Outsmarting the tree rats (squirrels) around my house is a full time job. This past spring I hit on a new idea. When I plant a container I invert an empty wire hanging basket over the container and the plant gets sun and can be watered but the squirrels can't dig in it. Another idea: I bring in a lot of plants to "over winter" under lights in my garage. I have so many that it is hard to reach my hand under the lights (4 shop lights) to the middle for watering. So I bought a pump sprayer with a long wand and it works great! In late winter I add a little liquid Dawn detergent, few drops, to each gallon of water and not only does the soil get wet easier but the worms that are waiting to hatch into distructive pets just don't hatch. Don't know what it costs me to run those four shop lights all winter but I don't care. It is a small price to pay to be able to "garden" every weekend in the garage. Many people have mentioned that they mark their outdoor plants with a "permanent Sharpie". In my experience there isn't a "permanent Sharpie", they all fade and quickly too. A grease pencil/china marker or expensive "no fade" garden center marker are the only markers I have found that won't disappoint you by fading. Eight years ago I decided to learn about gardening so I tapped into my local library. I checked out nearly every book they had on gardening and learned so much. The Gardenweb forums are also a wealth of information and entertainment. There is always something new to learn and I appreciate all of you who take the time to write in your ideas. One last idea from me...I keep a small notebook on my computer table and jot down any idea I find that's new and I will want to try. Little pieces of paper get lost but I always know where my notebook is and also use it when I order "on line" so I will remember the name of the company and the order date. Tina or Trowelgal

Really sorry to hear of the loss of your cat, know how badly it hurts. You sound like a good pet owner! I started this this morning, had to leave before I could post it. revamp summed up my thoughts, but I'll go ahead and toss this out there anyway. ;) Since I already gave them my notice,doesn't that mean our lease is already terminated? Yes, it will terminate effective the day you gave notice for, in this case 11/30. Sorry, I was tired last night when I typed my response and left out a key word, "early". LL can terminate the lease early for breach. But with only 3 weeks left it's not really worth the hassle of the paperwork to give notice to vacate and possible eviction. That could well take 4-6 weeks just to land in court (if it even went that far, you could leave voluntarily and avoid it). That scenario would more realistically come into play if you had more months left and LL discovers the dog. They could legally terminate the lease early for breach, following steps in the language of your lease (they have to give you xx days notice to surrender the premises, etc.). It would be worth the effort then, because there's a lot more time left on your contract. But in your case, terminating early would just be a wasted effort because a)they already know you're leaving in less than a month and so b) they should be prepping for a tenant transition anyway. But that doesn't mean they don't have other courses of action. Such as demanding pup be removed, or hitting your Sec Dep for 'damages' or 'cleanup'. OK, this next part is going to get a little more complicated, but wanted to cover the deposit better. I'm not a lawyer, so don't know how this would go. Some in the general public might think well, you've paid that extra deposit for a cat, and have been paying extra per month, so what's the big deal, cat or dog. They both have 4 legs and a tail. ;) So LL can use that extra cat deposit money for a dog, no big deal. I tend to think that's not the case. Because the extra money was specifically for a "cat", not a "pet". So LL legally might be prohibited from using the "cat" money toward clean-up or repair from a dog. In that scenario, if they try to claim dog damage/cleanup then they would dip into the larger pool of funds available, which is your primary Security Deposit. Here's another whammy: since you did exercise the option to have a cat, they could well use that $ for general cleanup or something your cat might have scratched (wall, drapes). And on top of that still dip into the primary Deposit for repairs that only a dog could do (such as pup chewing up baseboard or vinyl flooring). So much depends on your LL if you got caught. If they are super strict and allow no bending of rules, they could insist at worst that you leave in xx days. (In my state it's 10 days for anything other than non-payment, 5 for nonpayment of rents. The time frame absolutely depends on the law and your lease). Middle of the road they could say you can stay but pup's got to find a home elsewhere till 11/30. Best case scenario for you is they let it slide with only 3 weeks to go. They have to give us notice to fix the issue right? That depends on your State and Lease too. Sometimes it's 24 hours written, sometimes it's 24 hours verbal, in my State it's 'reasonable verbal notice'. (Maybe keep pup's stuff ready to skedaddle at a moment's notice?) Despite all that, I know you're on pins n needles, and wouldn't encourage others do this, but just continue to lay low since you've got so little time left, it will likely all work out. Then you can enjoy your pup and relax in your new place. ;)

If you're not missing my point you are just giving bad advise...Your advise in addition to the other things that you advised was, "You don't need an attorney to "set up" rental property." - You certainly don't need one, it is just the smart thing to do... You then say, "Another point about RE investment, lets say you buy a property for $1mil, the market value appreciates in five years to $1.5mil. You, the investor put down $500k (50%), your return is not a 50% increase, you have doubled your investment money in five years." - Which has nothing to do with real estate it is the point of every leveraged investment ever. I am using the stock market to point out that there is nothing special about leveraging real estate. I love that you are so eager to disagree with me, and while pointing out the gaping holes in most of your claims is fun, I am not doing it for that reason. When people give tragically bad advice like, don't consult an attorney when getting into complex contractual relationships with major tax implications," I feel it necessary to ensure that people don't take that seriously. You are giving people really bad advice just to disagree with me. I think deflategate was stupid - there disagree all you want with that, and you won't cause anyone serious financial harm.

I do not know how prevalent they are in other sections of the country and builders may have stopped in this area but for a while patio homes that were connected in a pinwheel fashion were a hot item for seniors. They were basically houses connected with a common wall in the middle. Most had a driveway and a patio that were considered part of the residence and maintained by the resident. Surrounding areas were maintained by property management. Most were in areas where a developer did both purchase and rental properties although I have never seen a rental patio home in any of the developments that my husband drug me to.