Broker's Corner with Tanya Chappell January 2020

Secure Investments Realty and Management

Happy New Year!

I trust your bellies are staying nice and full through these two months of fancy food and feasts! It was a beautiful mid 60's and 70s sunny blue-sky kind of day here in North Central Florida for us on Thanksgiving and the New Years Holiday.

The holiday seasons of November and December are usually the quietest for us. It's typically filled with reflection and refining. I don’t know about your business, but this year it didn’t slow down for these two months like it normally does. I certainly am not complaining, I am just a bit surprised. I am used to having quiet time while working on improving systems and we just didn’t get it this year. That doesn’t mean this kind of work doesn’t still happen, It is just taking me longer. I like to review, improve and update our operating procedures, business automation programs, service contracts, insurance policies and do tax planning.

It is also a good time to check recurring subscriptions that we may no longer need or use. I've even started going through my phone and deleting old apps that I no longer use. I was kind of surprised to find that I was paying for some of those apps through a monthly or yearly subscription. Thankfully that you can easily cancel that subscription as you delete the app. I think I just saved 30 bucks a month! Next, I am going to the credit card statements for those recurring monthly fees to see what I can trim off there. It’s kind of liking giving myself a raise!

I guess I did complicate my downtime by buying a foreclosure and starting the renovation process. I have done so many of these over the past three years for my clients that I think it’s about time I do another for myself. For this one, Jeff and I have partnered together so it will be so much easier and more fun to have Jeff on board with his experience and construction company helping. This partnership was destined to happen. Jeff with his construction company of 30+ years “Framers from Haile” and me with 30+ years in Real Estate Brokerage, Property Management and Investments. It is a partnership made in heaven! Oh, and I can’t help but share the new company’s name “Byrne & Haile LLC” hahahahah. My maiden name is Byrne, his company Haile….. yep- we did that! We close this Friday and will start the renovation right away. I'll keep you updated on how it goes.

We are also getting ready to pull the plug and finally start our home remodel on the Suwannee River. We finished the outside and will be starting on the inside after the Holidays. The plan is to take it down to the stud’s upstairs. We are opening the wall that overlooks the river with French doors and sliders on each side, new electrical and plumbing, new kitchen cabinets and appliances, all new bath, and combining two rooms to make a huge Master bedroom. The other guest room will likely go untouched but that’s the only room in the house we won’t redo. We will live in our camper with our two labs while these renovations are happening simultaneously. Pray for me! I figure once we make it through these two renovations without killing each other we can set our date.

No, seriously we do want to have our reception at home on the river and we don’t want our guests tripping over our warped floors! On two different occasions, our kitchen sink overfilled and the water made our floors warp and swell by the following week I had a 1x2 foot hump in the middle of my dining room and in various places in the living room, hall, and bathroom. It is a 1970’s home someone put a little money into before we bought it. We don’t know if they used sub-par flooring under the sheet vinyl and carpet, but we will find out soon. After 6 months of talking to the insurance company trying to get them to do something about it they came back with; Oh- it’s from humidity and not covered. Wow – that’s some bull. Why would humidity suddenly swell the floor now, if it hadn't all the years prior? Crazy huh? Me and insurance companies have a hate-hate relationship so far. Sorry to all my friends in the insurance business. It certainly was none of you.

But anyway I digress….. Yes- we are tired of living on warped floors and ready to start the remodel now that we finally got the "NO" we are not covering you from the adjuster. On another ramble some of you know I just ended a 5-year lawsuit where State Farm failed to pay my limits when I rear-ended someone and they sued me for One Million Dollars and won! No surgery, no real physical damages except the totaled car and chiropractor, she got out of her car and ran down the road after her dog as the 911 calls reflect! But…. They won the case big time and my insurance company hung me out to dry allowing them to put a judgment against me and freeze my accounts. Do you know how difficult it is to operate in cash? I nearly lost my business. I don’t know the word quit so of course, I managed to get through it. They finally settled with the plaintiff last month and satisfied the judgment. Five long years later. I now have a case against them for bad faith. So I am sure you can see why I have very little faith. Don’t even get me started on Health Insurance ahahahah!

 
Psssssttttt!!!
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