Signore's prerogative

I'm glad he's not going to New York or Texas or Mississippi or wherever he was planning after all. My artiste friend decided to stay put in the building--with the caveat that he be given More Space To Paint. Okay, we could do that. He's vacated his third floor studio for a ground floor one-BR, and is happy as the proverbial clam (apparently, the happy clam is the one that missed the chowder pot.) So now Signore's latest dramalet is put to rest under a nice, fuzzy blankie and all is well.

One of the first things he did after being given the keys to his new place was to call and report a stranger outside his window, in front of the building, barfing into the bushes. At least the man was considerate enough to aim for the wood shavings and mulch instead of the sidewalk or walls.

I love this place.

And another, and another

So now Signore Roderigo, my across-the-hall neighbor, has given his (tentative) 30-day notice. Roderigo is an exceptionally gifted and skilled painter. Last year he closed his gallery/studio here and moved to a large city in the Southwest to pursue his career, but was back six months later saying he hated the place and missed the Pacific. Cost him over $20K for the experience. Well, now New York City beckons. I do believe he has the talent to make it in the art world. I've seen his stuff. Whether he can handle the people in it--or they can handle him--is another matter. He certainly has the piercing eyes and artistic temperament to match, along with no lack of self esteem. I find him funny, aloof, vulnerable, inscrutable, profound, superficial, and of course eccentric, all at once or in varying degrees depending on the day. I do know one thing--he sure can put on one heck of a dinner party! I hope he knocks NYC dead, and that he stays alive in the process. I will miss him. Again.

KC is moving out from the apartment next to mine today. She has a team of friends and her dad to help her down the three flights with all her furniture and whatnots. Her former boyfriend Tim stays till the end of September, then he's moving back in with his dad. I'm imagining how it will feel for him to come home from work today and find KC's belongings missing--like looking into a mouth with a bunch of teeth knocked out. They were together for several years, and here for the past year and a half. I don't know who instigated the breakup, but Tim seemed really sad when he told me, and KC was crying a while ago when she brought me her keys.

They're all young and will get over it. However, with Roderigo's news, we'll have three units out of five emptied in less than a month, just on this floor. I'll just have to break in another whole set of personalities before Christmas.

Sigh.

The repairman cometh

We have 17 units in these two buildings--15 in the front and two over the rear garages. As of this writing, five are unoccupied and one is in 30-day notice. This is the most we've ever had at once since I've been managing, and it doesn't take much pondering to see how the economic hard times are affecting the rental business. People are losing homes in droves, which should be good for rentals. Unfortunately, it also means many have lost their jobs (hence the foreclosures) and/or now have credit scores somewhere in the vicinity of their IQs (hence the foreclosures), which is not so good for rentals.

A very nice young woman, Maria, is moving in just below us. At least she seems very nice. The apartment has been empty since April and we've kinda gotten used to having no one hearing the effects of our (make that my) clumsiness, particularly things dropped in the kitchen at 1 a.m. She's been warned and still wants to live here anyway, so that's a good sign.

A new 5-man maintenance crew has been hired, replacing the incompetent and careless (but hey, CHEAP!) bunch that the owner foisted upon us before. Thank God for the property management company that is holding his feet on this one! I am soooooo past sick of workers not bothering to show up three weeks after they'd said they'd be here, and not returning my calls. These guys worked here before, but Owner thought they were too expensive and sent Fly By Night Enterprises instead. Now most of what they supposedly did has to be redone, naturally.

At least I will now be able to get my living room ceiling repaired after the water damage of 2002, and my kitchen also patched and painted--something promised and unfulfilled since 1996.