Investor · Binghamton, NY · Member since 2014 · 118 posts · 66 votes
Hey BP!
What's the grossest or weirdest thing you've found after a tenant moved out?
I'll go first: we had a tenant who was evicted and kindly left us baggies of human excrement tied to the door knobs. Extremely classy :)
What's your story?
Guy with Great Hair · Austin, TX · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 4k+ votes
9y
I found a childs urn once.
About a week after a tenant moved out (breaking her lease) she told me she was out and it was clean. I get there and find tons of trash bags and loose junk in piled everywhere. So as I start tossing stuff, I come across this urn. I couldn't' believe it. Start checking it out and sure enough that's what it was, it even had this piece of memorabilia to go with it. As much as I wanted to cut ties with this woman, I decided to call her. She reluctantly agreed to come pick it up, when she got there she explained it was the ashes of a son she had lost a few years past while was still very young.
She was really just going to leave that there for me to toss. I'm not big on nostalgia, but that surprised even me.
Rental Property Investor · Toronto ON, Canada · Member since 2015 · 58 posts · 11 votes
9y
I had few tenants abandoned their furniture and garbage in the apt, cost few hundred to clean up. The latest one, there has been domestic abuse and drugs in the apt, so there are needles, damaged wall, broken window, etc. Maybe this topic will make me feel I am not treated badly.
Guy with Great Hair · Austin, TX · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 4k+ votes
9y
I found a childs urn once.
About a week after a tenant moved out (breaking her lease) she told me she was out and it was clean. I get there and find tons of trash bags and loose junk in piled everywhere. So as I start tossing stuff, I come across this urn. I couldn't' believe it. Start checking it out and sure enough that's what it was, it even had this piece of memorabilia to go with it. As much as I wanted to cut ties with this woman, I decided to call her. She reluctantly agreed to come pick it up, when she got there she explained it was the ashes of a son she had lost a few years past while was still very young.
She was really just going to leave that there for me to toss. I'm not big on nostalgia, but that surprised even me.
Oak Park, IL · Member since 2014 · 285 posts · 114 votes
9y
An open box of unused magnum condoms after an eviction lawsuit. He left the whole house with trash including uneaten fried chicken. It was an upscale neighborhood where this SFH was $2250 in 2014 when he left. He had $110000 income plus his wife's income. They had visits from Village police and his wife had left him a few months before eviction. They were nasty with neighbors. I feel bad for their kids who had these role models.
Real Estate Agent · Circleville, OH · Member since 2008 · 633 posts · 488 votes
9y
Had two urns on one of the last ones, able to get it to the person (At least SOMEONE came and picked it up off the porch).
Dead cat, mattress that was caught on fire, bong, all sorts of drug stuff including a mobile meth lab.
One of the best I've heard was talking to the landlord my parents had when I was a little kid. Him and I talk about real estate, he's just about out of it and I'm buying as much as I can, so we have good talks. He told me that right around the time I was born, the rental next to my parent's house had to be trashed out post-eviction. Him and another guy found themselves taking snowshovels and filling up trash cans with various sex toys. I thought out of all the stories I've heard, that is likely my favorite.
Investor · Orange County, CA · Member since 2015 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
9y
Big old turd floating in the toilet ... I'm no expert in that field, but it looked and smelled like it may have been there awhile too ...
Another fun one was a fridge full of rotten food that had been in 100 deg. plus heat for a LONG time due to there being no power after they didn't pay their electric bill, and subsequently stopped paying rent as well and finally left in the middle of the night, but not without leaving us that very special present. The maggots sure seemed to like it.
Almost no amount of security deposit IMO can compensate you for dealing with this type of sh!t, but hey, it is just part of the business sometimes. A landlord's life gets much better after they stop being so cheap and realize the benefits of stepping up in the quality of rental units, screening process, and thus tenants.
We had a fridge full of rotten food as well. Thanks to the smell and lack of electricity they put it outside in the middle of the summer for a few weeks. They had duck tape wrapped all the way around it several times. We were curious to get it open and grossed out to find maggots everywhere. It was nasty. The thing smelled like something had died in it. We taped it back up, threw it in the back of the truck and took it straight to the recyclers, LOL.