Blisters and Polyurethane

      Last week Micah tore out the last of the carpet and padding in the house we are working on. He then started pulling the staples and the nails in the wood floors. Automatic staplers are a bane. It allows carpet layers to staple down the pad every 2 inches. We have to pull all those staples before we finish a floor or put down new flooring. On Monday I finished pulling the staples. I thought Micah was about finished but he wasn't. I was down to the last section when I noticed the skin on one of my fingers was moving. Oh no, I had actually gotten blisters on my fingers pulling staples. I am going to contact my state representatives to have automatic staplers outlawed. It is the only solution to this dangerous situation I can think of.(Although if we are putting new flooring over the old I have been known to take a hammer and just drive the staples all flat and floor over them.)

     The decision had been made that this blue was not the color we wanted this bedroom. I am sure whoever painted this room was thinking this was the best color ever put on a wall. They would be wrong. Now if you have a room painted this color don't take it personally. I am sure it is lovely, in your house. The key phrase there is "in your house".

     Same room our standards for rentals. Walls a more muted color, carpet piled outside and the floors with a new coat of polyurethane. 

     This is the other corner of the room before we rehabbed. You are missing the pleasure of seeing the back side of the doors painted that dark blue that is on the walls.

     It took 4 coats of paint to get the doors white. When we started rehabbing houses we would replace all the doors. Now we look at a door and if it is sound and can be painted we leave them. We can replace them later when a tenant has an "accident" and "falls" into a door and breaks it. Funny how we have never broken a door in our own home yet it occurs quite often in rented houses. Maybe there is an inner ear problem with some people and they lose their balance easily and just fall right into doors. And those solid wood doors just break so easily when you fall against them. I am thinking of setting a door up sometime and having people just fall against it to see how easily they break in pieces because I am sure no-one would ever be shading the truth as to how doors get broken, and I want to lay my doubts to rest. "Oh rest in peace you doubter" is what I tell myself.

     Next up was the living room. I am sure Sharon would be horrified that I swept the room and started to brush on the finish. If she had been around I am sure that floor would have been mopped first. Maybe even mopped twice. Not in my world, time is money, have a schedule to keep, want a rent check January 1. Brush away my friend and keep a hammer and pliers close to pull the staples that were missed.

    Living room finished and ready for the dining room. That fireplace came in handy. When I found a staple I could pull it and just throw it into the fireplace.

     Last strip and the floors will be finished except for the rooms that need new flooring. By this time I was needing to stand up and ease my cramped back every couple of boards.

     Hot Dog! all done. two days later Micah told me the dining room and the living room need a second coat. Even though I know he is right, it did not brighten my day. Schedule, schedule, schedule. Can't fall behind now. 

     I was checking a light in a house. I had the ceiling fixture off when I looked at the wall across from me. Hanging on the wall they had that Bible verse. I was stunned. I know the life style they live. What does it mean that they have "This is the day the Lord has made" on their wall. Do they have faith, and I can not see it in their actions? Is it just a nice saying to put on the wall and doesn't impact their lives? 

     Made me wonder. I see a lot of rooms that look horrible to me but they have sound walls under ugly paint and hardwood floors under the dirty carpet. In the house we are working on now there was a new electrical breaker box but when I started tracing the lines I found old dangerous wiring. Looks good but is a disaster.

    So I wonder. The couple with the Bible verse on the wall whose lives look sinful to me, do they have Jesus as their savior? Do some I know who look like they are serving God and living a righteous life, not know Jesus as their savior? Only God can see the heart but I am quick to judge.

Thankful

     This was our Thanksgiving weekend. All 3 sons were home.

     We went over to a house we were working on and everyone made a Christmas tree. It is handy to have saws and a nailer.

     Its Thanksgiving this week and a time to look back over the year and see what you have to be thankful for. All our sons and wife and future wives know Jesus as their savior. What more could one ask for? God is faithful to each generation.

     It has also been a good year for our business. We purchased or are in the process of purchasing 8 houses this year.

     This one the outside was in good shape, but the inside was a wreck.

     This house was a total mess outside and inside.

     Here we had a quick fix inside but it needed siding.

     This newer home needed floors upstairs and sheet rock torn out and replaced in the finished basement.

     We have not even started on this one. It needs everything. It may look like we bought it cheap, but it will cost a lot to fix.

     Here the owner had started a rehab. The house was gutted. We have started putting up drywall and closing or replacing windows.

     This one we started on Thursday. Interior is painted and the carpeting is torn out. Screens are gone from the front porch. The water is turned back on and the leaks fixed. Hopefully a finished date before January first.

     This one we close on this Wed. It will be next on our list to get fixed. Perhaps by Feb. first and then we can go back to the 2 that need a lot of work..

     I used to say it was not what happened that matters but how you tell the story. All of the houses we bought this year were cash deals. Every time we could get a better deal because we did not need an appraisal or financing. Sounds great doesn't it. We had cash on hand to buy 8 houses this year. 

     That is only part of the story. We could buy the house for cash then put a mortgage on it or another house to have the cash on hand to purchase the next house. Yes we were cash buyers but that was never the whole story.

     This Thanksgiving season if you are looking at everyone around you and thinking "those folks have a wonderful life that is way better than mine." you may not be seeing the whole story. Everyone has difficulties and burdens. Some are just easier to see than others. We all have a clear picture of what our own lives look like but only see what others allow us to see of their lives. Some tell a pretty good story when the whole picture is not so pretty.

    This season of Thanksgiving don't look at the show those around you are putting on to convince the world their life is perfect. Look for the blessings God has given you. In my past I have to say my greatest blessings were what at the time seemed like disasters. Thank you God for the disasters in my life. If you happen to be in a season where you do not see many blessings, That may turn out to be the most blessed time you ever live through.

     

Let there be Light

     Micah and I went to a house auction today. We were not even close to in the money. House sold for $24,000 over our top bid. The investors stopped at the same place we would have. The remaining 2 bidders both looked like they were in their 80s. I told Micah it proved I would still be out there buying houses 30 years from now.

     Micah spent the rest of the day putting up sheet rock while I worked on updating the electrical

    There were only 2 outlets in the living room and a room we are turning into a bedroom. That is not enough outlets for today's electronic culture. It was easy to add outlets since we had some walls with the plaster torn out by the previous owner. 

     Although it can be a bit tricky to get a hole drilled through the floor into the basement without hitting anything. I first drilled down and hit a 6x6 beam. Good planning Royce. So I moved over a couple of inches and hit an eight inch joist. I was able to drill at an angle and finally get a hole into the basement.

    There was a junction box close by and I could make the outlets go live. Yea me!

    We are putting a walk in closet in the new bedroom, so we needed a light in it. This time I could take the power from an outlet in the wall. Run it up to a switch and then up to where the light will be.

    As you can see, we still have some work to do inside this closet. We can not finish it off until we have the new HVAC installed. There will be a new heat run through this closet to the upstairs bedrooms. We are putting in Central Air and it takes a good sized run to get cold air to the second story.

     The was no ceiling light in the room we are making the master bedroom. I cut a hole in the ceiling and was able to fish a wire to the center of the room. Ran a wire from the basement up to a switch in the wall and then through the studs above the door. We take having ceiling lights for granted, but there was a time when many houses did not have them.

     We are replacing all the windows in the house. making them shorter as well.

     Once the sheet rock is on around the windows they look like they were always this size.

     From the outside they don't look so good yet. They will look kind of sketchy until we reside the house next year. We are also closing in 3 windows. 

    There were 2 large windows in the bathroom. That is really more exposure than one needs. We will be putting a linen closet in where the west window was.

     Several neighbors stopped by to tell me they were glad I had replaced the broken door.

     It was a week of replacing windows and putting in lights. The new windows might be smaller but they are insulated double glass windows and will keep the cold and the heat out. They will still allow plenty of daylight into the house while being energy efficient.

     We take light for granted. Walk into a room and trip the switch by the door and the room lights up. We can see as well at night as we can during the day. What an amazing invention. Imagine what life would be like at this time of the year if all the light we had was a candle or a lantern. It would be a long dark winter.

     Some of us are used to the light of salvation. We have known Jesus as our savior since we were small children. We have always had light in our lives. For many that is not true. If you want to see someone who is excited about knowing God, find someone who has just had their sins forgiven. Someone who was living in the darkness of unforgiven sin.

    When you first see the light of salvation it is blinding in its brightness. It has the clarity of brand new windows letting in the truth of God while keeping the evil out. It is a switch that when turned on lights up your whole world.

    As we travel into this holiday season may each one of you know the light of God and go share the light with everyone you meet.

I ain't got this

     We closed on a house this week that we purchased from Freddie Mac. Freddie Mac is a quasi-government company. After filling out all of the forms twice when I made the offer I was surprised to find forms requesting the same information put in front of me at the closing.

     15 years ago I would have filled out every third line on the form and handed it back to who ever gave it to me. I was not into filling out forms, but I have mellowed with age. I just haven't mellowed quite as much as I thought I had. I filled out my information including where I was born. WHERE I WAS BORN? I was purchasing a house not applying for a passport. OK, Royce calm down just keep filling it out. Then the form requested all of Sharon's information. I asked the notary why they needed this information. I kept filling it out. The date we were married, her name before we were married. Then it asked where she was born.. No I skipped the rest of that part. Then as you can see above it requested all my children's names and information. I believe my exact words were, "we are done here. You do not need any of this information." The poor notary public seemed stunned that I would not fill out the paperwork.

     The next page had questions about past marriages and domestic partnerships. I just handed it all back to him and said. "You give me a deed and I will make a phone call to release the money, I am not marrying you I am buying a house Freddie Mac needs to sell." Hey if they actually wanted all the information they should not have signed the deed before they showed up at the meeting. I know the deed still has to be recorded, but petty bureaucrats cave in when you look them in the eye and tell them to go jump. 

     I was not supposed to get the keys to the property until ServiceLink the closing agent had confirmation of funds. Funny how that works when the keys are left with a local person. I was handed the keys immediately.

     I had not been able to get into the garage when I originally looked at the property. I was pleased when I unlocked the padlock and looked inside. Look at all the electrical outlets and even a fairly new garage door opener. 

     Ever have that sinking feeling that you missed something? I saw all the electrical wiring had been cut out of garage. Someone had broken in and stole the wiring for the copper. I am suddenly thinking, Oh no did I miss that when I walked through the house. I went and unlocked the door and was relieved to see the wiring still intact. I went to the basement and saw the wires were still running to the furnace.

     Then I looked at the breaker box. AAAAH. The thieves had cut all easily accessible wiring in the basement except to the furnace.

     Now I will have to track down all the outlets in the walls and the wiring to the lights and rerun it. It is not a real high cost in material but it will be time consuming.

    At least the underground wire to the garage is still in the breaker box and they left a long enough end in the garage so I can splice it in a junction box and don't have to pull wire under a concrete patio. I now have to remove all the cut wires from the breaker box. Wire in an outlet and a light fixture. Get the power turned on and then we can start working on the house. Until I get that done I am working in the basement by the light of a flashlight. Good times, good times.

     So my week had power hungry bureaucrats and thieves. Amazingly I survived it on a pretty even keel. 

     I had watched a young woman fall apart earlier this year. She had pulled her life together when it all went to pieces. She started using drugs again. This morning I was talking to her mother. I said it looks like your daughter is getting her life back together again. I have not seen her high on drugs for the last couple months. 

     Her mother told me that her ex- husband had won a custody battle for the children and then a close friend had committed suicide. It was more than she could handle and she started using drugs. That led to spending time with the wrong people. Her life had spiraled out of control. 

    I had just seen the spiral down. I had not known the cause. Sometimes we don't know at all what is causing other's actions. We just see the results. 

    I am sure there was a reason why that intrusive form was to be filled out for Freddie Mac. I am also pretty sure it is not a good reason. I know it was a squatter that stole the copper wire out of the house. They were out of money. It still was not a good reason. 

    It is not the troubles that come into our lives that always matter. It is how we react to them. A young woman can not stand the mental anguish so she self medicates and ruins her life. A homeless man has nothing and tries to get a little money by stealing copper. A bureaucrat collects useless data to feel like they have value. 

     If you have anguish in your life how do you handle it. I can tell you how I do now. I have this mental shelf. It is what I call God's shelf. I put on that shelf all the things I can not fix. That would be about 99% of everything that crops up in my days. I say to God. Hey God this one is yours because I can't fix it. Then I don't need to worry about it because God has it. 

 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 

 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 

 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?