Options for Putting House up for Rent

One side task that comes with preparing for an extended trip abroad is deciding on what to do with one's property. In our case, we're aiming to put our townhouse up for rent.

Putting our house up for rent will cut our monthly expenses, thereby extending our savings and allowing us to live in Vietnam that much longer were I unable to find employment.

However, renting out a place isn't as easy as it sounds. There's a number of risks that we have to mitigate or outright avoid. While it'd be nice to decrease this significant mortgage expense, we definitely don't want to come home to a trashed house or worse.

Risks aside, we've come to three options:

1. Rent on Air B&B and Craigslist
2. Rent through a property management company
3. Rent to a close friend

Option 1 requires remote management on our part, as well as having a friend or family member help us with issues that come up. I'm not sure that I want to deal with property management while we're away trying to enjoy our time abroad.

Option 2 requires up-front preparation with the company and eats into any rental income. However, they'd take care of any issues that arose. The only problem is that we don't know when we'd be coming back. If we came back in three months, then that'd create even more hassle to essentially kick out the renter.

Option 3 is ideal. The only two downsides that I can think of are forgoing any potential income because we'd offer the place at a discount and the relationship risks that come with renting a place to a friend. That said, if we have the right friends rent the place, then we'd happily forgo income to rent to someone who will keep our place safe and secure.

We're aiming to have this figured out within the month.

OBV Board Member Response: "Plse plan on teaching KM"

As the title suggests, we got another positive update from OBV today: A board member gave the go-ahead for us to teach Krav Maga. This is exciting news, but it's also very sobering. Both the OBV board and our head KM instructor understand something about this situation that Thuy and I will soon come to learn first hand. We're going to be interacting with young women who have been tremendously traumatized, many, if not all of them, during the formative years of their lives. We acknowledge that we won't know what we're walking into until we get there and build relationships, and hopefully trust, with the young women.

I'll have to figure out a suitable training regimen that meets their needs and keeps to the KM standard of training, while at the same time tailor it to be sensitive to their experiences and target the development of their self confidence.

Between now and the trip, I figured I'll be better served by talking to people around town who have experience working in similar capacities. A former classmate's wife had brief experience teaching a self defense class in the rough part of Philadelphia, and she expressed a willingness to share her insights. That'll definitely come in handy. On the teaching front, our head instructor was kind enough to offer to help me improve my teaching ability through more exposure to co-teaching and by shadowing him during his classes.

This is going to be a good experience for everyone involved.

Green Light to Buy Plane Tickets!

We just got the ok from the One Body Village board to purchase our plane tickets and visas, and confirmation that OBV will reimburse us. This opportunity got a whole lot more real.

OBV is consulting with nuns who stay on the compound about my offer to teach Krav. While interested, they expressed concern about me being a male (their abusers were mostly if not exclusively all male), the body contact required, and what one board member described as "the cultural meekness of Vietnamese girls." Not sure what the last one means. Nevertheless, my wife and I are going to politely push the issue, as we firmly believe that this would be helpful for them.

Now, to buy those tickets and start working on renting out the house.

Requesting to Teach Krav Maga

I recently asked the leadership of One Body Village if I could teach Krav Maga to the young women being rehabilitated on the compound. I'm still waiting for their reply.

I hope that they approve. Krav Maga would be useful skill for them to practice and have. I know I'd get a lot of personal development out of the opportunity, as well.

No other updates on the trip as of late. I don't think we'll see much action until mid-July, when we're to finalize the contract with the leadership. Assuming all goes according to plan, we should have a better idea on our departure date by the end of this month.