Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Less Than a Week!

This is either the best or the worst idea I have ever had.  There's so much I'm going to miss while away from Boston...Maple Magic Day, our youth minister's ordination, among other things, but there are so many things I hope to do in New Mexico too.

Friends stopped by and checked out the NM house and found it to be intact...but full of smoke.  Although I'd said not to rent to any smokers we found yet another reason we needed to fire the property manager.  Hopefully we can get the smell out without repainting everything, because home renovation was not on the to do list.

I'm not sure what we will end up doing with the house.  We will leave it set up at least until May when we return for another friend's wedding.  After her wedding we've debated renting as a holiday or furnished house, but after our last bout with a property manager...well, I guess we will see.  I'm trying to convince a friend who lives in Boston that she really wants to transfer to the acupuncture school there and stay in our house.  It could save her between $30,000- $70,000, but I'm not sure she'll go for it.  It's a big change, and pretty far from home.

We have a huge list of things to do while in Albuquerque.  The list includes:

(biweekly with friends while I hire a babysitter or Gerd watches the kids)
Flying Star coffee and cake
Pedicures with friends
Betty's Bath hot tub and massage
Game night with friends

(once while there)
Restaurant week
A night of music

Wednesdays with Gerd & Kids (he will schedule his day to work into the evening after the kids are in bed)
Explora
The Art Museum
The Atomic Museum
The Aquarium/Botanical Gardens
The Zoo
The Natural History Museum

(Saturdays)
Ski Sandia (or Santa Fe if the snow is bad)
Hike Tent Rocks
Los Golandrinas (closed for winter)
Ojito Wilderness?
Ski Sipapu

(Sundays)
a walk along the Bosque/Rio Grande
A walk along Old Town
A walk along the Petroglyphs
Quarai
Walk the trails by my house

It's a lot.  Like, a lot a lot, but we might as well enjoy the experience if we're going to go through this enormous effort. Hopefully we fit it all in.  I feel that it's busy, but not completely over-scheduled.  I'm debating writing the events on popsicle sticks and pulling one out each event day to determine what we do

Praying that the flight on Monday goes well.  3 people, 2 babies, and 2 cats on an 8 hour flight.

oh boy.  I need to look at that list again to remind me why I'm doing this...

2 comments:

BriteLady said...

That sounds like fun :)

Understood about the property management...there are many many reasons why we chose to sell (at a loss) rather than be landlords.

You might have better luck with the holiday/vacation rental than with full-time renters, but it will likely come with different challenges. I can see weekly renters taking better care of a place (or at least destroying less) because the property manager will tell them immediately if they broke something or whatever.

But then, a weekly renter wouldn't see individual utility bills, they might think nothing of cranking the AC and leaving the doors open or doing equally annoying things with water or whatever).

Still, it would give you guys a "vacation" type home of your own to go visit :)

Anyway, good luck deciding what to do there. And enjoy all your time catching up with friends and seeing the sights with the kiddos.

Bethany said...

Kristi,

Ironically, just as I've found a property manager I would feel comfortable renting our house out with, my husband wants to try the vacation rental idea for a year. I guess we will see how it goes :/ I don't have much experience in marketing, but I guess there's always a chance to learn something new...

It has been a pretty good time, although we have spent quite a bit of time sick. Sick and without access to a regular doctor... But that's another story. We both agree that we're glad we could come and be here for a while. We're not really sure it was the fiscally responsible thing to do.