Being a landlord is not easy. Every time someone gives their notice it stresses me out. The hunt for a new tenant stresses me out. The time to get it cleaned up and ready for showing in between is draining. Telling a tenant about an issue you have they need to correct is really stressful. I've been pretty lucky with tenants as far as their individual/personal level of crazy, but I've seen/experienced some things too that make me twitch. Some things are directly their fault, others are circumstance that could have been avoided. Bottom line, it isn't a quick and easy addition to your income.

Regardless, I was ready to be done being a landlord a while ago. Part of readying the house to sell was to get away from that role that I no longer wanted to participate in. I want to say "it's funny", but I can't as that is simply too glib for how I feel about it all right now, so I'll go with Alanis and say "isn't it ironic" that other things creep up at just the right (wrong) time that might dash my efforts from the past few months.

I came back feeling relaxed from vacation. Today I have a knot forming in my back and I got roughly 5 hours of sleep last night after a late eye close and an early eye open (I woke early thanks to another bird who is now bouncing off of my bedroom windows - did I tell you about him?) Right now I feel like some horrible author re-wrote a story just for the movie of my life, combining "The Money Pit", "The Birds", and a healthy dose of other people's drama that you cannot keep from impacting you.

I did see a place I really liked, so much so I wanted to cry and didn't want to leave the open house... but it was a townhouse with very little dog space and an HOA that was the nail in any "can I tolerate this" question I had. But like I hinted at above... I may not be going anywhere for quite a while if circumstance turns the way I am seeing it.