Homeowner to Landlord

So much has been happening I don’t even know where to start. I guess where I left off… We have our perfect home right in the city with the exact zip code that I wanted, but it’s only the beginning…

It was time to put our home up for rent. Before deciding to do all of this I talked to all the friends and mentors that I have in my life and I asked them all the questions.

Should we sell or rent? How do I rent it out? What is the process? What are the pros and cons? Question after question…I asked them all and for the questions I didn’t know how to even ask yet, I told myself I would figure it out.

After much discussion we decided to go with renting out our home. The market is hot right now there was no time to waste. A home across the street 3 houses down had just went up for rent and within a week it was off the market. I had no doubt our home would go quick, but quick wasn’t what we needed.

Our new apartment wouldn’t be ready until the end of September, so ideally we needed a tenant who wanted an October 1st move in date. The problem was if we waited to put it on the market, we would miss out on potential tenants who could want to move before school. Potentially risking the house sitting on the market for too long.

So we went ahead with listing it. I called some realtors I had worked with when my real estate license was active and scheduled an appointment to talk about what we needed to do to list.

Home improvements, taking down personal items, packing, rearranging…so much to do before the photos of the house could be taken. We didn’t even have boxes. But it was going to be okay….

I read somewhere that if you want something, then you should start acting like it’s already happening. Such packing up all your shit and taking action in that direction. Soon you will find that everything will work out.

I found some boxes at my work (convinced I manifested those because I talked about how I had to find boxes so much :P) and managed to pack up the office and all personal items and then some more on the weekend.

The forever boy handled the painting and touch ups in the house that needed to be done. I found a handyman on Next Door to fix the things that we couldn’t. Everything was starting to come together and we were slowly making progress.

Over the last 5 years we have collected so much stuff from living in a home…and my gypsy soul was ready to let go…of everything.

Sell all the furniture. Throw away everything we didn’t need. Our apartment is much smaller than what we’ve been used too, so we can only keep so much stuff.

It felt good to let go of things I didn’t even know I had and never even needed. We packed up the things we didn’t need right now into boxes, and cleaned and prepared the room for pictures.

Before we knew it, the pictures were taken, the details were discussed, and our agent sent me the link to our listing.

There was my beautiful dream home in all her glory. She was so beautiful, shining like a dream come true. A dream fulfilled.

I felt like Rapunzel when she sat in the boat and watched all the lanterns around her. A dream she dreamt for so long was coming to life, and like all beautiful things, it held it’s bittersweet moment.

As I sat on the swing in front of our home a feeling of overwhelming gratefulness for all that we have accomplished washed over me …I remembered that though we still had a way to go, we had come so far. I had come such a way from the girl who came to Houston with a car full of stuff and two kids. No job, no home, just me and the hope of a better tomorrow.

And there we were, at the beginning of becoming landlords and having our first investment property under our name. What a rush. What a feeling…

Our home went on the market Thursday evening, and by noon on Friday we had two showings.

4 showings on Saturday, 2 offers. 3 more showings on Sunday, 3 more offers. Holy shit…this was going so much faster than we thought.

After a weekend of back to school shopping and endless showings. We were ready to face Monday.

Looking through the offers, canceling out the ones we didn’t want. Reviewing people’s paychecks and lease agreements…I didn’t realize you could know so much information about someone when renting out. I guess you never really think about it until it’s you doing the reviewing. 🙂

Our first pick backed out, and our offers came down to two tenants. We went back and forth, weighing out the offers. One had offered more money up front but needed a move in date of September. The other offered a move in date of October 1st.

Ultimately we went with what was better for our timeline. It made the most sense. After interviewing the new tenants, we knew we made the right choice and moved forward with finalizing the deal.

By Wednesday we were reviewing the lease and signing it. Before we knew it we were officially landlords.

I’m still trying to wrap my head around how fast this all happened and yet worked out so perfect. I learned so many lessons. I grew confidence in myself and my capabilities.

I’m much smarter than I think. I’m much better than I believe, and I am capable of anything I put my mind too.

Now we wait. We start to slowly pack our things and sell the rest of our furniture.

It’s time for a new life. It’s time for a new dream.

This one was beautiful. It served its purpose. It pulled me through my dark times and it brought me to where I needed to be to get to the next level.

Now it’s time to dream bigger. To paint a picture so much brighter and greater, that the thought of the goal terrifies me. Though the thought of not reaching my goals terrifies me more.

I know now more then ever that no matter what challenge I face, I will be able to figure it out and handle it.

We’re almost there…but for now, I’m appreciating how far I’ve come and celebrating every moment big and small.

Until the move…

A.A.