Opportunities come from the strangest places.

So, I'm looking for a renter, for the house I'm living in. I figure $1000 will be a good ballpark. I'm telling people $1200, though, but, I'm willing to bargain.

So far, my two best offers: The guy that works at Lowes, who's selling me my cabinets. He used to live in town, but now he lives in Keansburg, the next town over, and it's generally recognized that Keansburg is a slum. He wants back in Union Beach bad. He's flinched a little at the price, but he said he'd talk it over with his girlfriend.

The other offer, and this one came outta left field, was from my contractor of all people. He used to live in town, and, you guessed it, now he lives in Keansburg, yeah he wants back in too. He likes our house a lot, perfect for him and his girlfriend. Ok, here's the kicker. To get a Cert. of Occupancy, I have to replace the heating and electrical. Big $$, roughly 10 grand. That we didn't budget for, in this loan. He said he'd do any painting, and cleaning up or whatever. I quoted him $900, for rent "as is" and he got excited. I like the guy, our relationship has been strained, at times, but it's not him, it's the situation. He's a decent guy, we've known each other for awhile, I've got no problem whatsoever renting to him.

The only thing is, is it worth the risk doing it "under the table" like? Without a Cert. of Occ? We'll get one eventually, as a matter of fact, I told him we would upgrade everthing if he promised to stay at LEAST a year. He said "If things work out, we'll stay there at least 10 years, I hate moving" .

The mister is a little patchy about it, but, then again it's not his decision, it's mine. It's my job, this whole renting thing. I'm gonna have to sit down with a calculator, and work out hard numbers, to see if it's worth it, to take the cut in our price, and upgrade things eventually.