Sonny,    That's great Jim! Ruth called about an hour after you and Becky took off. She was worried that you might encounter a problem or something. I told her that I would let you know that she called and that you would most likely be okay. After thityy five hours and you are still running now on nothing but caffeine and adrenalin everything must look what you'll be dreaming about for the sixteen hours. I look froward to your further comments in your blog.   All is very quiet here on the home front. Squirt seemed to know that you and Becky were taking off but he hasn't made his usual graphic expression on the living room carpet yet. I guess he can learn after all. I'm taking Jessica with me today, of all places, to the Hilton for that fantastic Star Trek experience. Because of past experience, I will avoid eating in The Quartz or whatever it was, restaraunt. I'll be looking for some more comments about eight or ten hours from now.                                                         Love Sonny

While half brain dead, and not being able to spell my name right twice in a row, we arranged our Suburban Extended Stay hotel room. Its TINY. Its a good thing we only booked it until July 9th. I'm just glad we decided to bring Walmart drawers They work great for both storage and cheap furniture.
We went to 4th Street Live today.
It was small, and no where near like anything in Vegas.
The Hard Rock Bar and Restaurant was smaller than Joes Crab Shack..
We ate at a Cajun style restaurant.
$6 a bowl for Jambalaya, Bourbon Chicken and more...and their sweet tea was beautiful.
Later, we toured the river front.
We sat on the of the riverside vernalli watching the water flow.
We didn't see any barges or boats, but it was a very peaceful view.
Moving down the way, we went to 'The Bad Side of Town'
The streets were narrow, one way streets, and the houses were very small, but they all had front porches.
Old people, kids, and all kinds of other people were sitting on their porches, playing ball, and teasing each other.
I'd say the racial lines have been erased here.
I didn't feel any fear.
Everything about Louisville seems to be quite beautiful.
Its hilly, with lots of trees, flowers and foilage.
There are lot of rivers, creeks, lakes, streams and waterfalls.
The homes range from modern to ancient. $18,000 to $2,000,000...and all are very livable.
All of the major chains are here, but the mom and pop restaurants exist everywhere.
The people don't seem to group by their race. The poor side of town consisted of all the races.
All of this is very good.

  I guess now that the condo is being sold that it will only be the house bills-Right? Your leaving at Friday will give me a little motre time to get the hang of it.

 I can handle th ebills okay but I willl need to be able to contact you if something comes up lik ewhat might be an important phone call that would have to be forwarded.

The Joint Account
Pay all the house and condo bills out of the joint account.
Let me know if we get low on checks or deposit slips so I can order some more.
Jim's Account
There shouldn't be any bills for me, except for that UMC bill. I'm not that worried about that one though.

The condo yields less around a 7.6% return if its constantly rented. Its high mainentance.

Investent	Yield	Notes
Condo	7.6%	100% Rental. High maintenance.
Treasure Bills	4.6%	Safe
Dreyfus Bond funds	5%
Heritage Group (HBOS)	15%	Last 2 Years
Las Vegas Sands Corp (LVS)	19%	Last 2 Years
Tax Sheltered Municiple bonds	4%	We don't need a tax shelter.

If we'd invested in LVS 4 years ago, our capital would have doubled.
But saying that is like saying when your gambling, you should only bet when your winning.
Its a matter of timing, faith and patience. It took 20 years for the condo's value to double.
I think the trick is to find investments you can handle emotionally
The condo, is an investment you can actually use, but how you come out involves more calculations than stocks.
Also, you typically don't check out a condo's value every month.
In the 70's, I splattered some coffee on the financial section.
Everywhere a drop hit, I tracked the investment.
The coffee drops averaged out, I think, around 10% 

Just when everything was going great, I've got to ask the tenants to leave
I can't evict them. They didn't do anything wrong.
The association has been yelling at me and my tenants about the cars parked behind the row of condos.
They aren't my tenants cars.
The association has been bugging me about the tenants working on their cars in the alley.
Once again, my tenants aren't doing it.
They are the people's cars that live in 5024, not 5034 Mtn Vista.
The people in 5024 visit the people in 5034.
The association assumes they ALL live at 5034.
So the association rep (who I've know for 30 years) has been yelling at me.
He's telling me my tenants are liars, they work on cars in the alley way, and he thinks they kicked down a broken wall.
I told the rep, he shouldn't yell at me just because we're old buds, and he shouldn't make accusations he can't back up.
AND, he should calm down and consider the source of his information.
I really like my current tenants. They are decent people.
But they shouldn't have let the people in 5024 come over to their garage,
and they shouldn't have a garage sale every weekend.
That condo is just too visible.
But, alas, I have a win-win solution.
- Since the condo isn't going to appreciate much more,
- Since we're only making $9000 a year off of it
We're going to sell it and take the $130k. (if I can, I'm selling to the tenants)...haha
That's enough to pay for this place for the next 10 years.
But if not, a reliable friend told me his investment group has gotten him better than 13% interest over the last few years.
$16,900 sounds like a much better return than what we're getting on the condo.
Time to give my old bud Brian Grady a call.

I have tried to E-Mail Aunt Tass one of my stories "The Tomb Of Nemesis". It is one of the simpler , more easy to read stories. I don't know if the E-Mail got through . I don't even know if this message will get through. This is essentially what I like to call a pioneer effort.

Hey Sonny!! I would be ever so pleased to read one of your stories!  Youve been teasing me most infrequently with them for several years and its come to a head!  A Tomb?  With a Nemesis? Inside of it?? Please!! Just hook me with one chapter?? Ha ha , take care Sonny!

I got your log Sonny and I'm glad to see you're contributing to it.
LVDUDE.com probably has a total of 12 visitors a month...haha.

It happens though. This isn't a perfect rental we have. Our tenents aren't perfect, but neither are we.
We are receiving better than normal rent for the condo. I'm happy about that.
The tenants washing machine was leaking and the dryer's heater coils may have been fried.
By the tenant agreeing to purchase/install a (new) washer and dryer for $200
out of October's rent money (plus security deposit forward) we did this:
If they don't get a washer/dryer, they can't complain about the 38 year old ones we left there.
If they do get a washer/dryer, we're ahead. Whatever they get can't be worse if it works.
However, we should add in the notes whether the washer/dryer have been replaced or not on the reciept.
I found some pretyped forms on http://www.freeforms.bidrent.com/ that I think are pretty cool.
The way I understand it though, as long as it is clear to a small claims judge that both parties signing an agreement, understood the agreement, and the agreement isn't totally stupid, its a good contract.

I, James Cutlar on 9/5/2006 received $360 with this understanding:
On 9/6/2006 the tenant will dispense the balance of $640
($540 plus the remaining unpaid $100 security deposit) by
1) Paying the landlord $440 in cash 
(add the standard $90 late if paid after 9/6/2006)
Initials Landlord: ________ Tenant: _______
2) Using the remaining $200 to replace the current washer and drier
Initials Landlord: ________ Tenant: _______
It is further understood that the tenant will dispose of the old washer and drier
by any method he deems fit,
and the replacement washer and drier will remain the property of the landlord.

October 2006's rent will be considered paid in full, upon completion of these events.
Initialing of each of these activities by the tenant and landlord
will cause this contract to be deemed completed.

Signed: __________________________________________ Landlord

Signed: __________________________________________ Tennant

Date:    __________________________________________