Whoa, has it been over a month since my last post?

I haven’t been idle.  The students cleared out of the ghetto mid-May, and this is the first year in a long time, maybe ever, that all four of the apartments are vacant and unrented for the upcoming year.  Scary, because in my present situation the rent from those places is half my income.

That’s where I’ve been spending my time.

Meanwhile the stone house is doing fine, some turnover but new people coming in as the old ones move.  And they’re all great tenants with whom I am happy to share space.  Lost one of my two roomers at the brick house but a new guy is coming in tomorrow.  Again, great tenants and I’m not expecting any issues.

As I’ve said elsewhere, owning rental property used to be an investment.  I paid people to do the heavy work, got a little extra income and figured I sell the places eventually and put the money somewhere that padded my nest egg without wrecking my aging knees.

That was before my equity disappeared in the crash of 2007, my professional field — print journalism — tanked, and I apparently became too old to land the few jobs that survived.

There is no nest egg anymore.  I just thank god I was prudent with my investments and paid down principal whenever I had a chunk of cash.  Those who didn’t now find themselves owing more than their property is worth.  I’m not in that boat.  If I cashed out now I’d break even.

Breaking even sounds great if you’re 30 and ready to start over.  Not as great just a couple years from Social Security.  So I figure I have to hold on and hope the economy improves and real estate values rise faster than the pain my lower back.  Wake up, take two Aleve with a cup of coffee, go back to bed for 15 minutes until it kicks in.

What’s this have to do with caulk?  Guess I’ll have to rearrange this post when I return.  Work time now, though — the pills are working.