Week 16 of Financial Independence!

Last week was slow, then crazy, then fun, then crazy again. 

We started off the week with a slow Monday. We were trying to get the "last" of the documents together for our Hudson Storage Garages loan closing on Friday morning. We got that accomplished and then tried to figure out how we are going to get the building permits for Buildings 1 and 2 in Hudson prior to the State review date on October 8th. This review date would then mean that we wouldn't get the building permit until October 22nd. That means construction is starting after boats and RVs are getting put away for the winter. No Bueno! So the rest of the week resulted in lots of emails and calls back and forth pertaining to this topic to figure out how we can speed this process up for Buildings 1 and 2. The Oct date for B3 and B4 is just fine but we need to get B1 and B2 up and available for rent or risk sitting pretty open all winter. And guess what, the credit union still wants their payments so this is a problem. To compound this issue, if we aren't starting until so late, and therefore renting up until later in the year, we don't want to start on B3 until B1 and B2 are rented up. That means we probably aren't going to start on B3 until later which pushed B4-6 back further. Then we run the risk of running out of time on our construction loan or doing extensions, or... It just really makes things messy and hurts our credibility with the credit union which we don't like. We want this to go swell for them so they want to continue to work with us. So we're going to pull out every stop to get B1 and B2 done. The lesson here is to change building designers if they can't commit to a date for getting your building design done. What I heard: "You're next in line". Reality: "You're in the next pile". Damn. More money and more time. 


Tuesday we did yard maintenance at our Hudson Storage Garages' office building to make sure that continues to look like a million bucks. We also hired a dumpster and some movers to clean out the tenant's stuff. That went really nicely. I didn't realized this but you can just hire a moving company to come and move your stuff from a basement to a dumpster. I just had it in my head that you have to have them move from House A to House B. Not necessarily the case. Thanks Daymakers! 


We found out on Monday that we needed estimates and contracts signed and notarized by our general contractor for the loan closing. This is always a problem for us because we have an Amish contractor so quick print and signatures is not always quick. Add to that the fact that our contact was on vacation and another layer of complication is added. In the end, our contractor's brother was working in Lakeland, MN and our credit union contact met him onsite and got the signatures and notarization that day. Whew. That worked out swimmingly. We definitely dodged what could have been a major headache. Surprisingly, what I've noticed is if you have the will, there's always a way. 


Wednesday was slow and a nice break from the action. Thursday was a little more paperwork and some figuring about our financial position. Review of our finances is probably our most common conversation as of late. After reviewing things, it gave us some perspective and allowed us to feel comfortable knowing we have some run-out and that this can happen with less stress than what it felt like earlier in the week. With that said, I decided it might be time to sell my car. It's less about the money and more about the "tone" I'm setting. I bought it when things were very comfortable and we had normal income from my job. Not things have a little less certainty and I see it as the cart before the horse. First things first. I feel like I have the car before it's really time to have the car. So it will be time to move on. No sadness or disappointment, just excitement that this is the right move as part of the journey. 


Friday morning came and we closed on our Hudson Storage Garages construction loan. Boats and RVs, here we come!!! We can finally start spending money that isn't ours for once! Now for the fun stuff. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we will get the grading contractor onsite and progress will begin. I'll be sure to post lots of pictures so we can all keep up with the progress. 


The rest of the weekend was spent in GB with family and the Packers (wait, is that redundant?). Got to see my Grandma Marion and Uncle Mickey who are now living in TX and only get back to WI once a year (grandma) or less (uncle). The kids were able to play with cousins and friends that they don't see much and it was really a great weekend including Family Night at Lambeau. 


Lastly, filling in the gaps, I found time to listen to podcasts and read books. I'm still reading the Miracle Morning. It's under 150 pages but it's taking me forever. I gotta get on with it as I have other books in the queue. Also still pursuing some other deals with some friends and hearing about other friends' adventures. I have a friend who is likely picking up and heading off to Europe for a job. Super exciting. I may be managing their house as a rental while they are gone. This should be a fun opportunity for me to do a little more residential real estate to see if we'd like to get more deeply involved in that more common real estate niche. So far storage has been very good to us but there aren't many deals to be had with smaller dollar amounts which limits are ability to pursue them. So we continue to look for the next deal.