Funny how one litte aspect of your life comes a tad off the rails, and you find you have no time or energy for stuff you like to do! Tending all the details of our currently very needy property up in Haiku has consumed me, lo these past three weeks. And, to add vinegar to the baking soda (anyone with kids who've gone through the 4th grade will know what a mess that can make), Michael was off island, trying to do what he could to help from 6,000 and 10,000 miles away.
We had the combination of finishing clean up & painting of the studio, then trying to get it rented (so far unsuccessfully), PLUS beginning the task of rehabing the 2-bedroom unit. Locating & coordinating a cleaning/hazmat crew, a painter, a handyman, a carpet/flooring guy and the million details and possible permutations in between was no damn fun. And between showing the studio to prospective tenants and meeting with these various vendors, shopping for and/or buying necessary items (like new kitchen cabinets, grrrr), I think I've put more miles on the car in 3 weeks than the entire year!! Happily, gas is just now starting to come down a smidge ($4.56/gal).
Oh, and in the middle of all that orchestration, we get a call from the tenants who are still there that the cess pit is overflowing. Happy Happy Joy Joy! Luckily, it was not as dire as it sounded, although we did have to throw money at the problem and get taken care of. Crisis averted (until the credit card bill comes anyway).
Sooooo.... studio still empty. Lots of phone calls & emails. Numerous viewings. Couple of applications. But then, in a peculiarly oh-so-island style, no further follow through, or additional details come to light, stories change.... Honestly though, we are thankful to figure out those things sooner rather than later. So, we wait. We hold out for the right tenant (yeah, when pigs fly and they let lawyers into heaven).
And the former petri dish unit - the two bedroom - is making significant progress. Old carpet gone, every inch cleaned with a toothbrush (okay, many toothbrushes) , fresh paint top to bottom, new flooring throughout, some architectural upgrades (the afore-mentioned new kitchen cabinets, built-in closets in bedrooms, laminate flooring in living room, carpeting elsewhere).... we are getting there. Couple more cosmetic touches and we'll be calling Better Homes and Gardens to send a photographer for our two-page spread. Then we start the advertising/talking to people/showing routine and the search is on for a good tenant. And that should happen right about the time Michael takes off again for another - tho mercifully much shorter - bout of off-island travel.
Livin' La Vida Loca, we are.
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