Don’t play by the rules people, you’ll just get screwed!

Today was the day I was supposed to hand over the keys and be done with the whole condo thing.  I should have figured that anything I try to do couldn’t possibly go that smoothly and karma did not let me down.  Once again it found a way to screw me. 

My condo corp has a weight limit for dogs.  The guys I was going to rent to have a bulldog so in my mind I was picturing a small dog so didn’t really give it much thought.  I was pretty sure my condo documentation said that the limit was 40 or 45 lbs.  Today the guys arrived and the dog was a bigger bulldog breed than I was expecting but still about only 30 lbs.  As it turns out however, the limit is 25lbs and the property manager won’t let the dog in the building. 

I know for a fact that there are larger dogs in that building but they probably never bothered to tell the condo corp about the dog so they get away with it.  That’s what I should have done but no, I tried to play by the rules.  And where does that get me??  It gets me a bill for a hotel room as the guys have nowhere to go and I am responsible so I offered to put them up until they can find somewhere to go.  It gets me the stress and inconvenience of trying to find new tenants.  It gets me mortgage and condo fees to pay on a place that is sitting empty.  Oh yeah – playing by the rules was a great way to go.  Once again karma found me bent over and decided to take advantage.

Hip Hip Hip Hooray! The condo is rented!

I rented my condo last night.  I am sooooo relieved to have that done and sorted out.  They move in next week.  It will be weird to have someone else living in my space but now that I am out of it and quite happily ensconced in my new home with Jason, it really isn’t that hard to let it go.  It has become more of an asset and less of a home.

Look at me…I’m a landlord!

Rejection hurts

I can’t deal with the rejection anymore.  I thought I had another viable tenant but she went to look at one last place and even though she claimed mine was awesome, she actually took the other one.  Why doesn’t anyone want to rent my condo??  It’s such an awesome place.  Why oh why doesn’t anyone want it??  I know what it’s like to have no one want you – poor thing – it’s starting to have self-esteem issues.

Now they want it, now they don’t

My condo rental saga continues.  I’ve had a number of people who were really interested while they were there and then they leave and I get an email a couple of hours later saying they changed their minds.  Fickle people!!  I thought I had found a tenant but now he doesn’t want it.  So the hunt continues.  I am beginning to think that just selling the damn thing would be less hassle.  Sigh…

Update to the post from yesterday

Another person showed up just as we were leaving. She liked the place but it was one of the first she saw and so she went off to see some other places for comparison. I also have another guy that couldn’t make it yesterday that would like to see it this week so it wasn’t a complete bust I guess.

Not so many people and far more homes apparently

17 people contacted me to say they were interested in renting my condo. I responded to all of them. 4 people confirmed they would be by today. 1 person actually showed up – and she is only looking for July 1st availability. So my search for a tenant is not off to as positive a start as I was thinking it would be given the initial interest. Oh well, I guess I shouldn’t have expected to get it sorted less than a week after I posted the ad. I should be thankful that anyone is interested I suppose. Although, after having spent the day sitting in my condo on a lawn chair waiting for people to show up and dealing with stolen internet that is SLOW, I am feeling less than positive. My life as a landlord isn’t off to a roaring start.

So many people, so few homes

I posted an ad for my condo on Monday and before the end of the day I had 14 requests to see it – many of them from people who are moving to Toronto shortly.  So look out Toronto – I will be single-handedly increasing your population by 1 whole person.