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DAY ONE September 21, 2004
Client asked us to take over, standard rental agent agreement with a long
list of things to do: Confront the former property manager, tell him he's
fired and get the keys from him. Find out where the appliances are, which
he was paid to install and never did. Find out whose name the water and
electricity are in. Why were they shut off? Design and promote a website to
advertise the rental house.
Clean up the trees wrecked in a storm, clean
the house really thoroughly (it was vacant over six months). Buy and set
up everything that visitors will want and expect in a nice rental house: pots
and pans, kitchen utensils, coffee pot, towels, bedlinen, pillows, curtains,
screens on the windows, dinner plates, cups, saucers, silverware, dishsoap.
DAY TWO September 22, 2004
Marketing Dept starts website design, keyword strategy,
Google Ad Words
research. Within two weeks, the completed rental website goes 'live' with
client OK, producing a dozen paid reservations at premium high season
rates. The house is fully booked from Christmas through Easter and beyond.
A retired couple from Vermont reserve it for five weeks and, like all other
weekly guests, they pay the entire rental amount upfront by credit card.
DAY FOUR September 24, 2004
Security chief reports that former rental agent claims he gave the keys to
another rental company.
They deny it. Nobody knows where the keys are.
Recommend we get a locksmith to change all the locks, about $200, because
he has to drive two hours to get here. Owner approves expense. Locksmith
arrives a week later, breaks in and re-keys four Yale locks.
Welder summoned
to grind off rusted lock on iron security door and replace it with new Yale.
DAY ELEVEN October 2, 2004
Major yard clean-up, requires a team of five, chain saws, two-ton truck.
DAY TWELVE October 3, 2004
Security chief reports that water meter is in the name of a real estate shelf
company in San Jose.
Start negotiations with two sets of lawyers to get it
transferred to the owner's name. Dissuade our client from suing the former
property manager. Diplomatically trying to recover missing appliances.
DAY NINETEEN October 10, 2004
Major house cleaning. Termites in the roof, bees in the porch ceiling,
ants and spiders everywhere. Takes a crew of three women two days to make
it halfway habitable. Window screens needed urgently.
DAY TWENTY NINE October 20, 2004
Appliances surrendered by former property manager. New gas stove set-up
OK.
New refrigerator OK. But the hook-ups for clothes washer and dryer are exterior,
on the back porch. Bad policy to let thieves walk off with two new appliances
or expose them to the elements (salty sea breeze, thunderstorms).
November 2, 2004
Reservations coming in, so it's time to outfit the kitchen, bath, and
bedrooms. Long shopping list, custom curtain sewing, window screens
installed, design of weatherproof cabinet for appliances approved.
November 14, 2004
Custom outdoor cabinet delivered, 220V dryer installed OK, washer doesn't
work right, call factory service (several times).
December 24, 2004
With first rental guests arriving next week, final walk-through reveals an
unexpected, previously overlooked problem. The shower is cold water only.
Emergency client OK to install electric hot water shower. Ask the hardware
store to reopen after closing for Christmas weekend. Get 100 ft of wire
and conduit to run a new 50A grounded circuit. Build a scaffold to reach
vaulted
ceiling. Drill through solid concrete partitions. Drive new galvanized ground
rod directly outside. Hot water shower completed OK Christmas Day.
January 21, 2005
GE factory service arrives after leisurely holiday season, replaces parts
in washer, no charge. Rental house is complete in every respect, except one
new request. Design and install a nice stereo with theftproof teak cabinets.
January 27, 2005
Ten-speaker custom stereo draws rave reviews from renters. CD/IPod/FM.
Our client is many thousands of dollars in profit after paying website expense,
legal work, and numerous rush repair and remodeling jobs.
Every dollar of rental income was electronically deposited directly to the
Owner's account. She had to pay each maintenance and housekeeping item by
authorizing
a payment transaction to Comprehensive. Contractor invoices and documents
pertaining to water and electric utilities were scanned and digitally posted
in our client's 'virtual office.'
There was never any mystery about our findings,
recommendations and progress in solving problems. Since she couldn't come
to personally supervise the work, we posted photos of tree cutting, new appliances,
curtains, clean yard and new cabinets.
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