First Key may be the worst. . .

I am not young and I'm not that naive anymore, at almost 50 I have lived in a lot of places in a lot of rentals so when I say First Key may be the worst corporate landlord I've ever dealt with that has some weight behind it.  😏

Let's start with I think all corporate landlords are bad, no company should own whole fucking neighborhoods, period. But since they do sometimes you have no choice but to sign the devil's contract if you want to live in some cities. 

While First Key has a lovely website (it's actually a maze of several sites and portals all designed to screw you into never being in the right one) it is dysfunctional and repetitive. However, you don't have much choice in using the stupid portals because they make you pay your rent and utilities through a portal, they force you to report maintenance stuff through a different portal, there are actually 3 and I never did figure out the point of the 3rd one.  😕

When tried to notify them of intent to vacate even though there are specific drop downs in the menus for that purpose it still says in very fine print that they must be notified in writing, not email actual mail. I am betting lots of people have been charged the insufficient notice fee because they didn't mail paper after doing the thing in the portal. 

After they accepted our move out notice I received an email with instructions and the steps to exit the property, but most of it is straight up BS. It said there would be a inspection/walk through 30 days before move out but no one ever called schedule or showed up. It said there would be a rently box placed on the door and to leave the keys in the rently box, but no one ever came and installed one. It said they will inspect and decide on the refund of the security deposit and if after you receive your refund you want to dispute the amount you can file in the portal and upload documents and photos as support for your claim but literally days after our move out all my logins have been disabled and I cannot log into any of the portals.  Seriously, I will get a final utility bill that I won't be able to pay online but have to call and do it over the phone and be charged an extra fee for the inconvenience of it all. We have to wait 30-45 days before they are obligated to send the security deposit refund (if we are actually getting anything back) and then I will have no way to dispute anything or upload evidence because they pre-emptively disabled all my logins. 😠 

So, they better send me the full amount back or I'm getting a lawyer and I don't give a flying Fuck if the lawyer costs me 10x what I'll get back it's worth it to me to prove the point and I might just contact the state's attorney and report the inappropriately cutting off portal access before the settlement of the status of deposit refund. Cutting off the payment portal and forcing me to pay the final utility bill over the phone is hella shitty, I had payments set up in the portal so that I didn't have to pay the extra fee on the payment and they took that access away for no valid reason KNOWING there is still a final bill to pay. 😡  

I spent weeks working my a$$ off cleaning that house from top to bottom, I took down all the glass on the light fixtured and actually washed years of dirt off, I cleaned things that have never been cleaned, I cleaned things that were dirty when we moved in. I paid over $800 to have the whole house's carpets cleaned and I have photos to prove it. 

the place was spotless when I walked out, which is more than I can say for when we rented it

I had to turn the flash off to get photos of inside the appliances because they were so shiny

when I tell you I cleaned every damn thing I'm not joking, I CLEANED like an OCD person on a mission

you cannot tell there were ever cats in the house, it is literally cleaner than when we moved in, it is the definition of move-in ready 

I double-dog dare them to not give me a full refund. . . 😐 I'm already mad and trust me when I say you do not want to mess with a menopausal GenXer with plenty of time and resources. 

Done, but not finished

There is a difference between done and finished, if you know you know. I am so done with this move even though there are things that are not yet finished. 😏 I am so done with the corporate rental company and their 4 websites and 3 user portals and stupid processes that no one follows, giving instructions that they don't even follow through on. Like be so f'in serious how am I supposed to leave the key in the "rently box" on the front door when no one ever came and put a rently box on the front door??!?!? 😖 Why does the email say the window to install said box is between 30 and 7 days? really!?!? could you be any less specific or useful 😠 I tried to follow the rules, I tried to follow their directions, but they literally made it impossible, so I'm done. 

In good news, the cats are adjusting and even liking the new house.

Merlin's barstool now has a view, he seems very happy with.

I still have a ton of painting, trim, and touchup to do, not to mention all the ongoing unpacking and organizing. It will be weeks if not months before I'm fully unpacked and settled. 

Holy exhaustion Batman!

No seriously, I'm getting too old for this Sh*t! 

Don't ask where it hurts because it would be a shorter list to ask where it doesn't hurt. 😒 My ankle popped so loud the other day I thought my foot was just going to snap off Death Becomes Her style. Thank god for the movers, those young men worked so hard, we have a lot of stuff. Although, I should point out that it wasn't 2 men and A truck it was 4 men and 2 trucks, did I mention we have a lot of stuff. 

Even with 2 trucks we ended up with stuff in our trailer and left stuff we have to go back for, yeah like I said too much stuff. 😏  

Part of why I'm so exhausted and sore is because my cRazY insisted on trying to paint the whole house in a matter of days before the furniture delivery. 😅 When talking to people about this it was pretty evenly divided between thinking it was brilliant or insane; it is way easier to paint before there is furniture and stuff in the way, but it is also insane to try to paint a whole 3000 sqft house with different colors in different rooms in a matter of days and then have the energy to move in. Even people who thought it was insane admit it was a great plan because once stuff is in the way and unpacking and setting up and then everyday life kicks in and so many of those little things you never get back to fixing. 😐 But this is not our first home purchase, and I know that from experience, while in previous homes we have done some stuff there is always a list of things you never get to. . .until it's time to sell or move and then you do those things for the benefit of the next person. Well, no offense to our Georgia renters or the guy who bought our Tipton house, but I want to enjoy it this time. 😎

And while I didn't succeed in painting the whole house, I did manage to finish the dining room, living room, master bedroom, my shop, the world's longest hallway and half a guest room (ran out of paint). I still need to do the sunroom, the laundry room, the back office, and mud room, and yes, it is a big house but see the aforementioned "too much stuff". 😅 Luckily the house also came with a second garage just for husband's too many tools, so I can still park my car in the attached garage.

The cats have adjusted quite quickly, I'm a bit surprised, especially by little Merlin as he tends to be a bit skittish and scaredy because of his less than perfect eyesight, but less than 24 hours and he's strutting around like he owns the place. 😌

of course, there is too much to see and explore so he won't sit still long enough for me to get a photo 😅 so here is the blur that is my Merlin

New house. . .

I am exhausted, I really hate moving, but things are happening. I know now that I'm not just feeling behind, I am in fact falling behind, but there is nothing I can do about it. There are a limited number of hours in a day and I am only 1 person, so I will do all I can for as long as I can and it will have to be enough. The movers and trucks are coming on schedule whether we are ready or not. 😏

in the meantime, I find myself wondering why one would hang such a massive set of drapes in such a manner over a normal sized window 😅

Oh, but I am keeping those drapes, they are JcPenney home originals in good condition (I took them to the cleaners) however, I am absolutely shrinking the rod footprint and getting new shears. The dining room and living room both will keep the fancy drapes, just reconfigured and refreshed. 😎 Although they are not the reason I like the house so much, they are just a nice touch, the real reason I love the house is the location and the view. 

 

Yes, that's a deer out my kitchen window just wandering through in the middle of the day. 😍

falling behind or feeling behind?

Seriously, I don't know if I'm falling behind or just feeling behind, I can't tell. 😟  I do know that weeks are ticking by and I am getting things done, but the real question is, is it enough?  Will it all be ready for the movers?  Honestly, I'm not sure, I have packed a lot, I have cleaned things, I have arranged services for the new house. I still haven't managed to finish the little lizards, they may end up being packed in pieces. 😅

I just haven't really had the time to sit down and finish them. I really hate packing things up when they are only half-done, in the past that has been the end of a couple of projects, I never went back and finished them, I hope that doesn't happen here. 

Not that I have much choice, the bench must be cleared so I can disassemble it, everything must be packed before the movers arrive to load trucks. The logistics of moving fish, plants, and cats are getting complicated but we're working on it. My tiredness is growing into exhaustion, but we have weeks left before we'll be settled and between now and then I not only have to finish packing and cleaning this house, but I have to go clean and paint the new house too.  

Next weekend is the 4th, which is good/bad, first Happy 4th but second the cats hate fireworks. 😒 There likely will not be a blog post next weekend, too much to do. 

on schedule. . .sort of

For the most part the moving plan is on schedule, sort of, some of the things have shifted and some things still haven't been scheduled. 😏

There are still things on my bench, lizard bits to be assembled, so some rings and tools remain, but most of the shop is packed.

The actual movers are locked in, closing on the house scheduled, trash bin set for delivery days before closing so we are ready for the cleaning, painting, fixing immediately after closing.  Now the cable/internet has been an adventure, the listing said it already had fiber internet but it tuns out, it is on the street but was never ran to the house. So, after checking around found the provider, was initially told that it would take 4-6 WEEKS to schedule a drop and since we didn't technically own it, yet I wasn't authorized to authorize the "construction". Contacted our realtor and pointed out that it would be helpful if the current owners would authorize the dig since the listing said it already had service and I didn't want to have to move into a house with no service and wait weeks for service. He was very helpful and with the assistance of the other realtor the owners signed off, and the address was put on the list. ~yay~ I was happy thinking it would be weeks and they should be ready to do the install/dig around the time we move. . . well I was wrong I got a call on Friday, and they will be there Tuesday. 😲 So it went from a 4-6 week wait and no way to know when it would be done, to it will be done in less than 2 weeks, I'm not really complaining.  I mean I wanted it done before the move, but I really didn't expect it to go from a waitlist to finished so fast. 😅 Again, that's not a complaint it saves the trouble of changing phone plans and getting a temporary hot spot, but it also means I'll be paying for almost a month of service before we even move in.  

The flip side of the eager-beaver fiber installers is the no contact cleaning industry here in Indy. I have tried contacting multiple cleaning services about a move-out clean on this rental and 2/3 never responded at all, the 3rd service did call to check details (sqft of house and if the stairs where carpeted) said he would email me a quote but ghosted, it has been almost 2 weeks. So, I guess, Monday I get to start over with a fresh search and another round of quote requests. 😒 Sidenote for the house up north it only took me 1 phone call and the cleaning service that does whole home deep cleaning also agreed to do the carpet (without charging the minimum or a ton extra because it is only 1 room of carpet) great guy, super helpful, already paid the deposit and got it scheduled. I love it when things are easy. 

In the not so easy category, I have no idea what color his face should be. 😅

packing sucks. . .

Planning may be everything but packing sucks. 😑 

I have started packing the shop, emptying all the drawers and bins, boxing up rings and packing supplies. I suppose I should put the online shops in vacation mode or something. 😏 

Normally I would have just announced a temporary closure and deactivated all listings, but being honest it's not like I'm swamped with orders and the inventory is all still in my possession so if I did happen to get an order, I could still ship it for now.  That will change but unlike previous moves where things have gone into storage, sometimes for months, this is just going from house to house. 😎 There will be a couple of weeks where it's all packed here waiting for transport while I'll be elsewhere painting and prepping for landing it all in the new place but compared to previous longer distance moves where we landed in furnished temporary housing and stuff stayed in storage for 2-4 Months, two weeks is nothing. 😉 

Although, there is a temporary furnished place in this move plan it is only for 30 days not 3 months like last time. Mostly it's just a local location for the husband to start his job (tomorrow) and a place for the cats to hang out the week I clean and paint the new place. I've ordered a trash bin (and service) for the new place, got on the list for the fiber internet drop, still need to schedule cleaning help and carpet cleaning for after closing which is just 3 weeks away. 😁

I have so many lists because there are lists for each location, lists of utilities to turn on for the new place, list of utilities to turn off this rental. List of cleaning and "repair" for the rental, change laundry room light bulb, swap shower heads back, hire carpet cleaners, etc. List of cleaning and repair for the new house, clean Everything, swap shower heads, work on deck boards, buy new dishwasher, water filtration system. Change of address, update banks and credit cards, etc., 

I am still pretty determined to finish these little guys before the move, #2 has a head and 2/4 of his legs, #3 has all 4 legs laid out, but no head yet. 😅