I Love Rentals!

Blog Moving....please update your feed!

2009-01-26T11:50:00.001-06:00

I Love Rentals! has been a fun blog. I plan to keep it moving, but I can't keep it moving in two different locations.

This blog has moved over to www.jessicahickok.com.

Please update your feedreaders to the following feed: http://feeds2.feedburner.com/sugarcube.

Thanks for following me!

Did You Intend to Flip That House?

2008-10-07T09:16:00.006-05:00

I recently had a chat with my broker about flipping houses and how the tax rules apply. Now, this isn't a blog post on tax laws and 1031 exchanges. No, if you want to catch those details, then you have to get in touch with Paul, he's got the smarts on that angle.

Flipping houses is all the rage these days. Yes, you can make a lot of money doing that but are you flipping houses for your regular income? If so, you better be prepared to pay the income taxes on it. The rules all changed back on July 9, 2006 and those of you who are into flipping houses need to ask yourself the simple question of "did you intend to flip that house?" If you did, then pay up to Uncle Sam. Here is a good article of the rules, although with the recent bailouts, they don't seem to have worked so well. (I'm just saying...)

Now the gamut we run at Dizmang Properties is a little different. In a nutshell, our investors purchase some disgusting, stinky and oftentimes creepy houses in Springfield, MO. They invest some money into it to fix it up, a la fix-and-flip style...EXCEPT, they don't flip it and sell it. They then hold it.

They hold it and put a Tenant in it for a few years. The Tenant is buying them that building by paying the rent and it's working out well for the Investor. If they go to sell it, then they do a 1031 Tax Deferred Exchange on the property (again, ask Paul for details) to avoid paying capital gains taxes. And yes, there are all sorts of rules to go along with that as well.

I am not a tax specialist or attorney (obviously). Nor am I financial planner. My job is to be the REALTOR/Property Manager. I help find the houses that need a little tlc, plan out budgets for remodeling, manage the property and pay the bills on it. I just wanted to give you something to think about as the end of the year approaches.

Do I really hate rentals? Nah...

2008-08-28T10:46:00.009-05:00

Yesterday, Paul and I taught a 90 minute class at The Greater Springfield Board of REALTORS on "Tips & Tricks to Managing Rental Properties" in Springfield, MO. There were probably 60 REALTORS there to hear what we had to say about managing rental properties, hear our war stories and share theirs. Or maybe they were just there for the free lunch that was served, who knows, but at least they showed up.

What ended up being a great class then turned into several e-mails from attendees later that day requesting more info and such. Which is great as I love reading people's comments on the topic. However, I got one e-mail from a fellow REALTOR that asked me if I really "hated rentals" the way I said I had on one of my online profiles. Wow! How unprofessional of me to make a flippant comment on "hating" rentals.

I guess I should probably change the comment since it really isn't true.

It's actually the bad tenants that drive me crazy! There was a time (before Amanda came on the scene) where I was so inundated with property management phone calls, that every little issue was just a tenant that was whining about something. I was managing about 115 units almost completely by myself while Paul was out selling houses. Come to find out, I was letting the issues and work get the best of me and wasn't managing my job too well. (Hindsight is always 20/20!) So, what started as an office joke about how much I just love rentals and how there is such a thin line between love and hate has now turned into "Jessica Hates Rentals" campaign and therefore it has carried over into my online blogging world. And I never meant for it to.

I'm sure that 600+ units=$30K income is a great thing (although we are not quite there...600 tenants yes, but only 200 actual rental units). And I'm sure that the income in a slow market is most definitely worth it. However, my biggest suggestion is that you have staff in place to assist you as you grow your property management business and a strong procedure/plan in place for how to handle issues as they arise. Kind of like the boy scout motto: "Always Be Prepared". :)

I sure hope that my flippant comment about "hating" rentals doesn't discourage you from getting into property management. It's not all bad and it's actually done me quite well.

The Door Was Unlocked, So I Moved In

2008-07-07T22:00:00.003-05:00

It amazes me how many Tenants think that they can do whatever they want. Their immaturity and know-it-all attitude often shows when they say and do dumb things like this juicy tidbit that I heard today.

We signed a lease with three college students 2 weeks ago. As a typical clause in our lease, we state that we would not give keys and possession until all parties have signed the lease agreement and all monies have been paid. This is the first month's rent and security deposit. So at lease signing, we explain this term of the lease agreement to the 3 new Tenants.

The "kids", yes I use this term because again...their immaturity showed, comes into the office today to pick up keys. I tell them "sorry, no keys for you" since they were not planning on paying the rent. One of them proceeds to tell me that they were told by one of our staff people that he didn't have to pay rent since he already paid the security deposit. Huh!? I tell him no way-no how and then he starts running his mouth about how we didn't explain things right to him and that he has already moved in to the property. What?! I ask him how this happened, and he said "well... uh... the door was unlocked and I could only move in on Friday, so I went ahead and moved my stuff in." I was floored.

I can not believe the audacity of people that just do what they want to do when they want to do it. Am I the only one who feels that this is another ridiculous, selfish, stupid thing that people do to get what they want? Do they just feel entitled to whatever is around, whether they have paid for it or not?

I got Paul involved in this one and boy oh boy did he read this Tenant the riot act. He immediately sent our maintenance guy over to lock up and secure the house since these morons were now trespassing.

After realizing that we are not the run-of-the-mill slumlord, the Tenants eventually come up with the rent money to get the keys because they were worried about their "stuff" that was already moved into the house. Later when I ask Steve what kind of "stuff" was already moved into the house. He says "oh not much, just a marijuana clock, some incense and a condom sitting on a coffee table."

Hmmmm....do you think that we are gonna have problems with these Tenants?

Fire!! In A Sensational Way

2008-06-19T19:10:00.006-05:00

My day started out on a stressful note this morning. I was running late with kids and in the rush hour traffic, I get a phone call from Amanda on my cell phone. She says "we've had a fire". My heart panics, thinking I can't do this again! So I immediately call Paul and sure enough, he already on the phone with the fire marshal.

This fire was all over the morning newscasts and I should have caught it when they talked about the 800 block of North Forrest Street, but since it was such a crazy morning I guess I just missed it. Supposedly there have been several, recent arson attempts in this part of Springfield, with some crazy teens making molotov cocktails. A molotov cocktail is a fire bomb (of sorts) with a beer bottle, large quantities of gasoline, a rag and a match. The bomb is thrown at a house and set to explode and any manufacturing or posession of such fire bombs are considered a felony. I guess this rental house was a target of one of these arson attempts and the glorious recipient of one of these "cocktails".

Now, granted, this is a dangerous situation and I don't mean to downplay what happened. However, what is so ridiculous is the way the morning news over-sensationalized this story. As scary as a fire bomb sounds...this is what we got:

Yeah, that's what I thought too...over sensationalized. Just another day in the life of property management.

You've Been Red-Listed

2008-03-27T16:29:00.003-05:00

I'm not quite sure what "red-listed" means, but it's a good term that just slipped out while talking to once again another nut-job in this property management business.

Last week, we had a Tenant and her sister come by and fill out and application for one of our smaller units. She told us that it would be her and her sister living there. Oh and the boyfriend too. The boyfriend wasn't discovered until later after prying a little bit and asking more questions. The tenants listed an address here in Springfield of an apartment they were living in as a current address. Then, they listed another woman's name as their current landlord. When we called the "current landlord" listed to check references, we reached a woman who couldn't quite give us the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. (We could just tell). Now this "current landlord" said that the home was a single family home and the tenants lived upstairs, but the address listed an Apartment K number. So we decided to investigate a little bit further. It was a nice day, and we drove over there. We saw no single family home. This is what we saw:

Like I said...this ain't no single family home. So we check into it at the property manager's office on-site. When we explain the situation, she (the real landlord) gets a surprised look on her face and sure enough, she tells us that the "current landlord" listed on our application is one of her tenants. Another a-ha! moment for us!

So we stir it up a little bit more, and we decide to call the fake landlord back and ask her more questions about her single family home. We tell her that it's not quite what we envisioned as a single family home, and she has the audacity to say "well did you check the east or the west side?" Huh?!

After confronting the fake landlord about her lies, we decide to red-list her and the tenants that had applied for the property. Red list is our way of putting together a list of fraudulent people. Therefore, this serves as a warning to all red-list quality people out there. Once again, don't mess with Dizmang Properties.

Desperately Seeking Sump Pumps!

2008-03-19T08:18:00.003-05:00

This blog really isn't the weather channel blog. But for some reason I seem to keep writing about snow, ice storms, a crazy pendulum swinging temperatures. Believe it or not, weather plays a huge part in managing over 200 rental properties.

Over the last 24 hours, Springfield has received 7+ inches of rain flooding out roadways, bridges and basements of homes. Yep, it even made national coverage on The Today Show this morning...only I don't get it....why didn't they send that yummy Matt Lauer to our neck of the woods??

Our 9-1-1 Tenant Emergency Line was ringing off the hook last night and this morning. We have several basements flooded causing hot water tanks and furnaces to quit working. Of course, it also adds up to Tenant complaints, but that was to be expected.

So now we are desperately seeking sump pumps! All the local hardware stores are out. We try our hardest to get our Tenants problems fixed quickly. However, at times like this we certainly appreciate their patience. We'll get you fixed up as soon as possible. Just keep your floaties on.

A Company with an Attitude

2008-03-16T10:51:00.007-05:00

Property Management can be a tough business. It can be hard when there are some Tenants that lie to you, destroy your house, don't return your phone calls and even worse...don't pay their rent. But if you have the right attitude you can certainly deal with anything that a quirky Tenant throws your way.

Therefore, I love this company's subliminal attitude..."F-Them". Do you know how many times I wish I could just throw that out there to some of our Tenants? (What?? Like that's a big surprise?)

It's probably completely unintentional and in fact, I have heard that this company is a really good property management firm. You just can't help but smile when you read their sign and think, I wish I had thought of that company name.

Don't act surprised by my attitude. You've read this blog. Whether you're a Tenant or a Property Manager, you've thought this at one point. The whole attitude is a two-way street. So, we drop the attitude and adhere by The Golden Rule and we'll all get along. Yeah right. EFTHAT. :)

Photo Credit: PatrickSays. Thank you!

Could You Schedule My Court Eviction for After 5pm?

2008-02-18T17:56:00.003-06:00

I'm thinking about re-naming this blog to "Dumb Things That Tenants Say".

Besides the occasional blog-hater comment (usually written anonymously by a past hot-head Tenant) that I receive and delete every so often, I usually get a really good response off this blog. Maybe it's because I keep writing about the idiotic things I hear in property management. Seriously, I don't hate my job or these people, I just think it's hilarious when Tenant's say things that they think makes them sound smart.

So, we posted eviction notices today. And as usual, I get a flurry of phone calls from angry, embarrassed Tenants that want to scream at me. They usually say things like how "unfair I am being" or how they think that "I'm not working with them." They just don't seem to understand why I won't let them live there for free. Like I've said before, I'm not asking them to do anything they haven't already agreed to do when they signed the lease agreement. Today I got a call and the Tenant screams at me with the above mentioned ramblings. And then she calls back to scream at me some more and says that if I'm going to file for eviction, then I better file the court case to occur before 8am or after 5pm because if she leaves her new job she will get fired. Yeah, okay. I'm sure any judge would be happy to hear a case only during the times that are convenient for a dead-beat Tenant that hasn't paid their rent. I calmly try to tell the Tenant that her suggestion is not an option...if she has the money then just pay the rent and no one will have to worry about going to court over this issue. And she screams at me "you suck" and hangs up on me.

"You suck!" Ooohhhh. Good one.

Objection! Bring It On.

2008-01-27T18:34:00.000-06:00

When are people gonna learn not to go up against Dizmang Properties? I love it when a Tenant doesn't get their way and then they get mad and immediately throw around the terms "I'm Gonna Call My Attorney". Yet when you ask them the name of their attorney you get a response of "...um...uh....I'm not going to tell you that."

What a bunch of crap. If you, as a Tenant, was really trying to get an issue resolved, then you would let us know your attorney's name so that we could proceed forward with the issue and get it worked out. That's why when a Tenant tries to threaten us with the lawyer bit, we just say "Great! Here is the name of our attorney, who is yours?" (We've got a couple of different ones we work with, so if you really want his name, then leave me a comment!). It is pretty typical that a Tenant is just sue-happy and doesn't really have an attorney if they don't give us a name.

Lawsuit threats don't scare us. First of all, we are an upstanding, honest property management firm and we don't do things unfairly or unjustly to our Tenants. We abide by the terms of the lease. The lease, a legally binding document, is pretty clear (and written by our attorney) and follows the letter of the law. We are not doing anything or asking our Tenant's to do anything that we all haven't already agreed to do when the lease was signed.

I say all this because I'm just irritated with a current Tenant that keeps sending us e-mails over a silly issue that is already outlined in the lease. This Tenant is just being ridiculous and they know that they have no case. So, here is a warning to everyone else that wants to threaten us with a lawsuit...don't go up against Dizmang Properties.

Just a Few 2007 Cheers & Jeers

2007-12-31T11:49:00.000-06:00

As we usher in 2008, here are the "Cheers & Jeers" for our office for 2007:

JEER! January Ice Storm. Knocking out power to 70% of Springfield for 10 days was not a fun time in the world of property management where we manage 175+ rental units and had several fit-to-be-tied Tenants that took their anger with Mother Nature out on us. Really, we didn't cause this ice storm.

CHEER! Amanda Myers came to work for us in February and manage the rental properties and passed her real estate test making her an official real estate agent to sign leases and manage rental property.

CHEER! It has been a successful year for Investors as we purchased 14 units and gained 3 new prominent investors and their properties.

JEER! To the irresponsible Tenants that burned one of our houses down to the ground with their careless smoking in January 2007.

CHEER! To all of the Tenants who paid their rent on time this year. Thank you!

JEER! The merging of The Signature Bank to Bancorp South. Thanks for jacking up the fees, locking us out of our online banking at inconvenient times, and for taking a leap backwards 5 years to a non-real-time data system. What a pain! So sorry BXS, snooze-you-lose out on us keeping our high dollar accounts with your pathetic bank.

CHEER! To Web 2.0 technology like, Facebook, ActiveRain, Twitter and blogging that has allowed me to connect with all sorts of people in the real estate industry and be inspired by them.

JEER! To the slump in the housing market. Come on people, let's stimulate the economy and buy some houses.

CHEER! To a wonderful boss that has put up with me and crazy antics this year. Thank you.

Something Around Here is Bound to be "YouTube Worthy"

2007-11-28T14:52:00.000-06:00

As if my obsession for videos isn't already obnoxious and out of control, I have a new toy, opps...I mean TOOL, to aid in my weird desire to catch everything on video. Today I got the new Flip Video camera. What a handy dandy little contraption that fits in my purse, powers up in less than 3 seconds and then "flips" out a USB to transfer the video to my computer (or YouTube account) all in a heartbeat.

I run into so many obscure things every day just driving around, kind of like the guy who was dodging cars in the Campbell & Battlefield intersection the other day with no shoes or socks on and in 28 degree weather. That stuff deserves to be posted on YouTube. Kind of like Fat Man on a Scooter. That was hilarious too.

It will be so much easier for me to catch Tenant's stupidity when they throw parties, destroy (or burn down) our houses, have drug paraphanalia in the house, or allow unapproved pets to reside in our rental properties. I "flip" out the video camera as I am doing inspections and document the lease violations. Then I get to "flip" out on the Tenants as I show them and their co-signers the documentation on film and listen to their sad and pathetic excuses of how they didn't know it was a violation of their lease. (Can you tell I am bitter?) Watch out now. I get sweet revenge with a video camera and a little YouTube action.

It was also be great for following Paul around and catch his every eccentric move as I make him the video blog king of the real estate world. He "flips" out and so do I (with my FlipVideo camera!), now you really see him in raw form...and you only thought you had seen it all when he was in a hot tub!

So Much For Live Blogging from Vegas

2007-11-19T19:48:00.000-06:00

OK, so I know what you're thinking..."uh...what happened to the 'live blogging from Vegas' thing?" I'm sorry, I got wrapped up in the quick trip to Vegas and didn't get to blog on this particular blog. But if you missed my whole "Seth Godin rant" on my personal blog, don't miss it.

Overall, the NAR convention went really good, we actually got a lot of work done. And if Amanda, or I, ever feel the need to quit our day job, we're certainly glad that the Playboy Store is now hiring at Ceasar's Palace. We just had to get our picture taken outside of it!

We spent a lot of time on the trade show floor. We got a lot of good ideas, good marketing plans, and learned a lot about different vendors. We were surprised that Property Automation (the makers of our Tenant Pro 7 software) were bought out by Domin-8. That's not necessarily a bad thing, we were just surprised and we wonder how their customer and tech support will stand up to that of Property Automation. Not that they have big shoes to fill.

So now is the time to focus on the year-end before I start planning for 2008. You know me, I'm a checklist maker. I'll keep you posted.

Ready To Fly

2007-11-12T19:58:00.001-06:00

Here we are, ready to fly to Las Vegas. Yes, that is me, Paul & Amanda waiting to board the plane, sucking off every bit of bandwidth we can on the free wi-fi! And thus we begin our live blogging event from the National Association of REALTORS annual convention in Las Vegas. It's a late flight, but we will catch up again with you when we hit the city!

Viva Las Vegas!

2007-11-10T18:29:00.000-06:00

If you've been keeping up with my work blog for awhile now, you probably remember my live blogging posts from the National Association of REALTORS annual convention which was in New Orleans in 2006.

This year it is in Las Vegas and I'm getting really excited about it as we prepare to leave on Monday. There are over 25,000 REALTORS that attend this event and I usually come back ready to implement some big ideas for our business. This year, there should be more of a focus on Web 2.0 ideas for REALTORS. We won't be there but a few days this next week, but I fully intend on taking lots of pictures, videos and posting my plans and ideas on this blog, much in the same way I did last year when Jay and I went to the convention. Amanda is going with us this year, and I'm anxious to get her up and rolling in the real estate/property management world. She's been doing an awesome job so I'm glad she is getting to experience this. I'll keep you posted!

Passing The Torch

2007-11-04T07:46:00.000-06:00

I have loved working my job in Property Management. After all, I Love Rentals, right?! But since Dizmang Properties has grown to the point where we are managing over 200 rental units and therefore over 600 Tenants, I just can’t do it all anymore.

Now despite all of the rumors…I am not quitting my job. But things are changing. Now that Amanda has got her real estate license, she can officially sign leases with new Tenants. This is working out great, because she is not only coordinating the Tenant Maintenance Requests & Issues, but she is pretty much handling anything Tenant related. I am still continuing to train Amanda in managing these properties, which will take some time. But, the good news is that she is catching on quick. I am still going to keep managing the office, do the bookkeeping, but I am going to focus more on finding the investment properties for our Owners in addition to the web design work and the projects with the Greater Springfield Board of REALTORS.

Now don’t get me wrong, if you’re a Tenant, I will still help you out. But don’t worry, you’re in good hands with Amanda too!

Winter Tips for Tenants

2007-10-24T09:19:00.001-05:00

To All Tenants of Dizmang Properties:

It's that time of year again, time to prepare for winter and we would certainly appreciate all of our Tenant's help. While you are renting one of our properties, we wanted to remind you of a few little things that were agreed upon when you signed the lease.

1. Be sure to change your furnace filters every three (3) months. This is a good way to keep your furnace running efficiently, therefore resulting in lower utility bills. If you do not know how to do this, please call our office and we will be happy to come out and show you how.

2. Change the batteries in all of the smoke detectors. It is extremely important that there are fully charged batteries in the smoke detectors at all times. Never remove the batteries, unless you are changing them.

3. Disconnect any water hoses that are still connected to outside water spigots. If water hoses are left connected to the outside water spigot, the pipes could burst in freezing temperatures and this repair would be at your expense, due to negligence. In addition to this, make that all crawl space vent covers are closed.

4. Yard maintenance is the Tenant’s responsibility. Remember that leaves in the yard must be raked up and properly disposed of. Leaves that are left on the lawn will cause the grass to die and lack of yard maintenance on the Tenant’s part is a violation of your signed lease agreement.

Of course, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me at the office. We certainly appreciate having you as a Tenant and we can't thank you enough for helping us take steps to keep your property in a good condition for you to live in.

Lovin' Craigslist!

2007-10-15T10:53:00.000-05:00

Everyone has talked about Craigslist and I've been on there, however before now I really wasn't that impressed with it. I thought it was a little hard to navigate at first (I kept ending up in the San Francisco area listings) and I also thought it was a little boring...all text gets hard to read sometimes.

But that has all changed. I started posting all of Dizmang Properties available rentals on there in the Springfield, MO listings and I am amazed at just how many people are searching and finding property Craigslist. We have received all sorts of e-mails, phone calls and inquiries about our properties. Now of course you get some morons, but almost all of the inquiries have been legit. The fact that you can post for FREE blows away the whole advertising in the newspaper (which is way too expensive anyway). We get a better response from Craigslist. And because it's free, I am now going to start selling all the crap that is laying around my house...forget eBay, they charge me a fee and I just want to get rid of it!

The Future Darwin Award Winners

2007-10-06T19:38:00.000-05:00

Destructive, obnoxious, immature tenants who destroy our property have hit us again. This time they took a cheap shot at our family. If you have a beef with us as a management company, then fight with us not our family. They destroyed our signs with red spray paint and said obscene things about members of our family. It's time to grow up. But they never will.

It's okay, I believe in something called karma. What goes around comes around. And they're gonna get what's coming to them.

I take comfort in knowing that these losers will be the next Darwin Award winners.

Raising Money Via Video for JDRF!

2007-09-06T23:27:00.000-05:00

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) chapter in St. Louis is having their annual, "Walk to Cure Diabetes" on September 30, 2007 and we're all getting involved. When I say all of us, I mean 18 of us coming from both Springfield, MO and Omaha, NE. I'm sure you're familiar with the (417) Dwellings! Video Blog that Paul Dizmang and I produce, so then you would probably expect nothing less than a video from us on raising money for Type 1 diabetes research. My personal goal is to raise $1,000 by September 30th and I'd love your help! You can donate securely online thru the JDRF site.

In addition to participating in the walk, I'm also actively pursuing bringing a chapter of the JDRF here to Springfield. There are only 2 chapters in the state of Missouri and we have chosen the St. Louis chapter for assistance in helping to bring it locally. If you, or someone you know, is either affected by Type 1 diabetes or is looking for a job in a non-profit organization, please contact me as I am in the beginning stages of pulling together a support team for those of us who are affected by this pain-in-the-fingertips disease.

If you don't know much about Type 1 diabetes, then I encourage you to read this article. It is very detailed (including pictures for those who don't like to read!) but easy reading. By the end of the article you will have a thorough knowledge of the disease and maybe you'll feel more inclined to help us raise money for research to find a cure.

My Top 5 Favorite Web Sites (Right Now)

2007-08-23T19:22:00.000-05:00

www.stumbleupon.com
Install the toolbar, set up your profile then find a bunch of different web sites that are right up your alley. It's good for times when you're bored, but even better for times when you need a little inspiration or pick-me-up.
www.youtube.com
There are all sorts of video sites out there, but this one still remains tops with me. Have you seen the (417) Dwellings! videos? They are awesome. But, I am not biased or anything.
www.twitter.com
Want to know what all of your peeps have been up lately? Get everyone logged into Twitter and it's the status updates you have always wanted to know.
www.linkedin.com
While Paul & I have been starting up our Web 2.0 consulting services and seminar productions for REALTORS, I have found that you can get all sorts of good connections at LinkedIn.
www.netvibes.com
It's all of my favorite web sites and online actions set up on one page. Forget having to sign in to 10-12 sites individually, just do it on one page by creating a netvibes page. It's free, that's always nice too.

And my ultimate favorite.... www.getpaul.com. Well, duh. These are just a few of my favorites right now. They change often, but I thought I'd share them with you. Have fun!

My A/C isn't working and it's too hot in here!

2007-08-13T10:58:00.000-05:00

Ahhh....Tenants and their emergency calls and demands during 100°+ weather. I think the only one that is working harder than me during these hot months is our heat & air guy, Mike Bankston, and the poor A/C unit at these rental properties.

I had 3 emergency-line calls this weekend and now on Monday morning, more Tenants are coming in saying..."my place won't cool below 75°".

Seriously, 75°??? Are you that big of a baby?? It's over 100 degrees outside and you're worried about your place not being cooler than 75? Just be glad that your a/c unit is working!

Of course it is going to take a little more time to cool your home down. But here is a tip: the more you push the thermostat down to get it cooler, faster in your home, you're going to end up paying that much more in utilities. The cooler you try to make it, the harder your a/c will work, risking the possibility of it going out all together. Believe me, then you will be sweating it out at more than 75°. Come on people, respect your a/c unit and how hard it is working.

And quit complaining...it only makes me more irritable than I already am due to high temps in the Ozarks. Be glad that you have power to run that a/c, because you were all just complaining to me 6 months ago, during the ice storm, about being too cold. Ride it out people, it's the Ozarks, get used to the weather.

Dizmang Properties Team Say Cheese!

2007-07-27T11:17:00.000-05:00

Obviously...we're on it. We had our team pictures taken yesterday and we had so much fun as a group (although we're lookin' pretty rough in this picture!).

I am finally feeling peace at the fact that we have a solid team in place that works well together. There are no issues, we gel together and every one of us treats these properties as if they were our own. Our Investors are lucky that we're on it, even though we don't look so alert here.

Thanks to Amanda & Steve (front row) for being part of our team and making the property management side run smoothly. Thanks to Jay (back row, left) for helping us find properties and get ready for our big Investor Meeting in a few weeks. And to our fearless leader in the center (Paul), thanks for your continued direction, motivation and for treating us so well. Me, (back row, right) I am just going to sit back and let you guys do all the work. Ha-ha.

Keep an (open) eye on our web site, the new pictures will be posted soon. Trust me...this outtake one won't be showing up.

Just A Dip Reading "The Dip"

2007-07-19T19:47:00.000-05:00

When do I finally say "that's it, it's not working, I quit"?

This book by Seth Godin gave me some good insight. You see I am in the middle of some major planning and restructuring both personally and professionally. I've blogged about my passion for Web 2.0, video blogging, web design and new technology for REALTORS. I have so many good ideas and plans but for some reason can't get them off the ground because I'm drowning in property management responsibilities and dealing with deadbeat tenants.

Maybe I just have a big head and think that I can do this. (Change the way I do things and make some money!) Or maybe I think that I am more than I really am. OK, this is just a pity party for myself. I guess I am acting like a dip.

So although I've got some good insight, I don't have any idea of which direction to go in yet. Thanks for letting me vent.

You Don't Pay You Can't Stay--- Posting Eviction Notices

2007-07-14T14:58:00.000-05:00

Tenants irritate me. There are a few deadbeats that we rent to that never pony up their rent payment until all of sudden we post a notice.

Yesterday we had to post 12 notices. For the 160 units that we manage, that is the most that I've ever had to post at one time. I gave them until Monday at noon to pay up or we file.

Our Tenant's rent is due on the 1st of each month. If they don't pay by the 12th, then we post a notice giving them approximately 48 hours to pay up or our attorney will file with the court for a court ordered eviction. This is a tedious process that only leads to us getting a judgment of Rent & Possession of the property. Once we have that, the Greene County Sheriff accompanies us to the property within 24 hours and assists us in physically moving the Tenant and their stuff to the curb. It's really not a pretty site, but the Tenants have had more than enough opportunities to pay us what was owed and avoid this hassle.

So here we are, the 14th of the month, eviction notices are posted and I'm already getting angry phone calls from the Tenants we had to post notices to. There really is no need to call my office and cuss out me or anyone on the Dizmang Properties staff. We're just doing our job, and we aren't asking you (the Tenant) to do anything that you haven't already agreed to do when you signed the lease. Sorry, but if you don't pay you can't stay.

I've Stumbled And Can't Get Up!

2007-07-13T09:11:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite web time wasters is Stumble Upon. I've known about Stumble Upon for quite some time now, however I've never really had a chance to experience it and now I've stumbled and I can't get up!

Maybe it's because my boss is out of town until Monday. Maybe it's because I have no motivation to work. Maybe it's because I have this obsession to improve our online presence in our web site and video blogs and I'm obsessed with seeing what else is out there. Who knows, but I am completely addicted. You can stumble upon so many different web sites (all tailored to your liking) that can consume your time like crazy. All it does is install a tiny little button on your IE or Firefox toolbar and you click on it and it takes you to the next random, inspiring web page. When in all actuality, it is a good thing for my job, because then we can stay on the cutting edge of web technology.

So therefore you now know...if you get my voicemail...I'm really not away from my desk....I've just stumbled and can't get up!

A Therapeutic Kill-Your-Computer Moment

2007-07-12T08:47:00.000-05:00

We've all been there (me more than others I am sure)...the moment that we are ready to throw our laptop out the window of the 35th story of the skyscraper building. Yeah...you know what I am talking about. It shuts down, it gives out, it freezes up, and it never works quite right, especially when you need it to.

I have found a very therapeutic site that will help your computer kill itself and give you a good laugh at the same time. Click on the picture and watch your icons go to war.

Now all I need is to see some of my Tenants on that screen go to war on themselves. :)

Time is Tickin' Away

2007-07-11T16:03:00.000-05:00

No doubt time is flying by. I always think that when they take the fireworks tents down after the 4th of July. This year has gone by fast.

We (Dizmang Associates) have got a lot of big projects coming up and lots of big deadlines. In addition to our normal projects of lease renewals on at least 50% of our properties, rent increases, mid-year reports, we also have some big seminar projects coming up. Our Web 2.0 seminar back in June was a huge hit.

Now we're planning our annual Dizmang Investor's Seminar for the middle of August. We've stumbled across some awesome rental investment opportunities that our group may be very interested in. We also take that time to go plans, forecasts and the like for our group. Each individual Investor gets their own personalized book of reports for their houses. It's a pretty amazing deal.

We also have our all day seminar on Web 2.0 Training on a Shoestring Budget that's coming in early fall. It will be open to the public and will be an all day training seminar for $199/person. For those of you interested in video blogging, podcasting and the nature of the Web 2.0 beast, this is the time to take advantage of our work and find out how to do it yourself. If you're interested, you can always e-mail me.

I'll keep you posted and be sure to give you the inside track as more details progress.

Making Friends with Trademark Properties

2007-06-30T13:51:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite shows in "The Real Estate Pros" formerly known as "Flip This House and The Real Deal" on the TLC channel. Richard Davis and his protoge, Ginger, do business the same way that Paul and I do business (in most aspects).

We don't "flip" houses the way these guys do. But the hunt & kill method of finding nasty old run down houses and fixing them up is the same. Our Investors just end up keeping the houses and renting them out to Tenants. And where I business differs just a little bit is that we manage the rental properties after we fix them up.

If you're interested in flipping houses and such, these guys at Trademark Properties are definitely pros to watch on TV. Here is Springfield, the pros are Dizmang Properties.

Richard and Ginger are just down-to-earth people that are doing what we do. I've even made them my MySpace friends!

Livin' in a VAN (an organized one) Down By The River

2007-06-28T14:49:00.000-05:00

Do you ever wonder how you got things done with out the help of a trusty office colleague? That’s how I feel about Amanda. Amanda started working for us almost 5 months ago and she is awesome. No one in her position has ever picked up as much as she has so quickly. And I wonder what I ever did without her.

Amanda reminds me a lot of myself. She takes a lot of pride and ownership in the work she does. She cares about the Tenants, the Maintenance Staff, and the company as a whole. And she cares about our Owners. Amanda truly is an awesome asset to Dizmang Properties and personally I’m really happy to have her here and can see her taking on a lot more responsibility and really rising up to the challenge in the future.

She, like myself and the other employees, would love to make more money. None of us want to live in a van down by the river (Matt Foley/Chris Farley of SNL 1993-1997). She also knows that our Owners/Investors want to make more money too. None of us are going to make more money if we don’t run a tight, organized, efficient ship. Amanda is making it a mission of hers to organize our maintenance staff, tools and our maintenance van.

And she did it.

She took hold of our rentals maintenance van (a.k.a. “The Red Dragon”) and cleaned it out after 4 years of piling up dirt, grime & lost tools. Wow! I’ve never had an employee do that all in the name of efficiency! She did great and I admire her for the hard work she did to make sure that we all run more organized so that we can fix up our rental properties maintenance issues quicker and be on to the next project. We’ll all certainly make more money that way and worse case, if we are living in a van down by the river, it will be organized.

Amanda – you’re awesome. Thanks for all you do around here!

RealEstate/PropertyManager Crunch

2007-06-25T12:52:00.000-05:00

I couldn’t help it, my wheels starting turning when I read an article on Michael Arrington (TechCrunch Blogger) in this month’s Wired Magazine. Did you see the article?

In this article, Arrington said that he has a goal to create 15-20 different spin-offs of his highly successful TechCrunch Blog such as MusicCrunch, SoftwareCrunch, TelComCrunch, etc. The verdict is still out on whether or not he is going to hire “journalists working from the outside” or “players working from the inside”. This is where my wheels started spinning. Dizmang could be a the RealEstate/Property Management Crunch blogger. Because, I would consider our (417) Dwellings! Blog as a “player working from the inside” as we document the crazy-ness of our day-in-day-out managing of rental properties and tenants. Paul Dizmang has been teaching the Web 2.0 seminar for REALTORS, and he’s always been known as an expert in this field, not a journalist, but a real estate power broker with a lot of knowledge that comes with over 20 years experience. Hmmm…the wheels are turning.

On a side note, I admire Arrington and I loved the article. He admits to being “prone to excess and uncontrolled outbursts…” but also insists that he is “just as passionate and emotional” about what he does. And that is what makes him so successful. Nice work, Captain Crunch. Considering that my current MySpace headline reads “Prone to Meltdowns” and I felt like I was reading an article that accurately portrayed my own feelings towards my work…Arrington and I may have been separated at birth.

Maxin' Out My Hard Drives

2007-06-23T23:59:00.000-05:00

I feel like I have maxed out my credit cards and I am desperately looking for another credit card to transfer the balance to so that I have some “room” on my virtual credit card. OK, this credit card situation that I’m talking about it is all hypothetical. That’s how I feel about my external hard drives. They’re maxed out!

I am still in the process of transferring everything from my PC laptop to my Apple Macbook Pro. There are many ways to transfer the information, but what I have found works best for me in the transfer is the use of an external hard drive. The easiest way that I can do this is to plug in my Western Digital 60 gig Passport external hard drive (see picture below) to the PC, transfer the files to the drive, unplug the drive from the PC and then plug the drive into my Macbook Pro and dumping the much needed files there.

This works great except for when your hard drive is maxed out and full. I’ve had to transfer files that I still need to other external hard drives, key drives, thumb drives and SD cards just to relieve some space on the my WD Passport drive!

Crazy, I know…but I don’t think there is any difference between maxin’ out your credit cards, transferring the balance to another credit card and maxin’ out your hard drive and transferring the bigger files to another drive to save space and give you some breathing room. Ok, maybe there is…it’s called a way too high interest rate!

12 Hours of Daylight Time?!

2007-06-21T16:31:00.000-05:00

Today summer officially rolled in at 1:06pm making this the summer solstice and the longest day of the year (and the hottest one so far). I heard a news story today that said we would have a total of 12 hours of daylight today. 12 hours?! What will I ever do with all of that time?!
Hmmm….let’s see….there is always processing all of those lease renewals, or maybe I could prepare my 110 mortgage payments and have them processed a few days earlier than normal. Or I could go thru all of the seminar feedback forms and start preparations for the next seminar. I could also go thru all of the expired leases and get new ones sent out to the Tenants. There is also that stack of magazines to read, articles, Springfield Business Journals, and the last chapter of that book that I’ve slowly been reading that I still need to get thru and review. I could finish those final walk thrus on the vacant rental properties that need to be done….gosh I’ve got a lot to do.

I think I am just going to go home and sit in the hammock this early evening, drink lemonade and watch my kids play on the swing set. Yeah, now that’s more like it. The one thing that I do know is that all those other things will still be there tomorrow. Tomorrow, the day that there is only 11 hours and 58 minutes of daylight left. :)

S"mac"k Talking about Video Blogging

2007-04-01T15:58:00.000-05:00

As a devout PC user, I am making the switch. I have switched to my very first MacBook Pro laptop in an effort to improve our real estate and property management videos. And I must admit, I am really excited about it!

Video blogging has become a big part of Dizmang Properties. We have been actively blogging and video podcasting since February of 2006 and every day it gets better.

We have done our video podcasts on a shoe string budget. It all began when I got a video iPod for Christmas 2005. You could subscribe to video podcasts on iTunes and watch them on your iPod for free. GeekBrief TV and Rocketboom (during the Amanda Congdon days) were two of my biggest inspirations. I immediately thought to myself..."why can't we as a real estate company be doing that?" I researched and researched how to do this and on my shoe string budget, I grabbed my video camera off the shelf at home and turned it on. I shot video of Paul Dizmang and intended to document what he does as a REALTOR Broker and Property Manager. I then edited the video footage with Windows Movie Maker, created an RSS feed and voila posted our Video Podcasts to iTunes.

Now of course, there were a lot of steps in there that I have left out. I don't want to bore you with the details. However, I want you to expect big things from the (417) Dwellings! video podcast series. They are coming and not because we've got big plans...we have a new, sexy mac computer that is going to be key in producing some awesome videos. Keep up with us, because here we go!

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF)

2007-03-10T18:19:00.000-06:00

I'm on a mission.

Springfield, Missouri desperately needs a local chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) here in the Ozarks. The only chapters in Missouri are in Kansas City and St. Louis. Being a juvenile diabetic myself, I have a strong passion to not only have a place where other type 1 diabetics can connect thru a support group, but where we can locally raise funds to contribute to disease research.

Here's where I am starting:

First, Ty and I have signed up to do the Walk For Diabetes that the JDRF is hosting in St. Louis, MO on 9/30/07. My family will make an effort to raise money for this cause and do the walk. This trip will be two-fold. We will also be making an effort to meet with people of the St. Louis chapter and get an idea of how their organization runs. Please check out of support site for this walk.

Secondly, I am contacting anyone and everyone at the national office in Washington DC to the chapter in St. Louis to see what kind of interest there is in bringing a local chapter to Springfield and what the requirements for this to happen may be.

Third, I am talking to EVERYONE about this cause. I talked to my friend, Heather (who happens to have a lot of experience in running non-profit organizations), who gave me a lot of good insight to think about. I talked to another good friend, Will Worsham (an attorney here in Springfield) who has not only offered to help me get it started but also said that he would gladly volunteer on the board of directors, if needed. He's got a lot of experience with that sort of thing and currently is running his own non-profit organization for Rogersville educators. Will also has a lot of contacts and he gave me some names of several people that are directly impacted by type 1 diabetes. Hopefully these people will be on board and interested in being a member of this organization. And I've talked with my Mom. She has seen and dealt with this disease first hand and the toll that it takes on someone and their family. She will support me and help me if I ask. That and she knows a lot of people who will at the very least...pray for this to happen.

Now I am sure you might be thinking, "what does this have to do with Dizmang Properties?". As you know, this blog has been designated to share my thoughts on my job and the intensity that comes along with working in an ever-growing property management and real estate firm. Although my mission and passion for the JDRF is completely driven by my personal goals, what this does have to do with Dizmang Properties is the fact that Paul Dizmang is the broker/owner of Dizmang Properties. He is my friend and he supports me and my family in everything we do personally. He will not only support me, he will be instrumental in bringing this JDRF organization to Springfield. Which means, that I will also have the support of everyone at the wonderful company that I work for, which is also known to me as my family.

Thank you for reading this post about my mission/passion. I have so much more to say and probably will over many more months and blog postings. To find out more about the JDRF and it's missions, please visit my personal page on their web site.

And God Said, Let There Be Light!

2007-01-24T11:18:00.000-06:00

264 hours of no power. But thank God Almighty that it finally came on yesterday!

I took an extra long, hot shower this morning. I took an extra long time to dry my hair and I have never appreciated my morning coffee such much in my entire life! My house feels so warm and it feels so good to be back. I'm really lucky to have a home to go to. Thank you again to everyone who housed us and put up with us for the last 11 days.

Things at work have been so crazy since the fire and the ice storm that it is still taking time for me to snap back into it. Thank you so much to all of our Tenants, Owners, Investors & Clients who have put up with us during this crazy time.

I am super busy with pulling together 2006 year end reports for our Investors, 1099 tax forms for our Sub-Contractors and making sure that everything is in order for all accountants by January 31, 2007. Back to business as usual.

Going on Day 8

2007-01-20T15:08:00.000-06:00

What a fake smile. I am snuggled up to Ty trying my best to stay warm. Not sure how this picture got taken, but I am delirious now and don't care.

When I posted last Monday, I only thought then was I going to snap. Now we're going on Day 8 of no power and another ice/snow storm is blowing thru again. I am starting to wonder how much more I can take! I owe my Mom & Dad a big, huge thank you for meeting me to take the kids to Omaha so they don't have to deal with this cold stress. I am finding that reading other people's blogs about how they are dealing with the ice storm in our area is quite calming as I commiserate with them.

I love how one Springfield-ian claims that it's better to "look good than feel good". I say that only because I am sure that is one of the many reasons why I am getty edgy. I haven't been able to shower at my own house, I've been wearing the same thing 3 outfits for the last 8 days, and I seriously would love to remove the chipped nail polish on my finger nails. I know it sounds shallow, but I'm beyond worrying about that. Can't you tell by the picture?

I've also looked at other people's pics of the ice storm. OK, that didn't help, it just made me think that this is never gonna end. Which isn't according to the weatherman as he predicts 4-6" of snow is to fall on the Ozarks this evening. As my sister says, "oh snap". Whatever that means. I guess I could use the term "plum give out". Thanks for that one, and nice blog by the way.

OK, now I need to stop reading other people's blogs and snap out of this misery. Be glad I have an internet connection, right? Yeah, only because I am at the office trying desperately to catch up on everything at work, and I find myself doing this kind of stuff. Alright I am logging off of the depressing ice blog searches and I'm going to go look into booking a cruise to somewhere warm. Ahh, that's more like it.

Pull Your Weight

2007-01-15T20:24:00.000-06:00

OK, this post may be a little bit of ranting... OK, OK, a LOT of ranting.

We're going on to day 4 of a terrible ice storm that has hit Springfield. This ice storm began last Friday night and came in 3 different waves over the following 3 days. Although it didn't rain (only a few little sprinkles and snow flurries) today, we are still dealing with the aftermath of this past weekend's ice. As of today, over 65,000 people are still without power.

My power has been out since Saturday morning and here it is Monday night. Of course, we had to seek shelter elsewhere. It's hard to keep 2 little boys under 6 years old warm in a house that is currently at 42 degrees. We're lucky to have good friends in Paul & Brooke Dizmang. And they are lucky they have power. Thanks for letting us take refuge in your warm house! Now I know that the Dizmang's are doing us a favor, but it is still important that we pull our own weight. We certainly don't expect them to entertain us or feed us or take care of us. We will pull our own weight by bringing food, blankets and movies to watch.

In the mean time, when you manage over 140 rental properties, you still have to tend to the Tenants. (And this is my ranting part....) However it is not my job to entertain, feed or take care of above mentioned Tenants. They have to pull their own weight. And by this I mean take some initiative to clean the fallen tree limbs off of their own driveway.

Don't yell at me that your power is still out. I am not the electrician or the utility company.

Don't tell me that I don't understand that you've had to evacuate your house because you have a 3 year old and it's too cold. I have a 3 year old (and a 6 year old too) and I've had to evacuate my own house!

Don't tell me how to do my job. I know that we have to fix the electrical mast and that CU won't connect the power until it's fixed. (See above: I am not an electrician). I've answered hundreds of emergency phone calls and have been doing this for the last 7 years. I think that I have a pretty good handle on my job description.

No I will not call City Utilities for you.

OK, OK, OK....I am venting. Yes, the above statements are all things that have been said or thought during my conversations with Tenants. I am really starting to feel the pressure building and I feel like I could snap like an ice covered tree branch.

I am kidding, of course.

Sign me up for some Thin-Mints Laura Frost!

2007-01-08T16:37:00.001-06:00

I was a Girl Scout back in the day and the thing that I loved most about it was the challenge to sell the most boxes of cookies. In 1986, at 8 years old, I did it. I sold a whopping 305 boxes of Girl Scout cookies and broke all sorts of state records. I even got a letter from the Girl Scout Council President recognizing my extraordinary cooking selling efforts. Hey, what can I say? I have a flair for challenges and sales! :)

Anyway, my friend, Brooke, forwarded me this adorable video of her co-worker's little girl who is selling Girl Scout cookies in 2007. Man-o-man, if only I had had the power of YouTube to sell my cookies back in 1986!

I'd have to say that I agree with Brooke in saying that this girl is so cute that I just have to buy cookies from her. The best way that I can figure out in how to purchase the cookies is to e-mail her parents YouTube account after watching the video. I think we should all help Laura break all sorts of records in selling the cookies... So buy from her, and let me re-live my Girl Scout days. (This is not any kind of shameless self promotion, I don't even know Laura or her parents!). I just feel that Laura is my type of girl, one who finds creativity in selling cookies and using the power of technology and the internet. That, and I wouldn't want to meet her body guard in a dark alley! LOL.

Feliz NaviBlog!

2006-12-25T15:53:00.000-06:00

I know I am delayed in writing a blog post and for that I apologize. It is Christmas afternoon and I am trying to think of a good Christmas blog post to write. And nothing comes to mind. So I guess that I am here to say "Merry Christmas" and tell you about my fun family get-together. My boys, Jake (6) and Collin (almost 3!) must have been really good because Santa certainly out-did himself! They have truly enjoyed their holiday as they have been playing with their new toys and showing off all of the fun things that they can do. The rest of us have all lounged around watching movies and oh yes, another round of "A Christmas Story" which has aired for the last 24 hours! I even got a special Christmas ornament from my Mom dedicated to the "A Christmas Story" movie, the leg lamp!

It makes me think of the real reason for the season and the true Christmas story. If you don't know it, then I sure hope you read it.

2007 will be a busy year and I will share all of the crazy details with you in upcoming blog posts. In the mean time, please keep checking the 417Dwellings blog and Paul & Jay's blogs as well. They are so much more saavy in their writing-about-real-estate skills than I am. Go enjoy the rest of your lazy Christmas afternoon...if you have nothing else to do, "A Christmas Story" is still on channel TBS for another 3 hours!

Your Non-Traditional Thanksgiving

2006-11-26T11:15:00.000-06:00

Our Thanksgiving was anyting but traditional. First, the weather here in Missouri was absolutely wonderful! It was a very pleasant 68 degrees and sunny. We also spent our Thanksgiving at Tablerock Lake where my kids enjoyed throwing rocks in the lake and soaked up the sunshine. We spent our Thanksgiving dinner with our best friends, The Dizmang's, and their extended family. It was a beautiful day and although it was not a typical Thanksgiving in the way of spending it with our relatives in Nebraska, we were thankful that we have such good friends to spend it with here. We can only hope that this will become one of our new Thanksgiving traditions. As they say, "thank goodness you can choose your friends". Family can be crazy!

So now I am ready to work my little fingers to the bone over the next few weeks before Christmas. It takes a lot to prepare for the year end, not only in the office, but for all of our Investor's properties. With the help of my broker, Paul, we are in the process of creating our 2007 business plan and budgets. Our theme is "Focus" because we are finding the best place to put our focus into. Of all the great things we have planned, I can only share this: it is going to be an awesome year in 2007.

Technorati

2006-11-24T21:11:00.001-06:00

Technorati Profile

The NAR Convention Wrap Up

2006-11-15T11:59:00.000-06:00

Almost 20,000 REALTORS attended the annual National Association of REALTORS (NAR) convention and expo in New Orleans the weekend of November 9-13, 2006. Paul, Jay and myself attended this event and here is the video of a few of the things that we got accomplished while we were there. For more information visit the (417) Dwellings blog or our company site.

Killing Many Birds with 1 Stone on the Tradeshow Floor

2006-11-11T17:10:00.000-06:00

Today was a good day (work-wise), Jay and I hit the tradeshow floor for several hours and checked out all the stuff that they had for REALTORS. We figured that we hit several birds with one stone...meaning, we replenished our office supplies by getting many many free pens from the vendors...I got stuff for my 2 little boys with all the trinkets they hand out...we found a box truck with a rotating billboard that would be great for our company...we entered many drawings at vendor's booths for a free iPod (Christmas presents---ka-ching!---if we win)...got a free massage at one of the booths... the one thing we haven't figured out yet, is this whole e-Pro designation for REALTORS. (Inside Joke!)

Progress Taking Place in New Orleans

2006-11-10T23:56:00.000-06:00

Well, I had hoped that I would have more pictures of the Katrina ravaged areas I have seen. I have just been inside all day attending classes and seminars here at the National Association of REALTORS annual convention. Although New Orleans has made huge progress, there are still some areas that need a lot of work. I think that the city feels deserted.

Today was such a busy day. I attended so many classes on everything from marketing to running a better business. It seems like attendance is way down at the convention this year. Here are a few pictures. The guy in the one picture is Allan Dalton who is the founder of www.realtor.com, the biggest web site in real estate.

Houston, We Have A Landing!

2006-11-09T18:07:00.000-06:00

We have landed in Houston!
Jay and I survived the bumpy ride to Houston and now we're layed-over here for the next 1 and 1/2 hours.

So, here are the erratic things that Jay has said to me (just a few among the many)...

"Blog about me flying the airplane and post a picture of me in the cockpit."

"Ask the flight attendant what kind of gravy they are serving with the snack."

"When we get to New Orleans, I'm going to go rent a costume from a costume shop and just walk down the street to see how many looks I get." (huh?!?)

Who knows what Jay will say next, but I'll certainly keep you posted.

The closer we get to convention (New Orleans) the more motivated I get. I got a lot of planning done on the plane. I started penciling out our 2007 office budgets, our 2007 business plan, a list of current and pending projects to be done, etc. etc. Now I have pages and pages of notes for you, Paul, to expand upon so we can finalize and implement our new super plan. Heads up boss-man, I've gotta a lot of work for you already. :)

I'll post again when I get to jambalaya land!

Off to New Orleans!

2006-11-09T11:36:00.000-06:00

Every year around November, the National Association of REALTORS has their annual real estate convention. As an office, we try to go every year, but this year is a hair different than the ones in the past. We are doing a "divide and conquer" thing. My colleague, Jay Reasor, and I going down their a couple of days earlier than Paul. Paul will meet us there on Sunday. This year, the convention is in New Orleans. It will be interesting to see how the city has progressed since Hurrican Katrina.

I am looking forward to convention this year. It not only motivates me to streamline things in the office, but it also helps me see areas where we can improve and where we have improved. All of us from the office are bringing our cameras and we are going to document this convention with pictures and videos. And then, my plan is to blog about it each and every day.

So, here it is, Thursday 11:49am and Jay and I are driving to Tulsa, to catch our 3:55pm flight to New Orleans. I have taken a picture of Jay driving, the I-44 road we are traveling on and a picture of my laptop in my lap as I blog about this trip. (Good thing Jay is driving!) It's never a dull time with Jay, so I'll keep you posted, especially if he does/says something erratic. Hey, that's just Jay. :)

Payments on 104 Mortgage Loans

2006-10-23T19:26:00.000-05:00

104 checks to write? 104 payment coupons to fill out? 104 envelopes to lick shut, stamp & mail out? Ahhh...it's the middle of the month. Every time the 3rd week of the month rolls around I start the monthly mortgage payment grind.

You see when you manage 140+ single family rental properties, part of Dizmang Properties' complete turn-key management services includes making any monthly mortgage payments on properties that have loans for our Investors.

The monthly mortgage payment grind consists first of making sure that each Investor has a positive account balance. (Yes, some Investors have to "feed" their properties, but they will cash flow in the end). Secondly, I process all payments, make sure the checks are written and mailed off. With so many payments, I have created a "cheat sheet" in an Excel spreadsheet that shows each property under the Owner's heading, the payment amount, mortgage payment amount, loan number. Then there is a check box to check it off for the current month once the payment is made. Of course there is all the proper accounting procedures that go along with posting these payments. It is important that I do start this lengthy process during the 3rd week of each month just in case of glitches. Each payment must be made by the 1st of the month, and if the payment is late, missed and/or not made, it could ruin the Investors credit history (and probably cost me my job). They put a lot of trust in us to fully take care of their properties including making the mortgage payments.

140 homes, 104 loan payments...so looking at it from a positive side, that means that approximately 36+ homes are free and clear and require no mortgage payment. Lucky Investor. :)

Lovin' What I Do

2006-10-22T14:21:00.000-05:00

For the last few years I have always wanted a Honda Pilot. (Yes, there is a little bit of "soccer mom" in me that I would want a practical but yet cute car to haul the family around in...but not enough for a mini-van!).

You know I really didn't think it was going to happen anytime soon, because I wanted to make sure and pay cash for it (I need another payment like I need a hole in the head). Well, the time finally came...I worked hard enough to get a new Honda Pilot! I just got it last Wednesday and it is everything that I thought it would be. Some very close friends (P&B...you know who you are!) knew how much I wanted one and they encouraged/supported me all of the way to getting one. How exciting!

I wouldn't have got this nice car had I not worked so hard in my job. Property Management isn't easy, but the rewards of busting my tail to get it done and get it done right certainly has paid off. Now I can cross this off of my Life's To-Do List! Oh and did I mention...I love rentals!

FOR RENT in Springfield, MO

2006-10-12T17:16:00.000-05:00

Dizmang Properties in Springfield, MO has many available rental properties. If you're looking for affordable, clean rental properties then go to their site.

Get Your Own! View Slideshow

All About Dizmang

2006-10-08T08:15:00.000-05:00

I have created this blog for the purpose of posting to the (417) Dwellings! blog. You see, I work for Dizmang Properties, Inc. in Springfield, Missouri as the Office Manager for the last 6 years. I assist Paul Dizmang in managing over 140 single family rental homes. Not only have we created an office blog, but we've also created the (417) Dwellings video podcast series which tells people all about the world of real estate and property management. Go to www.getpaul.com to see more about our company.