At Texas Roadhouse in Greeley

Then we went over to our friends Matt and Jamie’s house to play some Texas Hold-Em poker (a very Texas night for some reason) and ring in the new year. We played tournament style which takes way too long for my patience, but is fun for a night counting down the hours, minutes and seconds to the new year.

After about three hours of playing everyone starts getting restless and not paying much attention to the game and instead starts telling jokes and messing around.

Me and Hailee playing around

To add a little spice to the night, Britton and I had  decided beforehand to play a practical joke. We found some “untearable toilet paper” at the dollar store the other day. Britton inconspicuously traded out the regular paper in the bathroom for the un-tearable kind. We thought about removing all the regular toilet paper under the bathroom sink, but thought that might be too mean, so he just removed and replaced the roll on the spring.

After about 2 hours of playing poker, finally someone went to the bathroom. Britton and I waited to see what would happen. Finally, our friend Erin came out and said “Matt and Jamie, what IS this stuff? It’s just about impossible to tear. Are you trying to re-use your toilet paper?” They were mortified and said, “We just bought it at Wal-Mart the other day.” Britton and I just laughed along with everyone else, and no one knew it was us for the longest time until we came clean. We were just shocked that Erin was actually able to pry it apart and even used it!! That takes some doing. It was pretty hilarious.

Erin with the TP around her neck

Finally as we were nearing midnight only Britton, Erin and I remained as the last three in the poker tournament. We decided to call it and Britton and I took first, and she took second. So we walked away with $60! Not too shabby!

This was the final table. I had the most chips (on the right)! Yay

Erin, Jamie and Me- Making the Money-haha

It was a fun night out with friends and a great start to the new year. We hope everyone has a wonderful and prosperous 2012!

For Diane, the owner of Vintage Inn, she said that in the case of a bed and breakfast it takes the ability to be ok with having strangers living in your house and at times messing up your stuff. She said her husband couldn’t stand it, and that is one of the reasons he is no longer involved in the business with her. She said you have to like people, entertain them sometimes, and graciously deal with complaints as they occasionally crop up. She said overall you just have to be flexible and good with your resources (time and money). She also mentioned that it doesn’t hurt if you like to cook, throw parties and decorate. In her guest house she had a couple of different rooms that she decorated different ways such as a Japanese “Zen” room, a Tuscan-style room, and a French/Parisian room.

Outside Vintage Inn in Eaton/Galeton

I think we have what it takes to run a business like this because we not only have our single-family home rental business which has taught us a lot…but we also rent out our basement bedroom/apartment. We have had all sorts of people live with us in that basement bedroom over the course of about four years.

Basement Bedroom

First we had Kosei, our Japanese high school exchange student who lived with us for a year. Then we had Jasmin a college student from Germany for just a couple of months. Then we had Luke, a student and volunteer fireman from Sterling, Colorado. We’ve also had Mark, a Culver’s franchise-owner, and Matt, his replacement. We had Bob, a municipal lawyer for the City of Greeley and Winna, a former Wal-Mart employee. We had my aunt Laura and we had Lisa, a UNC meteorology student. And now we have Jennifer, a medical student on rotation to be a P.A.

The Wetbar area of our basement used as a kitchenette by our guests

It has been very interesting meeting all of these various people. Sometimes there have been minor issues, but for the most part it has been a great experience and we have enjoyed sharing our house with nearly all of them. Some are  more outgoing and others have kept to themselves. Some we will probably be friends with forever, and others we will probably never see again. It is just cool to know that we were, for a short amount of time, a part of their lives, and they, of ours.

So I really think we’d enjoy having people stay with us at our property in Rincon. Plus, we wouldn’t even need to have “themed” rooms as they would already be naturally themed in their own way. There would be the jungle treehouse, the cabana (or two), maybe a “surf shack” and the villa. Plus it would be so fun to decorate and get them ready for people to stay with us. It would combine my love of “home” (I am a Cancer sign after all) with my love of people and their stories and become a viable business to boot.

I had a phone call recently.  It’s the type of call that is not “the norm”. I knew Cassie had emailed House Hunters International about the possibility of being on their show after she had heard from the Kruses that they were looking for couples who had bought a place in Puerto Rico. But I didn’t really think they would be so eager to talk with us so quickly! This is kind of how it went:

Melissa: Hi, this is Melissa from House Hunters International!
BK: Hi, this is Britton.  How are you?
Melissa: Good…We are interested in doing your story! Can you tell me a little more about it?
BK:( I told her all about our story, the property, why Puerto Rico…so on and so forth)
Melissa: That sounds great! Well, the next step before we line things up is to get a casting video from you.  I can send you some information about what we are looking for in it.
BK: No problem.  We can do that and have one to you in the next few days!

So these past few days Cassie and I (with help from Cassie’s mom the camera-woman -thanks Char!) made a short casting video.  In the video they just want to see how we live currently and why we want to move. They basically want to see how we look “on camera”.  Hopefully we come across well!

It would be cool to be on the show as it is one we definitely like to watch and I think we would be a bit different than their regular shows.  Most of what I’ve seen on there are people who have quite a bit of money to spend.  Cassie and I are very budget-oriented and one of our (my) criteria was that the place be “affordable”.  To me that meant not getting a mortgage. Also we were ok with having a fixer-upper, unlike most people that we’ve seen on the show.

We want to move down there in the next few years, not continue to work and pay for the thing over the next 15-30.  So, we save the majority of our income, we both drive normal little paid-off econobox cars, and we have invested in rentals in the hopes that one day we could use that income to live off of (see Fruitfulista for more on how we do this!)

I’d hope they would present us as the ‘fixer upper/saver/self-sustainability people’ and maybe tell the story of how we ended up with the property. One thing we were surprised about is that nearly all, if not all of the shows are re-enactments, so according to Melissa the producer/casting person in New York, we were perfect for their show!

So, here’s our casting video- wish us luck!…What do you think?

On our wedding day 6 years ago

I guess we are people who don’t just stand still. Even on our wedding day we were hauling things around and fixing stuff. I was almost late to my own wedding! So it’s only fitting. Last year we were painting a rental house, and this year we were back there again preparing it for new tenants. Lately it’s been a little overwhelming but we keep reminding ourselves that whatever drama we are experiencing is because we wanted whatever it is that is causing it. Remember that! We bring all that we have -better or worse- into our lives. If it gets too much we can always let it go, but until then…we’ll enjoy the chaos.

Things are already looking up. We think we’ve found new tenants for one of the properties and the other one is just about ready to be posted for rent. It’s also important to put our stress into perspective. Last year I was just about to lose my dad. So losing a few weeks rent, working hard, long hours and looking for new tenants is nothing by comparison. Life is about learning lessons and sharing lots of love. I think we’re getting our fair share of both

Landlord Lament
By Cassie Kauffman

Oh, whoa is the rollercoaster
Of landlordship these days
One minute all the stars align
The next you’re in a haze

Of complaints and gripes
For which you had no clue
A broken lock, a missing wire
A  smell, a crack, a leak or two

“The crawl space is dirty”
What do you expect with a dirt floor?
“The house creaks a bit”
It’s old I’m surprised there’s not more.

“There’s a gross smell”
I don’t smell anything
“Well, it’s not right now but wait”
This house is nice and clean

“I know we signed a contract but…”
A lease is there for a reason
“Well, can we change it now?”
No, you’ll have to wait a year season

“I had to unexpectedly move out east”
The house is considered abandoned now
“You have the deposit to cover the rent”
That is plain wrong and not how it works, anyhow

“Here’s my application. I really like the house”
It looks as though you don’t have any money to put down
“It’s fine, trust us, won’t you just let us live here?
No, we have to make sure this deal is sound

“But my pet isn’t like other people’s”
I’m sure you’re very good with your dog or cat
“So can I avoid the pet deposit fee?”
No, we’ve been burned before so that’s that.

“I don’t think we’ll have the money this month”
I don’t know what to say, you need to pay
“We had an emergency, a job loss, a sorrow”
I am so sorry to hear, but you just can’t stay

In the end, the landlord must remember
That this is a business as well as a home
You must temper sympathy with smarts
Or each month a new lament will come

I posted an ad for the place figuring we’d have a month to find a good tenant. We had such a huge amount of interest with great candidates/applicants that the vacancy was filled the first day! We already have a signed lease and all the paperwork done!

The house when we bought it

Not only did we again improve the lease language, but we even increased the rent and still had a huge turn-out of interest. Makes me think we probably could have asked for more, but we are happy with what we got. It’s times like these that make you think being a landlord is a breeze.  But it’s the other times when something breaks or you have difficulty collecting that you want to pull your hair out. It’s a balancing act for sure. I know that renting out property is not for everyone, but for me, I really enjoy it. Especially when things go so well.

The living room after we painted and had the wood floors redone

I really like houses in general -I like walking through them, imagining living in them, seeing their potential. Homes are so intimate and yet necessary. They are so much more than just ”a roof over your head”. Where we live is where life is! I find it kind of cool that we provide a home for people- one of the most basic necessities in life.

Plus there is the ability to help the worn out, tossed out houses (like foreclosures) shine into warm, beautiful homes again. When we fill a vacancy- a vacant place- we fill a void with a soul again. And I like the makeover part just as much -even if it drives Britton crazy.  I am really excited about our Puerto Rico property for these very reasons. I’d love to turn the old dead throwaway property into something wonderful, vibrant, and useful again. I am ready to  fill that vacant space with life -our life, transplanet!

Somewhere along the line a private company took over ownership of the fair.  Since then it’s turned into a bigger and bigger deal.  They run the parade every year, the rodeo and the island grove park carnival.   One of the benefits to this is they draw in some pretty big names in music. They’ve had Def Leopard, Kid Rock, Keith Urban and numerous other acts.

Last night we had tickets to Cheap Trick and rode our bikes to the fairgrounds.  Blue Oyster Cult opened up for them.  I think we were the only people that rode our bikes.  The people watching the gate kind of laughed as we rode past them and bypassed the $10 parking fees.

Ticket Stubs

The fair has increasingly gotten more and more expensive.  I’d imagine back in the days of the Potato Fair it was pretty cheap to walk to the park.  They’d have some games and maybe a baking contest.  Now it’s $10 to park your car and another $5 just to get into the park.  A Turkey leg will cost you $8 and a lemonade $4.  That makes the regularly priced tickets to see Cheap Trick($17) not so bad in comparison.   We got them for $5 which is usually the cost to just walk around.  Not bad!

At the show! You can see the meat packing plant in the distance

The concert was pretty good.  We recognized a few of their songs from the radio and there were a few people that seemed to know every song.  I am sure this was a pretty big deal for them.

We got an “Indian Taco” (that isn’t really a taco and isn’t Indian either) as we walked around the food court.  We ran into a few people that we know and then watched the concert.  Overall it was a fun night .

Walking around the fair grounds after dark