How I Will Be Living Rent Free
I have fantastic news, and I don't know where to begin.
I was talking to my dad this weekend about the new house and how much rent I'll be paying him. The conversation started because I want him to bump up the rent at the apartment Eric will be moving out of, to an obscenely high amount. It's in Silverlake, and I figured that someone will pay a pretty penny for it, and if not, then we can start lowering it. I want to aim high for many reasons, but mainly we need the money to fix up the other apartments and finally rent them out (There are five in total, but only two are being occupied because the other three are currently uninhabitable.) It took a bit of convincing because my dad feels morally obligated to charge less due to a poor economy. I finally convinced him, but as the conversation made him a bit irritated he mentioned that if he'd be charging an arm and a leg for such a small apartment that he'd have to charge me and Eric more for the house.
He was planning on only charging us $400 (I know right), which would be $200 between us. Unfortunately, due to our crappy combined income and the rest of the bills, this would be stretching us pretty thin. I mentioned, that if he charged more I'd probably have to quit school and get a second job. He asked if there was any other choice. I'd had an idea for a while, but he never went for it before, so I didn't think he would this time.
This idea needs a preface as well. My dad has been saying he'd start training me to take over the properties and put them in my name since I was a teen. Granted, I haven't been the most involved, but he knows how to get the ball rolling better than I do. When he was a teen his dad gave him the option of managing one location of properties, but my dad never gave me that option. I had been hoping that working on this house would prove to my dad that I can start learning how to manage the properties so this was my suggestion: Let me and Eric manage the Glendale properties (5 single bungalows) in lieu of paying rent. I told my dad that he could still retain financial control over them, but it would be up to Eric and me to collect the rent, enforce the rules, and help to maintain the properties. If there are any big budget projects, then we could talk to dad about helping fund it with the rent money he collects.
He agreed.
Holy fucking yay! I'm going to be living in a house rent free, and *finally* given the opportunity to learn how to manage the properties.
