Property Manager Horror 1 and Commercial Space Station 5

A tragic story about misplaced trust and a commercial space station

Feb 02, 2025

Property Manager Horror

I was close to closing on my first investment property, a duplex located in Palm Bay Florida. Since it was an hour away from were I live, I decided that getting a property manager would be the best option. I found three 4.9-5 star rated ones located in Palm Bay using Google and called each. I had prepared a list of questions that came straight from the bigger pockets website. These questions ranged from asking how they approve tenants, how they handle repairs and what their monthly rate was. After getting a feel for each of the managers, I thought about each of their responses. One of the managers had a lower property management rate than the others, by a few percentage points. I decided that since they had high reviews and were the cheapest, that I would go with them. The manager also seemed to be able to answer all of the questions I had. I called back and arranged to meet with her at the property. My dad also happened to be there. Since he was an investor in this property, he had a vested interest in meeting the property manager.

The meeting went well. I was told that the currently white duplex should be painted blue since that is increasingly popular with tenants and would look nice. The property manager also said that she knew contractors and handymen who could fix up the right unit, since it was damaged and filled with trash and mold. Once the units were fixed, the manager would begin the application process.

Several months later, and tens of thousands of dollars spent, the units were finally ready for tenants. We got them rented and I finally started producing enough to allow the rents to pay for the mortgage. It seemed that everything was going great, except for one thing. I began to feel that I didn’t really understand what was happening with my properties. I was using the managers rental app called DoorLoop. Even though I was provided numbers on how the rentals were doing, it never felt like these units were under my control. I figured that this was just because the property was located far from where I live. A year after the property was rented, nothing major really happened. Tenants who signed a years lease left after a few months and I was alerted that the neighbor was using my water. This prompted me to turn off my vacant unit’s water. The new tenant eventually came in and had no water since I forgot that I had turned it off. Other than that, the first year was smooth sailing, for the moment…

To be cont.

To learn more about me, check out my website and Youtube channel:

ReaganClo.com

https://www.youtube.com/@RocketsandRealEstate

Starlab Commercial Space Station

We have talked about other commercial space stations on this newsletter before. See the first edition here

Wins In My First Deal 1 and a Commercial Space Station 1

Reagan Clo

June 18, 2023

Read full story

Companies are now building hardware that only governments were capable of doing several decades ago. We will now look at yet another company that is seeking to make its mark in the final frontier.

Starlab is a commercial space station that is being funded by Starlab Space. This is a joint company between US based Voyager Space and European based Airbus. As a result of this duel nationality nature, the company has received funding from both NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). The goal of this space station is research, not tourism. It has been designed to be fitted with as many scientific instruments as possible, while still being able to be lifted into orbit. The spacecraft that has been chosen to lift Starlab into space is the SpaceX Starship, their largest rocket and currently the largest rocket ever.

Starship size comparison, credit: BBC

You might think that using the largest rocket ever is overkill but the station has been designed to be as large as humanly possible. It is stated that this one module will have 100% of the ISS’s payload capacity and will allow for up to 400 experiments to be conducted every year.

Starlab Space believes that launching one massive space station will result in cheaper costs and faster scientific study since it can be used right away. The zero gravity environment will be used to create new medicines for the pharmaceutical industry. The space station will consist of the main module that the crew will live and sleep in, and one module to provide power and propulsion. To add to the comfort of the crew, they are even partnering with Hilton Hotels to provide the sleeping quarters for the crew. As stated before, this is not a tourist destination, so there is no chance you will be able to hitch a ride during their maiden voyage in 2028. Unless you are a space pharmacist.

A digital rendering of the Starlab free-flying commercial destination, which continues to be developed as part of a Space Act Agreement with NASA | Credit: Starlab