Monday, August 29, 2011

Tenant/IRS

I had a potential renter show up over here an hour or so ago. I knew he was coming, I didn't know he had just flown in from Ohio. He looked around the house and then the "yard" area. No grass. No. No grass. Just the pockets of it growing that I don't want. I love grass, don't get me wrong, but in these parts at this time of year? A yard of grass is watering it daily and mowing it frequently. If you don't water it daily in the heat, it's either going to die or it's not going to look very good.

I made the decision early on not to have grass, and then later decided on a small patch of it. The dogs ruined it and I decided that decorative landscaping rock is the way to go. As many other Phoenicians also do.

So we come back inside and talking for a while. He was honest, if nothing else: the inside of your house is beautiful, the outside, I don't like it. Why? There's no grass!! Yes, I can imagine coming from Ohio you are used to seeing grass EVERYWHERE. You will see grass here, yes, but you will definitely NOT see it everywhere. The common landscaping theme here is very nice looking, decorative landscaping rock.

Many homes that do have grass don't have their entire property surrounded with it. They'll have a patch of it for looks. There are areas with irrigation that have entire properties surrounded with grass, yes. There are houses that install the sprinkler systems and have grass all around, yes, but the majority of landscaping in the Phoenix area is rock, not grass.

Just an FYI. He wasn't happy with it, no biggies. I'll be happy to get a 3rd renter in here, yes, but I am not desperate - or if I was - I wouldn't show it to a potential renter, that's for sure.

I had another call today that wanted to come see it tomorrow. He asked a lot of questions, which I happily answered all of them. He sounded comfortable with it and we set tomorrow for him to come over and that was the end of that call. 2 minutes later, he calls back: Do you have dogs? I'm afraid of dogs. My ads plainly state that not only do I have dogs, I have very LARGE dogs. It's conspicuous, it's plainly stated. Well, that put that guy off.

I have yet another guy that might come over, but only if I'm awake. He wants to show up at 9:00 pm.

So, this room is being stubborn. I'll get it rented, of that I am confident, I just don't know how much longer it will take. It's near the end of the month, I am hoping to get increased hits because people are looking to move at the end of any given month.

IRS. Well, their site said my refund would be sent on the 26th. So today, I was thinking, hmmm: maybe it will get here? Nooooooo, no way are they that efficient. I get home and check my mail: 3 checks for the 3 years that I filed.

I ended up with more than I expected out of that haul, so, good to get something to buffer the account a bit.

That's it.

G'nite.

ben

Monday 8/29/2011

Monday
Well I got lost in a sea of online news and here it is, only a few minutes before work start. I can say one thing here: I am getting really tired of seeing the bright red advisory on the weather site I go to stating that Phoenix is yet again under a heat advisory.

They tell you to stay indoors. Great, if you have an office job.

Craigslist scammers are getting a little better at their replies to ads. Instead of the humanitarian nurse moving from London, now it's someone that is local that is getting a job here, moving from other state. Or they are from the area you are in and are just looking to move to another room.

But, the scammers writing those ads are mostly from other countries and it's easy to spot their spelling errors and grammatical "inflections" that only come from a foreignor.

Allegedly, however, 2 people are wanting to come look at the room today. We'll see how that pans out.

I watched George W. Bush on the Nat Geo channel last night giving a run through of what the day was like on 9/11. It was pretty amazing stuff, but I am not a Bush hater. Bush haters STILL blame him for the economic mess we are in.

Anyway, work day here.....
g'day.

ben

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