Time away

Well, it's been a while, but here's the deal:

Back in Peg- been meeting so many excellent people lately that, had I met them a year or two earlier, I'd be in a much different position right now.

Getting my properties managed, met an awesome company, have developed a pretty good relationship with the owners, would love to do some projects with them in the future.

Taking the renderings business in a new direction, things are looking pretty good,

Got the store online yesterday, some major gliches to iron out, but it should be pretty turnkey after this, next step is to get the Indian guy to start doing forum / classified posts to get the word out. Might start a facebook fan group. Actually, that's a pretty good idea, I will do that.

Been working like crazy on several reno projects since I got back, its actually pretty amazing how much I have finished. I built a kick-ass patio at fleet, finished the balcony on the second floor, and have begun painting the Pritchard block. I updated Un-slum.blogspot.com with new pictures. It is getting a lot of attention, and I was contacted by an agency administering rehab grants in the area. They extended the deadline so I could apply. Haven't heard, might hear by tomorrow.

Been invited to the private Winnipeg Squash Raquet Club many times over the last little while by some very excellent people. I find I am pretty handy with a squash racquet. Better than ever, actually. It has provided me with some of the easiest networking opportunities I've been able to find.

So many things going right, so what should I do? Take a chance and leave it all! If it's this easy here, I'm sure its even easier elsewhere.

In Vancouver

Back in Vancouver, got a really good deal on flight, time to get going on CRDC and do some other things.

Weather is fantastic, can't believe my luck.

Waiting for cell-phone to arrive, because I'm an idiot and left it in Winnipeg. Thankfully, I have a good brother who promptly over-nighted it to me. Thanks, Mike.

Sitting around this morning, waiting for phone, zapping clouds away with my brain waves. It works.. (no it doesn't, you idiots!)

Making arrangements to get together with friends, wishing I brought my running shoes and a proper pair of shorts.

Can't wait to get down to English Bay, sit at a cafe on the water, enjoy the sun and the view. Flowers are blooming like crazy.

Peace,

D

A week off

Taken a week off of updating this. Here's a summary:

Wrote a few articles on the topic of Condominium Owner Advocacy- investigating distribution / publishing channels- posted top Active Rain, Article Base, my own blog.. etc. It will be read, for certain. Hoping to get a frightened reader base so that the message will have greater impact.

Met with David Gurvey, who told me the management contract for 1010 Wilkes has gone to a company called Landmark. Pretty happy to see that the Cash Cow is no longer in Brydges' portfolio. I'm sure it was subsidizing many of their unprofitable contracts. David is really, really fun to talk with.

Worked on taxes. Almost there.

Prepared graphics for S2C project.

Investigated Management companies for my portfolio.

---

And now for today- it's 3 o'clock pm, finally got to my "Office." Went for a lunch meeting with Kevin Buckner, an enthusiastic and entrepreneurial young accountant who's just opened his own firm. I expect it will be a successful endeavor for him. He's good friends with Derek Banera, through whom I met Kevin. Talked a lot about a lot.

Had to go to Pritchard today: Dropped-off a ledger statement to unit 4, which is in arrears. Went to unit 3, because the Government decided not to pay rent anymore for that unit, but no one told me. She left a message for her worker while I was there, and I expect a callback in about 10 weeks. (sarcasm).

Went to Assiniboine Credit uniooon again to meet with the account manager, because I need a mortgage statement. Hilariously, they don't do annual statements of mortgages, and thus two schedules had to be printed: 1. the total amounts paid each month during the year, and 2. the amounts by which the outstanding principle decreased throughout the year. The Interest Expense (what I'm actually after, as it is tax deductible), is the difference between the two. Hope my math is still good.

Onward:

1. Sending e-mails to my management company short list

2. Finalizing some graphics and sending revisions to Sanjoy for s2c

3. Preparing new special promotion for CRDC, will send Sanjoy revisions and request to make a "Special Deals" section on website. Thinking of doing a special on single - family or multi-unit homes- provided with elevations and color schemes, I can probably do it for $600 per image.

4. Updating tenant ledgers

5. Updating financial statements

6. Getting MS community going. Must learn Wordpress better!

Regroup, refocus

Okay, so I finally finished some major parts of the Fleet house that were holding me up in other areas.. so it's reasonably livable now, and I can concentrate on other stuff. Feels liberating.

Had a good group over on my birthday, that was fun, some people I don't see very often, drank a lot of wine. Felt awesome the next day, having had the burden of looming work on the back of my mind lifted. Went for breakfast, hit the gym with Mike, caught a flick, when home, made home made pizzas, watched an old favorite with the brother, hit the sack for a fantastic sleep. Woke up early today and for the first time in a while, shot right out of bed, as if I was getting up on purpose, (which may have been the case).

Anyways, finally motivated to begin making progress again.

• Wrote the Spence Neighbourhood Association to see if I can join the Board. The goal is to get involved with some housing initiatives in the city, as they tend to be high-profile.
• Contacted I&ES to find out where my damn cheque is for ______. 9 days late. Its always a screw-up with that branch- someone is overworked.
• Bought Skype credit. Yay! I can make phone calls again

Now, at 9:30 am, I have an entire day ahead of me, (except for 7:30 pm and beyond, at which point I will be distracted by a squash game). So for today, I shall:

• touch base with my friend and Number designer (Mike Brown) to see if he has any numbering ideas for 467 Pritchard. The concept is that I want the building to stick-out, not as a crack-house (all crack tenants are gone, thankfully, and I don't think the cops have been there fore a long time now), but as a neighbourhood landmark.
• going to hit the 10-inch-thick inbox on my desk and see if I can process it down to nothing
• more work on income taxes! Fun!

With the last two of the above-mentioned duties for the day taken care of, I'll be able to sleep like a baby.

My new tenant at Westgrove is great. He's done so much work for me already, but it's gonna cost me. However, everytime he fixes something, it brings the house closer and closer to its optimal market price. For instance, he has the basement washroom completely functional now, with new toilet and vanity installed. He's also intending to drywall it, as the old panelling is kinda dated. Yippee, now the house has two washrooms. He's also purchased a high-efficiency front-load washer, the cost of which I agreed to split with him, as long as he leaves it when the lease is up. Score.

So things are coming along.

D

• 
  

Not supposed to be working on Sunday

Some things I decided to do-

1. Reserved a spot at the Winnipeg Real Estate forum, starts April 20th, sure hope I can find someone to go with me, though it's a bit pricey,
2. E-mailed an account rep with CNW Group to inquire about rates for submitting news releases to their service. Found a release picked up by RENX.COM, which has huge targeted traffic, and it came from CNW. Thought I could submit releases there and if they get picked up, it would send serious traffic my way.
3. Reviewed a condo project in Toronto, wrote some cold-call copy for the developer and sent it along. Site was great, branding was great, only visualizations were artists' renderings, and only 5 or 6. Perfect candidate. If nothing comes of it, at least I finally cracked the cold-call barrier.
4. Wrote to Mike Fast of G&E homes about the possibility of doing interior renderings for the 511 project. I said I could just take the floor plans right off the website and work with his designer for fixtures/finishings/furnishings. Hope he bites. They currently have nothing, not even a show-suite.
5. Going to read for another hour, then hardware store to buy a new lockset, then Young St. to install new knob and deadbolt for the new tenant, and to see what kind of progress he's made with cleaning.
6. Collecting rent from a tenant at Young, going over to Pritchard to see if I can contact the guy that owes me big, delivering a noise complaint letter to Jackie at the same time.
7. Debating whether I should arrange for dinner with Mother. Should call her nonetheless.

For god's sake, I have got to get to the library to return Fashionable Nonsense. They're going to take my first-born son if I don't get that back.

Interesting Day, A Victory of Sorts

So, after an interesting meeting this morning with my friend J.F. Rathe, I had to meet my new tenant at my Young St. property to let him in and collect his first month's rent. I had not been in the unit yet since the former tenant FINALLY moved out (thrown out). I was expecting a mess, of course. He left very reluctantly. But, of course, my keys didn't work.

I went to see the other tenant on the third floor, and asked him if I could try to access his neighbour's unit from the fire-escape, hoping he had not latched the window closed. No luck. So, in true Dan Mulroy fashion, I jumped out the 3rd-story window.

Seriously.

Actually, I decided to exit the front window of the 3rd floor unit, and, hanging from the roof overhang, I climbed my way along the building to the window of the locked unit. Taking care not to plummet to my death, I slid the window open and threw my legs in the window. Then I released myself and fell nicely inside the locked unit.

Victory! (Sort-of).

Attached below is a series of photos I snapped showing the state of the unit after this nightmare finally left. Compare these to photos I posted in the past of when I freshly renovated the whole unit! How I love this business:

It would seem I have a bit of work to do.

Can't wait for the beginning of March

Money's kinda tight these days, can't wait for rent day. Having said that, modesty enforces humility, and I'm always in search of additional modesty. On a related topic, hilarious quote from my sister, half drunk, when I asked her to demonstrate a little more humility towards the server at Joey's Polo the other day:

Dan: "Jill, stop showing off your dumb Coach purse- try being a bit more humble!"

Jill: "I have absolutely nothing to be humble about!"

Followed by ten minutes of laughter before she realized what she said was comic brilliance.

The agenda today-

1. Received a CRDC request for a quotation. I will dig a few more questions from the contact before I can accurately quote his project. He is from New Brunswick, judging by his area code.
2. Planning to draft an entry for Active Rain today. How careful do I need to be? Dunno. I'll give it a shot.
3. Planning on listening to another Richard Dawkins lecture. I like the way his voice sounds.
4. Going to e-mail a few Realtor friends and ask them their opinion about a referral rewards program and how it should be structured.
5. Home for lunch, call Mom about her taxes
6. Start brainstorming the Realtor Referral program copy and creative
7. Attend Toastmasters International meeting tonite and see what it's all about (haha)
8. Retire to my comfy bed early so that I can get up before 8 am tomorrow