I just bought my first house, folks. I’m partly terrified, but mostly excited. It’s not a mansion or anything and it needs a bit of work, but it’s the perfect place for me and my two dogs. It’s spacious enough for me (plus one, should I finally find Mrs. Right), has enough room for my buddies to come over and hang out, and it’s convenient to my work.
Another reason I chose it is because it has the potential to make a bit of extra money. You see, there’s an apartment space above the garage. It needed a bit more work than the house itself, having sat unused for a long period of time, but the promise of getting a tenant in there and recouping a bit of my monthly mortgage payment was a huge motivator for me to spend most of my free time getting it in ship-shape. After bribing them with free beer and snacks, I convinced a few of my friends to spend a couple of their weekends helping me out.
First, we painted the entire space. My friends and I are not professional painters, so it took a bit of trial, error, and ruined T-shirts before we figured out what we were doing. After all was said and done, though, it’s amazing the transformation that just a coat or two of paint can bring! The apartment went from feeling like a small, dark area into a spacious abode that’s full of light. Thankfully for our poor painting skills, the carpet was old and it didn’t matter that it looked like a Jackson Pollock painting by the time we’d finished.
We ripped up dusty old carpeting and laid down affordable (and easily maintainable) tile flooring. I’m no decorating guru, but a few rugs made it look updated and rather homey. The apartment featured a small kitchen with a leaky sink and cabinetry with a few dangling doors, so with the help of several YouTube tutorials, we got to work fixing it up.
The biggest problem I ran into (and probably why the apartment had gone unused for so long) was that it had zero air conditioning and got really hot in the sweltering summer temperatures. With only one window to provide natural light, I certainly didn’t want to fill it with a noisy window air conditioning unit.
After doing quite a bit of research, I found myself at www.actronair.com.au. Far from the clunky window unit I had first imagined, ActronAir has sleek, single-room air conditioners that look beautiful while keeping things cool. They also have a Quiet Mode – something that’s really important in smaller spaces.
ActronAir had the new air conditioner installed and running in no time…which meant that I had the apartment rented out and making money as soon as possible. My tenant is another single guy who is pretty quiet and often at work.
Who knew being a part-time landlord could be so easy? Now, as far as finding Mrs. Right…
