The lighter side of life – staying in touch with friends and family by celebrating the ordinary.
In search of a new handyman
Our amazing handyman in Albuquerque, Calob, is moving to Hawaii! I found that out shortly after deciding to continue managing our rentals myself rather than hire a management agency. So now how am I going to manage two rentals in Albuquerque – from Tucson – without a good handyman?!?
I found Calob several years ago through my favorite real estate agent – the best real estate agent I’ve ever had (and I’ve had a ton of them). Julie, my amazing real estate agent, moved to Portugal recently. Now my amazing handyman is moving to Hawaii. Do we see a trend here?
A dismaying trend! I mean, I’m happy for them and everything but…what are we going to do the next time some dang dumb thing happens at one of the rentals and the tenants call for help? Drive 7 hours to help them change a lightbulb?
We’ve advertised for handyman help several times in the past and it always ends in disaster. I wanted to find someone by word-of-mouth. I was able to get a couple of names from trusted Albuquerque friends but then I ran into a logical problem.
Imagine you’re a really good handyman. Imagine it’s a crazy hot housing market. Prices are zooming up and there’s a shortage of housing everywhere. What’s the best use of your skills? Changing lightbulbs for absentee landlords? Nope. If you’re skilled, you’re flipping houses right now. And sure enough, the (former) handymen my friends recommended are all now either doing major remodels and are booked for over a year out, or they are buying and flipping houses.
And in fact, Calob is flipping a house he bought on auction and only agreed to help me out because he’s a nice guy and we’ve gotten to be friends. He plans to take the proceeds from the house he’s currently renovating as leverage to flip and then airbnb properties in Hawaii.
Calob had spent part of the pandemic in Hawaii with some friends, and while there, he met a beautiful young woman with a cute 6-year-old son, and he’s fallen completely in love with her. I have never seen him so happy. Love is such crazy shit, lol.
Calob is also a mixed martial arts fighter and is “this close” to making it big as a fighter, which worries me considerably because getting hit in the head isn’t good for brain cells. But I guess we all have our things that our friends and family think are crazy, because that is part of truly living. I still wish he wasn’t fighting.
Meanwhile, what am I going to do about getting a new handyman?
I finally thought to ask our landscaper if he knew of anybody. I’ve always found that talented and reliable people hang out with other talented and reliable people. Our landscaper has been extremely reliable for several years now, helping us keep up the yards at the rentals and our own house.
Our landscaper, Ron, is responsible, responsive, communicates well, and makes good decisions with very little direction. Maybe he would know someone like him who does interior work?
His texted reply was, “Yes, my guys and I know some thing from inside the house too. And if there is something we don’t I’ll find someone for you.”
That was good enough for me. If Ron says he can do it or find someone who can, then my problem is solved. He’s in a far better position to find the right guy for the job than I am!
So even though it didn’t initially occur to me to hire a landscaper for interior work, it’s not like we need a major remodel done at the properties. We just need someone available to fix the little things.
And anyway, Ron isn’t just a “landscaper”. Ron is a reliable businessman with connections. I’m optimistic this will work – we’ll see as time goes by.
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