Speer

I have this rental property on Speer. I got it in the divorce with Justin. It's an old house that has been converted into four units, including a cottage in the back. Justin insisted it was worth a lot, even though he married me just to use my good credit, take the equity out of it in the hey day of all these easy mortgages, and now I have a property with little equity, not a lot of cash to spend on it and a lot of work. It loses cash each month. And yesterday I found out, in trying to figure out all the mess and neglect, that the utility bills are higher because he had put each unit with its own separate account. I did not know that. So I will have to catch up on a lot of utilities. Just the cottage alone needs a lot of repair. Holes in the bricks sealed up where mice get in. Insulation, new paint, fixing cracked windows, fixing the door. To save money I am meeting him there at 8:30 a.m. to help with the insulation. I rented it to this young hair-stylist couple who is moving here from San Diego. I will be fixing up the property, slowly raising the rents, and hopefully be able to refinance it while rates are so low. Only problem is that Justin drained me of my cash, for you see, I was a wealthy widow when I met him. And I was a walking target, despite his poor credit and huge debts, he was a fast-talking, nice guy who convinced me to shell out massive cash despite numerous failures to complete promises on time. I failed myself, including to protect my kids. I had him invade my life and finances, and now divorced from him, I am building it all up again. Because all my cash is gone. I have these houses, including another rental property in Arvada. But I have faith in my business, faith in myself. That's something I never had before, because the upside of all of this mess is that it has made me a woman of incredible courage, incredible will and downright strength.

I don't know why, but I think God wants me to have rental properties. Despite all my good intentions of trying to protect my assets, trying to get a good lawyer, fiercely fighting to stand my position, this is what I ended up with. So I chalk it up to karma.
I was in court Wednesday for Justin in contempt of court for allowing the 31st Street house to go into pre-foreclosure. It was ugly, but necessary.
So all of my life, it has been about houses. Now I am fixing my own houses, cleaning my own houses, and cleaning myself from the inside out. I have made some great gains in therapy. Mainly to have boundaries, not to allow people to take, take, take. To clean out negativity, self-hatred and doubt, and really create my own world and claim my power. So I do believe that things will turn around, despite the difficulty of the last six years. Despite the difficulty of most of my life.
So that is what this memoir is about. THe houses I have lived in, lost, gained and cleaned rebuilt, and most of all, the house that is my body, my mind, my heart and how I became the Queen of Bohemia.