A new year, a new project

I like to tell people that we collect houses.  I will also tell people that we are slumlords -- a humorous reference to a very old Saturday Night Live skit.  The truth is that when we "move up" to another place, we hold on to the old house and rent it out.  So, we do and we are.  We have one that we never lived in, a duplex that we purchased for the purpose of rehabbing and renting out.  Funny story about that.  It wasn't so long after getting to know Don that he talked about wanting to own rent property as an investment.  (I'm thinking okay... and... that's about it.  I'm a grasshopper about some things, but I was only 19 years old, he was 30 and my head just wasn't there yet.)  Fast-forward a few years: I was in the midst of planning our wedding when the duplex became available.  A victim of foreclosure, the duplex was not a traditional sale but a sealed bid auction-style.  As my father liked to point out: Don is smart and he knows real estate.  It's true.  Don and I talked and he came up with a fair amount to bid.  Honestly, I was so wrapped in my little world planning a wedding that it didn't occur to me that we might win.  Lo and behold, one day I was sitting at work minding my own business when the phone rang and guess what??  Congratulations Nancy!  Yours' and Don's bid won! Looking back, I was such a ditz.  I still didn't comprehend what that meant but I would soon find out.

I don't remember specifically what we did to fix it up beyond painting, cleaning and landscaping.  I do remember snagging my brother's help with transporting a very heavy cast iron claw foot bathtub in and out of a truck and up the front steps.  In fact, my brother probably remembers because it was so heavy.

After securing tenants for each side, it was official: we were landlords.  Up until the last couple of years, Don has been responsible for handling the month to month stuff that comes up because I was busy with our little ones.

Three years ago, right after the new year, our long-time tenants on both sides moved out, leaving one side in particular in desperate need of rehab.  By then the kids were in high school and Don's job was demanding of his time.  I decided to jump in and do what I could to make them habitable again.  There was things that I couldn't do myself.  A bathroom on one side had to be gutted so we hired some guys to rip out and rebuild.  With the exception of some help with painting and some electrical, I did the rest.  Before I could even begin cleaning, I had to empty out furniture and other belongings left behind.  I made lists, cleaned, painted, picked out appliances, hung blinds, whatever it took to make the duplex livable again.

Where am I going with this?  I learned new things about myself.  I discovered that I'm capable of so much more than I knew.  I'm not afraid to get dirty and I enjoy home projects, even if I don't get to live there. : )
First and foremost, the sense of accomplishment I feel when I'm through is so satisfying that it makes me want a new project.  Truly insane...

It's a new year so how about a new project?