Techtonics

A Renters Dilemma

Posted by Surfy in Bend Adventures on February 5, 2010

It snows here sometimes.

We relocated to Bend, Oregon in August of this year because, well, why not? Small town environs for the kids, great snowboarding for dad, a clean outdoorsy environment, friendly people – all good. Bend is a town that may have overdeveloped its fondness for real estate just a “tad”. Builders built, developers developed, and just like everywhere people got in over their heads. As new arrivals in town this seemed like fine news for us. Prices are way, way down – 50% or more, landlords are desperate for tenants. PERFECT.

We had rented a house for 6 months at the beginning of 2009 to come hang out when we could. Great, brand new house. Developer couldn’t sell it. We rented….. and when our 6 months was up, the bank took it. It happens. Now, with the market falling like a knife we didn’t want to stick our hand out and get cut. So we rented another nice house and moved in right before the school year. Everything was fine. The owner of the house was remote which meant we handled repairs but no big deal. Until November when the foreclosure notices came to the house! The notices indicated that the mortgage had not received a payment since January 2009. Well, this was shocking! Our nice owner? Renting a house to us that hadn’t been paid for in 8 months? I had never heard or conceived of such a thing.

We had just moved in. Would we have to move again?

Then it got funny. I contacted the owner, who told me that she would get it all worked out. She asked me to continue paying the rent. Mindful of my deposits I asked for confirmation that she would be able to fulfill the lease. She could not provide it. She contacted me a month later to let me know that it was “all worked out”. And to send rent. It wasn’t worked out. So I found another house and we’re moving.

The owner is angry and wants to sue me for breaking the lease. She feels that I should stick it out until the house is auctioned, apparently. As a dad with 3 kids I feel very differently.

Under Oregon law it turns out that if you rent a house in foreclosure or default and the owner does not inform you of such, they are liable for the rent you have paid and double your expenses for moving, etc. In that case, she owes me a *lot* of money. Enough to rescue a large number of Haitians and have them live in this house!

That said, I don’t know if she plans to sue me. I don’t want to sue her. She’s already losing a house, maybe more, and I just want to get on with our fun lives here. I’m not angry for getting jacked around like this – just find it interesting that people operate like this.

In any event she got a lot of rent, for free. Funny.

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Priorities, Continued

Posted by Surfy in Deep Thoughts, Productivity on December 18, 2009

Ever since Merlin Mann dropped the science of whether a task is a priority on me, I’ve been dumbstruck at it’s simplicity and power. However, no one else seems to get it when I explain this to them. They resist, hate the idea, and move on. Or they don’t care. They think I’ve lost my mind. But the fact is, I haven’t. But it gets better.

In fact, it’s the inverse of Merlin’s Law that I really get: If you are doing something, well, it must be your priority!

So I find myself reading a webpage, reading the paper, shuffling papers, driving to the store and I think to myself:

“Self, this must be your priority”

And invariably I respond:

“This is definitely NOT a priority”

“Then why are you doing it?”

“Okay, not doing it. Done. Refocused.”

See?

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Habit Priming

Posted by Surfy in Deep Thoughts, Productivity on December 17, 2009

I’m going to categorize this under “obvious but useful”. They say it takes 30 days to develop a new habit. I don’t know who “they” are, but I still read and hear this frequently. This sounds easy, is easy but requires active thought….. and fails for me more often than it should. And then it hit me recently. Attach a new habit I’m trying to instill to another habit that I’m completely stuck with.

For years I’ve been trying to stay on the “take my vitamins” wagon. I always fall off! Irritating! So, I’ve paired it with a habit I have that is unstoppable:

Morning coffee.

I have taken the einstein-ien step of placing my vitamins right next to my super-incredible Nespresso espresso machine.

I think you get the picture. I’m now trying to think of other pairings to prime good habits.

Bad habits, btw, don’t need priming.

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