Heating options

It's time to go shopping. Now, you won't see me carrying any European handbags soon, but I am excited about the prospects of learning a few things. I need some new heating systems. At least, I think I do. I want to buy a new furnace for my Arlington property to increase the efficiency of the furnace and hopefully save some money in the long-run on my gas bills.

Now, with the Arlington properly, there aren't that many options for me. I can go with a mid-efficiency or high-efficiency gas furnace. You're thinking, big woop. The interesting savings will come from my decision regarding the fringewood property.

At Fringewood, it is heated using electricity. It's probably the most expensive form of heating, so I want to use the natural gas that is available to me. I have some more options here. I can go with a gas fireplace which will reduce the dependency on the electric baseboards, or I can try to see how much it would cost to convert the whole system to gas heated. There are probably not a lot of savings to be had on such a huge cost outlay, but it may make the property sellable in the future.

Anyways, I thought I would mention this stuff as I have not written lately. I'm still trying to wheel and deal, but it gets hard when I've been at the office so much lately. 5 more days!!!

Tenant issues

Yesterday, I had my first issue with the house at 75 Arlington. The tenants had called me last night while I was at work to tell me that the furnace was not working. When I bought the house, the home inspector had indicated that the furnace was quite old and that there would be a good chance that it would need to be replaced in the near future. I didn't think it would be so soon.

I called Direct Energy to come and check out the furnace. Unfortunately, they wanted me to pay the service man the day of the service, so I had to attend. They told me over the phone that it was going to be anywhere between 8-12 in the morning. Being an accountant, I was not thrilled with this appointment. This meant that I would have to leave work at some point or be late for work. It means that I will have to work a couple of nights pretty late to make up the time.

Thankfully, the service man called me pretty early in the morning, so that I was only minimally late for work. I called to say that I was going to be late, and I bet they understood, but I would have certainly preferred not to be late.

When everything is running smoothly, being a landlord is a great way to make money. There are very few headaches when things are running smoothly. On the other hand, it just seems like the bad things always occur at the worst times. When I had water issues with my Fringewood property, my parents were out of town, so I could not rely on them to help me out. It was my property anyways, and I would have done the work myself, like I had, but it would have been nice if someone like my dad was able to check on things during the daytime while I was at work. It just helps to relieve the stress a bit.