Dang, it's been a long week. I just got back into NYC last night after spending 4 days in Chicago for summer intern training and promptly met two of my classmates, a friend from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, and two of her classmates and acted a fool in NYC. I probably should have stayed in and rested, but my man Shawn called me up and told me to mobilize, so I had to go out and do my thing. My original plan was to stay out until midnight or maybe 12:30am at the latest, but we just went from club to party to club all night and, by the time I hopped a cab back here, it was past 3am. We even ran into a group of 8 of our GSB classmates while we were out and I thought they’d kick it with us, but they all went home early. I ended up spending a load of cash and I haven’t even gotten a paycheck yet, but it was the kind of night that I was expecting to have many of while working in NYC.
The strategy intern orientation in Chicago threw a bunch of information at us and the long days of training were tough, but I got a lot of good information about how Accenture does their thing. Before going into this training, I didn’t know how the strategy work played into their overall corporate strategy as a company that offers consulting, technology, and outsourcing services, but they cleared all of that up for me. And, they gave us a lot of lessons on issue based problem solving and effective communication, which underlies all of the work they do in the Strategy group. Aside from the work stuff, I had a ball in Chi-town and could see myself living there at some point for a year or so. The people there were really laid back and I was seriously diggin’ the architecture in their downtown area. The events the company planned for us gave us a chance to see part of what life could be like there and was a good way to welcome all of us to the company for the summer.
I found out yesterday that I’m going to be staffed on a project in Columbus, Ohio for a software company that is devising a market entry strategy. I was a little disappointed when I found out about the location because I’ll have to be away from NYC from Monday through Thursday, but I’m excited about the learning experience that I’ll get. This project is basically giving me the chance to leverage my software background to develop some strategy skills, which is EXACTLY what I was hoping to et out of this summer. By the time I finish in August, my strategy game should be tight as Jon Travolta leisure suit in “Stayin’ Alive”.
One topic that I’ve never covered in this blog is what it’s like to own a rental property that is far away from where you go to school. I own a condo in the DC Metro area and I thought of selling it when I got into Stanford, but two of my boys agreed to rent it from me and it seemed like it would work out. Since I’m cool with both guys, I knew that they’d look after the place for me and allow me to keep on building equity while I was at Stanford. Things got complicated when one f the guys moved out at the end of March after buying a house with his girlfriend. Because of him moving out, I had to subsidize half of the housing expenses for the months of April through June from my student loan money so I wouldn’t have to kick my other friend out or make him pay it all himself. The complications got larger when that other friend got accepted into Yale’s business school and told me that he’d be moving out in July.
All of the worrying about the place had finally gotten to me and I decided to sell the condo to make things easier on myself next school year. I believe that the real estate market in the DC metro area is experiencing a huge bubble so this seemed like the perfect time to get out and get the most profit possible. Plus, it offered the added benefit of giving me cash that I can invest over the next year to put toward buying another spot in whichever city I end up in after graduation. I officially put the place on the market on Thursday morning and my realtor called me this morning saying that we’d gotten an offer for purchase. I just got back from receiving a faxed copy of the contract, signing it, and sending it back. So, in about three weeks, it’ll all be done.
I guess I told that story to illustrate that it is incredibly difficult to manage a property from far away while you’re in B-school. A lot of my friends told me that I should have kept the condo and brought in a management company to deal with it, but the rates those places charge would have made me have to charge tenants too much in rent. Also, I didn’t want to trust a stranger to rent my place and take care of it, especially with them know that I’d be 3000 miles away. Selling it was the best option for me, but that doesn’t mean that it is that way for you. If you’re planning on moving away for B-school, I’d recommend looking at the following when making the choice to sell your home or keep it to rent out:
1. The state of the housing market – Does it look like your property value will rise/fall in the next year or two? Would you make more money by getting out now or is it worth it to keep the place and let the value go up?
2. Do you have trustworthy renters lined up? If not, are you willing to trust the well-being of your place to people that you don’t know?
3. Is there anyone in the vicinity of your home that you can rely on to go in and make repairs, if required. If not, do you have any contractors or other businesses lined up that can do the job and not rip you off?
4. Do you ant to make a profit off of the rent you charge or just cover the cost of owning the home (mortgage, home owner’s/condo fees, property taxes, maintenance, etc)?
Once you think through those things, the decision should be easy for you…at least it was for me.
Posted by marquis930 at June 18, 2005 07:13 PM