After going back and forth with negotiations for three days, we finally reached an agreeable price and after our financing and home inspection is cleared, Kyle and I will be home owners! (Again!)
We’re pretty happy with the final price – really, we got it for a screamin’ deal! Possession is on the 24th of this month! That’s like, three weeks! So – while we finish paperwork, I’ve been crazy busy cleaning my house and showing it to renters. We’ve had four calls and so far, three viewings, and they seems to be interested, so who knows. Hopefully we get a renter soon, just to relieve some of the stress of paying two mortgages. I’m more paranoid of people coming to my house, casing the place, and then coming back and robbing me.
Some people would probably think we’re crazy for owning two homes and only being 25. I think we’re pretty damn fortunate considering the percentage of people who don’t own homes at all.
Anyway – onto my NEW HOUSE! It’s three bedrooms, three (full!) bathrooms, two stories and has a HUGE backyard. The driveway is flat and there’s a double garage (no more warming the car up in the morning!) Really, I think the backyard is my favourite. It’s MASSIVE for the area we’re in. Plus, it backs onto Crown (a.k.a. government) land so we won’t have neighbours behind us ever, which is great. Annnnd, the elementary school is only 1km away, which will be great down the road ;)
It also doesn’t need any work other than paint and some wallpaper removal (not looking forward to it!). There are two rooms that were kid’s rooms and they’re bright green and dark, navy blue, one of them with musical notes painted on a white wall. There’s a country-esque wallpaper boarder in the dining room which will come down eventually and some nasty pink wallpaper in the laundry room that my mom will be happy to see come down (it’s really hideous!)
Kyle and I are both really excited to move into our new place. We just hope we can get the townhouse rented and packed up in time!
Any suggestions for showing my townhouse to renters? (Either as someone who is a renter or someone who also rents out a house?)
She Writes Words 
That is really exciting! I’m happy for you guys! I don’t think you’re crazy for owning two houses (really impressed by that actually) more for going through the hellish house-hunting, negotiating, financing etc. process again ;) But it sounds like it was fairly smooth!
Advice as a renter? The best landlords I ever had were the ones who left me alone! The first landlords I had when I moved to Kamloops went south in the winters so they never bothered me or got in touch and they definitely never showed up on my doorstep out of nowhere. They were really understanding and accommodating as well. And, in turn, I was more willing to be easygoing and fix small things (like the one time our toilet stopped working) myself. My most recent landlord however? HATED him. He would actually show up on my doorstep out of nowhere to “check in”. I really really didn’t like that and was way less likely to try and problem solve myself when things broke.
Also be easygoing (if you can) on things like pets – cats moreso than dogs – a little housecat is not going to cause any major damage (if any damage at all!) to your place and people will appreciate you allowing them to have their companion with them!
My mom used to be a landlord and it was great/easy money when she had good tenants and AWFUL when she had bad ones. The BC tenancy act gives tenants A LOT of right so go with your gut on whether someone will be a good tenant or not and definitely, definitely check/require references. My mom had one lady take her to court because my mom wanted her to pay the $400 water bill she’d racked up in ONE MONTH. It was hellish for her and my mom ended up selling her duplex because dealing with tenants was way too trying.
Good luck with everything!
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Wow! That’s a lot of great advice – thanks!
We’re allowing pets, which I think it going to help a lot. One cat and one dog is what strata allows, so that’s what we’re going with. And we definitely DON’T want smokers. Ick. I’m sure we won’t have a problem renting the place out, I just want someone solid living here.
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