Leyla Shen wrote:27?!
Blimey, Tomas!
Sounds like your life's work?
Do you/did you used to do the renovations yourself?
About 15 years ago, I had a change of life moment. Spoke back and forth with the girlfriend (common-law wife of 45 years - we never married) about what I was going through. She operates her own business and we would work out the gigs together and amalgamate them as smoothly as possible. Christie graduated from University of North Dakota law school. Never took the bar exam. She is my intellectual equal if not more. I am blessed (and danged happy) that she accepted me into her life all those years ago.
They are all residential properties, one of our daughters (she has her mom's smarts) runs the financial operation (and collecting, detailing the rents etc) as smoothly as can be. She is good with her mind and hands thus the repair work needed to get the house to local code and then is rented out generally with a five year lease. Remember, North Dakota has a five to six month winter season. The melt just begun in earnest some two days ago, lots a snow this last winter.
The electrical is contracted out and most of the plumbing is given to my cousin who is a plumber. I do the phone and computer wiring which is low tech to think out with phones and computer hookups in the double / triple garages. They are also heated by a pig tank hot water heat system. My daughter does the work on gas pipes, hot water heat work. We change all our furnaces to hot water heat so only a pig tank is needed to hold the water along with the pipes etc. Some of the more detailed carpentry is left to another family friend going back three generations. Any brick work and windows are done by this union guy that goes back a long time. Concrete, foundations, sidewalks, driveways etc done by an old friend of mine. Same with the sodding it goes to an old buddy of mine and I help out on that. The girlfriend does the tree planting and flowers etc. "Ernie" does the composting and the solar panels on roof, garage etc.
My knees haven't liked to shingle the roof so that work is done by a friend of the family. I do the drywall, lay carpet if the tenant wants it wherever or not. The daughter and I do the floors in all other respects, tiling whatever.
We pay above the going rate on whatever work we have others do. One can never have enough
real friends.
We're in talks for another house in a couple months. The economy is booming due to the Bakken oil fields nearby. I have mineral and land rights on some 900 acres. My property is some five, ten years from the crude fields. If I don't live to see the oil wells my children will.
