First Finished

July 1, 2020 we began managing 16 rental units in the Blackfoot area. Prior to that (for about 8 months) I had been working to purchase them. As we worked through the deal to purchase the units, the executor of the estate—fearing he’d be sued if he sold them to us, asked me if I’d manage them. They were in terrible condition, so I turned the offer down. I had way too much to do, so I wasn’t interested.

At that moment, Noell felt impressed that we should manage them. She felt that it was something where she could to do most of the work. I definitely didn’t want to manage them, with all that I had to do, but decided that she could.

When she began managing them, there were 4 vacant units (the executor chose not to rent them out until they were completely overhauled). While we’ve worked to overhaul the apartments, we’ve done a lot of personal work and used a number of sub-contractors and handymen to get the apartments repaired. After a couple months, the executor sold one and we now manage 15 units.

Well, this was the week! After 7 months (March 1), we finally got the first apartment completed and rented. 

As Noell and I did the final “shine” on the apartment on Friday night, we found a puddle of water in the kitchen. After troubleshooting the problem, it appears that the plug for the garbage disposal hadn’t been poked out when the dishwasher was installed. The handyman will have that done before the renters move in on Monday.

We also expect that the second apartment will be completed within a week. We’ve also already got renters lined up.

See my earlier blog post: “The End of an Exhausting Era”

Besides getting the apartments repaired inside, we’ve done a lot of clean-up around all the apartments. One had a sprinkler system, that hadn’t been run in years and the weeds were several feet tall.

We also dealt with numerous safety issues. Some of the safety issues we’ve repaired are:

• Fire alarms no longer working 
• Sidewalk (where nearly all students walking home from the middle school walk) was raised up and had a significant trip hazard 
• Steps on two apartments had broken and instead of replacing them with original materials, they used Trex (fake wood) to span the steps. They sagged 3-4 inches and were a major tripping hazard and might break if someone large carried a heavy furniture on the steps 
• On another building, wooden steps on the front and back had broken and while they appeared safe, if you stepped on them, they slid and you could fall. 
• Repaired loose planks on on the deck/porch on the front and rear entrances to the home 
• Trees on three different properties blew over. One fell between two homes and could have caused much more damage. 
• 4 exterior electrical panels had broken doors. If the doors were bumped, they’d fall to the ground and the electrical wires were exposed, even the main electrical lines to the building were fully exposed. 
• Metal roofs on two of the four buildings had been installed with insufficient vents and therefore, the attics are full of mold. 
• We’ve removed asbestos. 
• Another building had trees growing next to the foundation, which could destroy the foundation. 
• We’ve encountered black mold in three of the four buildings. 
• Also, another had trusses that were broken and the ceiling was sagging 

Beyond the safety issues, there have been a number of other things we’ve done to make the areas nicer, cleaner, and a place I’d be willing to refer to family and friends. It’s exciting to see that we’re making strong improvements and that we’re getting good renters into the units. The first unit has good renters.

This is now three weeks later, and the work we were told would be done in a week was delayed. For nearly two weeks, the handyman didn’t show up to do any work, and wouldn’t return phone calls and texts. We then had a serious visit and he’s been great this last week. This week we had a broken pipe in one unit and another unit where the sewer drain backed up (several times). We hope it’s fixed now. This delayed the work from being completed.

The renters we had lined up decided to go to another unit. We expect the work in the unit to be completed tomorrow. When it’s clean, we’ll list it for rent. It’s a good time to rent apartments in Blackfoot, so it should be rented soon.

We also have three other vacant units, two of which are currently being worked on. Hopefully in a couple months they’ll be ready for rent. We have our handyman working on one of the units and Michael, Karla, and Brody Harrison (and at times some of the children) working on the unit.

Noell is doing a great job and things are progressing well!