October Broker’s Corner | Gainesville Property Management

Broker/Owner – Secure Investments Realty & Management Corp.

Hey, y’all—it’s actually fall! I don’t know about you, but I am loving these cool mornings and evenings, with afternoons in the 70s and 80s. This is the weather that makes the rest of Florida jealous!

This past month has been busier than I expected. Last month, we were wrapping up some major rental turnovers involving full interior paint, new flooring, replacement vanities, and plenty of other improvements—including at my own rental home.

You may remember the pictures I shared of the freshly refinished hardwood floors. Well, just when I thought we were getting close to finished, a bathroom repair turned into a much bigger project.

What started as a little caulking work revealed that the toilet flange had apparently been leaking for a long time, rotting some of the floor joists. After refinishing the hardwood floors and replacing the carpet, we were suddenly opening up the bathroom.

And once you’re pulling out an old tub in an already dated bathroom, it’s hard to justify putting everything back the same way. So, naturally, one bathroom renovation became two! I love the bathrooms at my own home, so I decided to use that same look here.

Of course, once you start opening walls and spending that kind of money, you start asking, “What else should we take care of while we’re here?”

We’re adding an entryway bench with hooks and shelving—my carpenter calls it a hall tree—along with a wood accent wall beneath the pass-through bar. The picture below is the inspiration for what he’ll build. I’m fortunate to be working with the same carpenter who renovated my home. Even though Keystone Heights is about an hour and a half from his home, he agreed to make the trip and help bring this project together.

Then we found some rotten siding on the front of the house. You can probably guess where that led! The front is getting a facelift with board and batten siding and a fresh color to give the home a more updated look.

The lesson here? Investigate signs of leaks before installing or refinishing flooring. Bathroom renovations after new floors are certainly not the order I would recommend!

Despite the surprises, I’m excited about this transformation. This is the first home I bought, at age 25, for $52,000. I raised my daughter there, and she later raised her daughter there before moving closer to me in Branford. This house holds a lot of family history, and it feels good to prepare it for its next chapter.

We’ve also been busy welcoming new rental owners to Secure Investments Realty & Management. Some have had their homes listed for sale and haven’t received the offers they hoped for. Rather than sell at a price they’re uncomfortable with, they’re choosing to rent for now.

I sometimes call this “hibernating” a home: putting it to work as a rental while we manage the property and help care for it until the owner is ready to revisit selling. Of course, future prices aren’t guaranteed, so we look carefully at whether renting makes sense for each owner.

Other owners have come to us after trying to rent their properties themselves without success. We’ve been moving quickly to get these homes prepared, photographed, priced, and marketed.

One reminder for anyone considering this option: timing matters. We typically see rental activity slow between Thanksgiving and Christmas. If your home hasn’t sold and you’re considering renting it, now is the time to get it ready so we can make the most of the weeks ahead of the holidays.

On the sales side, I’m excited to have my commercial listing under contract—with a backup contract, too! The property includes a single-family home and a 5,000-square-foot warehouse on four acres along U.S. 441. Its location and well-built home and warehouse attracted immediate interest, with three serious buyers in the first few weeks. The owner is thrilled, and my next assignment will be helping him find a replacement property once this sale closes.

For a closer look at local real estate activity. (Read this.)

Now, on to that mountain getaway I mentioned last month. We made it happen!

I packed up Pepper, his wheelchair, Cutty, my daughter, and my granddaughter, and we headed to a log home near the Tennessee–Georgia border. Duane joined us after visiting a friend in Missouri.

The cabin was supposed to have beautiful mountain views. Technically, it did—if you were tall like me, stood on your tiptoes, and found one particular spot on the deck!

Mostly, we were surrounded by woods, steep gravel roads, and sharp turns. Pepper thought those hills made his wheelchair walks much more exciting. The rest of us considered them a workout.

The home itself was beautiful. My 14-year-old granddaughter, Alicia, promptly claimed the lower level, complete with her own primary suite and a full arcade. My niece and her son joined us, so the cousins had a great time together.

We went whitewater rafting on the Ocoee River near Ducktown, and “thrilling” might be an understatement. Duane and I were in the front of the raft, which apparently meant we had volunteered for repeated face-first encounters with the rapids.

Our guide thought it would be fun to hold the raft in one of those churning spots where the water keeps circulating. I was hanging on for dear life while receiving several complimentary sinus flushes. We eventually made it through, and thankfully, the rafting photographer captured the experience!

The next day took us to Helen, Georgia, for a mountain coaster ride, followed by zip lining on another day. I didn’t take many pictures during those activities because keeping hold of myself seemed more important than keeping hold of my phone.

Unfortunately, Pepper’s bladder troubles worsened during the trip. I had packed diapers because he had already started dribbling, and I’m very glad I did.

Life with Pepper now involves a lot of diaper changes, cleanup, and interrupted sleep. But it also involves a dog who is still happy, playful, affectionate, and excited to go places. Just this afternoon, he was chasing his ball in his wheelchair and riding in the car with me.

Caring for him is exhausting, but those happy moments mean so much. The look in his eyes and the lick on my face during a diaper change can break my heart and warm it at the same time.

And apparently, I decided two big chocolate Labs weren’t quite enough, because we rescued a puppy this week!

Her name is Gracie, and we suspect she may be a pit bull terrier and Plott hound mix. That’s our best guess from her looks and personality—with a little input from ChatGPT! A DNA test will eventually tell us more.

She’s smart, sweet, and already making excellent progress with potty training. I figured that since I’m dealing with cleanup for Pepper anyway, we might as well get puppy training done at the same time.

She has also figured out how to open the spare-room closet and help herself to the dog food. Secure food containers have officially moved to the top of my shopping list!

Part of my thinking was that Cutty will need a companion when the day comes that we lose Pepper. For now, he’s adjusting to being the middle child. Sometimes he looks a little put out by the extra competition for attention—usually right before he and Gracie go tearing through the house together.

Don’t worry, though. Cutty still gets his special time every morning, curled up beside me for belly rubs while I drink my first cup of coffee and catch up on emails.

If you had told me ten years ago that I would put this much time, money, energy, and emotion into caring for a dog, I probably would have laughed. I’ll admit, I used to quietly tease friends who had to leave early to feed or walk their dogs.

Then came Pepper.

I love all my dogs, but Pepper is my soul dog. So yes, there are diapers, 3 a.m. wake-up calls, and more walks around the block than I ever imagined. But those walks make him happy, and that makes me happy—even when I’m exhausted.