Knowing When to Let Go

I'm a bit of a control freak. It's just who I am. But there are times in life when you learn it's just best to let go.

This is a hard one for me, especially when it also means more money out of pocket every month. 

Here is my issue:

I have a rental house. It's a long story as to why I even have it, but it has to do with being young, stupid, and in love. 'Nuff said.

Anywho, I have a rental house in a small, suburban area. I've been trying to rent it out myself for the past 3 years- finding my own tenants, screening them, doing all the maintainece and upkeep, dealing with evictions when the renters turned out to be scum- all that fun stuff. It's a lot of work being a landlord. Who knew?

During all of this, my family (and others) kept telling me to get out from under the house (sell  it), or have a property management company take care of it. I didn't want to do either of these things for various reasons:

1. Working for myself like I do, and not planning for the future as well as I should, I don't really have a good retirement fund in place. I'll have the rental house paid off in about 15 years (I'll then be in my mid-40's) By then, the house will be bringing in extra income, which I plan to use as my retirement fund.

2. The house is worth way less now that the housing market has crashed. I'd literally have to PAY the bank in order to sell the house. Not gonna happen.

3. I'm a control freak. I like being in charge of things. The thought of someone else being in charge of my house (a property management company) is not a fun thought for me.

4. There is also added cost with a property management company. They take a portion of the rent payment every month, and as it is, I'm already getting less rent than I'm paying on the house.

5. And oh yeah. I'm stubborn. Dang it, being a Taurus.

After 3 years of dealing with all the the junk that goes with being a landlord, I've finally decided to hand over the reigns of the house to a propety management company. I found a company that's local, close, has a good reputation, and takes care of everything. They also seem to think they can get more for the house per month than I was getting. So, even with their monthly fee, I might come out getting MORE than I was before (or at the least, getting just about as much.) AND I won't have to deal with anything. The rental house is about an hour from where I currently live, so this is a really nice thing for me.

So, the lesson of the day is, sometimes it's OK to let go- to let someone else be in charge, even if it means spending a little more money than you want. Sanity and precious time are worth WAY more than a few extra bucks a month.

And just FYI, that's why this blog has been a little post-free lately. I'm trying to get the house in order so I can turn it over to them, and hopefully get it rented soon (keep your fingers crossed!)

And there ya go. :)

Is there anything that you spend a little extra money on in order to keep your sanity/get back extra time?