My job as supervisor. . .

Today the window guys arrived right on time. . . 9 a.m. We are having all new replacement windows put into a duplex. Ten windows, then they will wrap all the sashes on those and the sliding glass door, so there is never any trim to paint. Yay!!!!! They will have all the windows in by 10:30 and be done by 1 p.m. This is the second duplex we've had done. They did one last year for us and we are so pleased with the results. The tenants are very happy with the windows and they aren't drafty like the old ones. If you are going to have rentals and keep good tenants, you must maintain your properties and that is what we strive to do. This is the same duplex we had to replace the roof on this year. Ouch! We had not planned that expense, as the roof was only 8 years old. Terry's mother had it put on and without someone supervising the work, there were some things done incorrectly. As a result, the heavy snows here this past winter created a terrific snowload on the roof. Some decking had been run incorrectly and some rafter repair done haphazardly; and, as a result, we had a swag in the roof. Probably would have been devastating if we have another winter like last, so we made the decision to replace the entire roof. It is a good thing we did, because it was poorly done underneath. It is now repaired properly and will last 30+ years. This duplex has gotten all the attention this year. We just had a central air unit go out on the one side and the bad news is it must be completely replaced. . . there is no fixing it. But the unit there lasted 30 years. We do have a yearly maintenance we do on the heating/AC systems, so that has no doubt increased the longevity.

Our window guy cannot believe the condition of our apartments. He believes we are too cheap on the rent, but there is a reason for that. If your rent is reasonable, you can get good people with steady incomes and they won't want to leave. If you charge too much, you get people for a year or two, then they move on. We don't like turnover, so when we get tenants, we like to keep them. A little less for rent pays off by having tenants who are long term and take care of the properties as they would their own home. And there is considerable expense when you have to keep renting and re-renting. We love our tenants and they love us.

Well, gotta' run back down there and check on the progress. Will take a picture or two.

Till next time. . .

Dale