop the hemorrhaging of money. A job will REDUCE our monthly bill by the cost of COBRA too- it will take OFF $1532 a month.

A job will solve everything. OMG! A job will instantly give us $1700 a month in savings BEFORE my salary. I was burned out when I resigned, but for that kind off financial relief I would return tomorrow if I wasn't pregnant.

I was really hoping we could live off the rental income until I found a job that I wanted. But putting it down on paper tells me "no".

So it appears that for the next 3 months we will live off 100% of the rental income, and still be racking up about $1700/month on credit cards until January when hopefully disability kicks in.

At that time we will be living off credit cards about $500/month.

January is when I will start looking for a job, hopefully I'll be employed by March or April.

The only caveat is that our biggest income producing property will be vacant in October. The tenants are moving out. It will take us about 3 days to clean it and then we can start showing it. Hopefully it will rent for November 1. So we are short $1800/month for the month of October. However- I have been in the unit recently- the tenants have DESTROYED one of the ANTIQUE, Floor to ceiling Wood mantles original to the house. I was stunned, hysterical and furious when I saw that and if it cannot be repaired (which I don't think it can- we are keeping the full $1800 deposit.) That mantle is for another post though.

ok! Fun times ahead! Cant wait! I am going to go have a pity party now.