After spending 54 years from birth to 2008 living in Iowa I was presented with an opportunity to live in Fairbanks, Alaska. My blog is a diary of the adventure to get to Alaska, day to day life in Alaska, as well as facts for loved ones left behind in the Lower 48. Enjoy.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Landlord Woes

Monday Nate went to City Hall to see what all we need to do to become landlords. He had to pay for a permit which is good until December 31. Good thing we aren't moving later in the year, as you pay the full rate regardless of the month you purchase the permit. Good 'ol government.

He picked up a booklet pertaining to regulations and we learned quite a bit. In particular, we need to have either a window or exhaust fan in the bathroom, need to have another egress in the basement, must have windows that open in all bedrooms, and for this family of 6 that we are renting to we need to have 3 bedrooms. The upstairs bedroom qualifies, and the two rooms downstairs will qualify provided we make modifications to them (see above).

I called Scott, a friend of Sam's who does construction and remodels. He's to come over tomorrow night to take a look and give us an estimate.

I spoke to a fella today that can do all the credit and reference checks, creation of the lease, etc., for us. He said that he'll "only" charge us 50% of the first month's rent. Good thing we're made of money - NOT.

Worked more on the basement tonight in getting things ready for the rummage.

Hmmmm wonder what I'll do with my spare time in Alaska when I don't have boxes to move around all the time!

Today the plumber came over and fixed the small leaks underneath the bathroom sink and below the bath tub. He gave Nate some suggestions on caulking the bathtub, too.

Finally got ahold of the home warranty company and they approved the repair of the washing machine. The part came in today, so it will get repaired Thursday. This Friday marks two weeks we've been without the washing machine.

Late Saturday night I posted several larger items on Craigslist.com to sell - items we want to sell but don't want to haul to the rummage sale. An older man came over tonight and purchased our portable dishwasher for the same price we purchased it for 5 1/2 years ago. Nate will be delivering it to him close to the time we move. It made me smile to see the HUGE smile on this man's face at the thought of having a dishwasher again.

This week at work has been non-stop. I have the Iowa food program auditor here Tues-Thurs. The gal that I'm turning over the food program to and I went to the Nebraska food program training in South Sioux City today for 2 hours. I also got onto the Alaska food program website and downloaded some of their forms, etc. I'll be responsible for that and need to figure out how to start an application for the same. I also need to do the same for the two different NE programs and Iowa program before I leave for AK.

The work on my desk keeps piling up and up and up. And the messes in the basement keep moving from here to there to up and sometimes even over! It would be nice if I could go one place and find solace, however home and work are the two places I spend the most time and both of them are chock full of to do's with a 29 day time limit. Yikes!

No comments: