So, your tenant made it through the screening process and moved in.
What kind of dumb things are they saying now?
Petty requests?
Requests to remodel?
Requests for upgraded appliances?
Whining about the internet you provide free as a courtesy? (don't do it.. it's not worth it)
Excuses for not paying rent on time?
I have a tenant that continually complains of being cold, and I need to do a better job of sealing her doors (which they are sealed fine.) I go over there- and her heat is off. "Well, I don't wan to pay for all that electricity! I just run it once in a while."
.............
$640 including cleaning the A-coil, refill 2lbs of R-22, find and fix a leak.
Okay, that's not too terrible. I was picturing at least a grand. Let's see what my guy quotes me.
I have a tenant who was once sitting on top of the washer when I visited the property. He said he had to sit on top during the wash or the washer would walk or bounce around. I opened the lid and the washer was filled with clothes to the point the lid wouldn't close all the way. He packed the washer like he packed a suitcase.
i mentioned to him that the clothes should not be more than half way full in the washer and needs to be loose, or it would bounce around because it's overloaded and go off balance, furthermore it would not give him clean clothes.
He didn't believe me, said he has always done this.
He came with his mom during the showing.
He was 39 years old.
In the summer heat of August & one of our tenants complained that the heat will not come on. She complained that it was only 65 Deg in the unit. Meanwhile her room-mate did have her bedroom window a/c running.
Well today was a first for us. We have a duplex in the midwest that we have been discussing selling....
Background:
A few weeks ago tenant A called the police on tenant B due to a major domestic dispute they could overhear, they did not feel safe. Our property manager got the police report and it turns out that there was a "gentleman" living in the other unit who is not on the lease. He was the cause of the disturbance and does NOT have a background that would pass our rental application. Since we were considering selling and this tenet was on MTM we gave them notice with the intent to rehab the unit, re-rent it, and sell to a local investor.
Today:
We get a 6AM call from our PM, never a good sign. There has been a fire at the property....
Turns out the "gentleman" spent the night with another "lady" and our tenant got mad, really, really, mad. Rather that throw his stuff on the front lawn, the socially acceptable way of publicly announcing your relationship is over, out tenant went to the store and bought a bag of charcoal and some lighter fluid. She then proceed to BURN Mr. Ex-byfriend's possessions. IN THE UNIT.
Moments later the smoke alarm went off in the downstairs unit and, thank God, our other tenant was able to get out safely and nobody was hurt. Note to other landlords NEVER skimp on the smoke detector.
Mr. Ex then has apparently been to the police station to explain how he was not there and had nothing to do with it. Interesting note Mr Ex does not seem to have a job but is cover in gold jewelry... Mrs BBQ is AWOL.
Lessons to take away from this:
@Bob E. - you now have to REALLY rehab that place ;)
@Steve Babiak we are waiting to see what the insurance comes back with but we would be happy to turn it into a 4 bedroom SFR. We would get higher rents without having to pay for water or lawn maintenance.
Well today was a first for us. We have a duplex in the midwest that we have been discussing selling....
Background:
A few weeks ago tenant A called the police on tenant B due to a major domestic dispute they could overhear, they did not feel safe. Our property manager got the police report and it turns out that there was a "gentleman" living in the other unit who is not on the lease. He was the cause of the disturbance and does NOT have a background that would pass our rental application. Since we were considering selling and this tenet was on MTM we gave them notice with the intent to rehab the unit, re-rent it, and sell to a local investor.
Today:
We get a 6AM call from our PM, never a good sign. There has been a fire at the property....
Turns out the "gentleman" spent the night with another "lady" and our tenant got mad, really, really, mad. Rather that throw his stuff on the front lawn, the socially acceptable way of publicly announcing your relationship is over, out tenant went to the store and bought a bag of charcoal and some lighter fluid. She then proceed to BURN Mr. Ex-byfriend's possessions. IN THE UNIT.
Moments later the smoke alarm went off in the downstairs unit and, thank God, our other tenant was able to get out safely and nobody was hurt. Note to other landlords NEVER skimp on the smoke detector.
Mr. Ex then has apparently been to the police station to explain how he was not there and had nothing to do with it. Interesting note Mr Ex does not seem to have a job but is cover in gold jewelry... Mrs BBQ is AWOL.
Lessons to take away from this:
1.5 years ago we had a tenant accidentally burn the front half of both units of the duplex. It took 1 year to rebuild. Some of this was an initial horrendous abatement contractor that we ended up firing and hiring another (but we took much longer to fire the first than we should have, I suspected in the 1st week that there was likely issues but we fired them over a month later). Then Covid made things slow. Our units had both been rehabbed in the previous 3 years and therefore the rebuild was not otherwise beneficial to us
I am sorry this happened to you. fortunately Covid is unlikely to be as big an impact on your rebuild.
Good luck
Cute college tenant calls the wife in a panic. (We knew the parents so my wife just about adopted these sheltered girls).
The OTHER girl's BMW would not start & it was blocking her vehicle against the 2 car garage & she has to get to her Gross Anatomy final (Yep final year pre-med).
The wife went over (2 miles away) opened the garage door (no-one ever parked in as they had already lost the remotes) and she was able to drive into the garage & back it out.
Same girls called the wife @ 11pm for baking soda to make cookies. My wife explained we had Arm & Hammer & were welcome to drop over for it. They called back & said no problem they had another friend bringing the Arm & Hammer Baking soda. The next day we discovered they had used Arm & Hammer laundry detergent WITH BAKING SODA.
They have all graduated & are now interning in medicine & radiology.
Terrifying that these people are doctors
For anyone following the drama of our tenant with the indoor BBQ. Insurance is going make a full payout. Yeah!
Now if Have to decide if I want to sell it to a rehabber in MKE, and take the proceeds along with the insurance and move to another house or manage a long distance rehab. My first thought is to sell it but I need to research the tax implications first.
Update: I have posted the property on the BP Marketplace. After discussion with my wife we decided we would take the insurance payout and the sale proceeds and buy a new property. That eliminates the stress of managing a major long distance rehab and we can get back up an running with a new property in less time.
We have a 'fussy' works from home tenant of 18 months, in a high end apartment. Cat food left out caused a visiting mouse issue (semi-rural location), so she wanted US to get an exterminator for the mice. She also wanted an exterminator for the swarm of alcoholic fruit fly visiting her empty Wine bottles, not rinsed but a haven for sludge/dregs & fruit fly wine tasting. We often remove 15-20 bags of empty recyclable cans & bottles every other month ($44.50 last count). But we give these to the Disabled so no problem. BUT who drinks that much crap.
Now she wants the 3 year old living-room carpet replaced because it smells like animals. This apartment never had pets before (occupied by a relative) & yet her two cat litter box reeks. Now this week she is complaining that her 8k BTU window a/c in the bedroom is not effective so our electric circuits must be too low to feed it. Her BF is apparently an expert on electrical circuitry ???? BUT she has the 40inch x 60 inch screened living room windows wide open day & night. She must have missed that science lesson on ambient humidity.
Pays on-time but the texting drama is fatiguing but hilarious.
We have a waiting list, so can't wait for the inevitable "so we're leaving" !!!
We have a 'fussy' works from home tenant of 18 months, in a high end apartment. Cat food left out caused a visiting mouse issue (semi-rural location), so she wanted US to get an exterminator for the mice. She also wanted an exterminator for the swarm of alcoholic fruit fly visiting her empty Wine bottles, not rinsed but a haven for sludge/dregs & fruit fly wine tasting. We often remove 15-20 bags of empty recyclable cans & bottles every other month ($44.50 last count). But we give these to the Disabled so no problem. BUT who drinks that much crap.
Now she wants the 3 year old living-room carpet replaced because it smells like animals. This apartment never had pets before (occupied by a relative) & yet her two cat litter box reeks. Now this week she is complaining that her 8k BTU window a/c in the bedroom is not effective so our electric circuits must be too low to feed it. Her BF is apparently an expert on electrical circuitry ???? BUT she has the 40inch x 60 inch screened living room windows wide open day & night. She must have missed that science lesson on ambient humidity.
Pays on-time but the texting drama is fatiguing but hilarious.
We have a waiting list, so can't wait for the inevitable "so we're leaving" !!!
That’s the sort of tenant that gets a ridiculously high rent increase, so that you are properly compensated for the trouble you are put through in dealing with that tenant. Then one of two things happens: they move (you win), or they stay and pay a lot more (you sort of win this way too if the rent is high enough to make it worth your while).
I have a sad update to our story on the duplex fire but wanted to share it no the less.
We started rehab on our property the other the other day on our contractor found our former tenant under the rubble from the fire. The police were called and our contractor was asked to BOLO for a bullet casing and gun. It appears that this very well may have been an attempt to cover up a crime scene. Our sympathies go out to the family of our former tenant. It also seems that our tenant had two young children that are un accounted for. Our prayers are also for them that they are safe and will be accounted for soon.
How the police and fire department missed this is beyond me. It is a huge miss.
We have a 3/2 house for rent in Brevard County, FL. As always, I list all the rental requirements at the top. As always, no one reads them. I've been buried in messages about it, and my first text/email/message back is, "Have you read and met the rental requirements?".
Nearly everyone says yes, but after a very brief phone call, the obvious answer is no. This gem of a response came yesterday:
Me: Yes, it's still available, have you read and met the requirements in the listing?
Her: No thanks. Quite the blue collar racist area, isn't it? Hence, your prequalifiers, I suppose.
And another one:
I don't have to tell you what kind of dog I have, it's a service dog, and I must inform you that it's illegal to discriminate. I plan to get a job once I'm in FL."
Me: "Unemployed" is not a federally protected class. Have a nice day.
Applicant: I think you are just looking for trouble, but have a nice day, too.
And another: Yes, my husband had a felony conviction 14 years ago, but it's been so long I don't remember what it was (say WHAT?)
And another, when I asked how many people would be living in the house - Ummmm.....(mentally counting), four!!
Me: Are you sure? Him: Well, not really, it could be three.
And another: We're moving down from Minnesota and plan to get jobs once we're in FL. We have a service dog and can pay 6 months rent in advance.
Today is another day, with more fun stories for my upcoming book, no doubt.
We had one applicant (that I liked), but then his GF admitted that they had 11 kids between them from various assignations, but they DO NOT always visit at the same time. Both were early 30's so have been quite busy. They indicated that they were self-employed.....found out they were insta-cart drivers & he also worked as a mechanic on the side.
Had to decline them...
Those felony convictions are so hard to remember. Was it a felony parking ticket or maybe a felony jaywalking? Who can really be bothered to keep all that straight?
My current tenant recently asked why his closest is more humid than rest of the house with AC on. They then pointed to a random patch on the wall that was dirty and asked if that is mold. Then they went on to ask why are there garage so hot right now in peak of summer in socal.
Apparently, I posted yesterday in this "Current" tenants group by mistake, sorry! But as a follow up to the felony tenant inquiry, here's how it ended:
The wife had told me over the phone during the pre-qualification screening call that her husband had a felony charge from 14 years ago, and that it was so long ago she didn't remember what it was.
On her husband's application, where I ask about any criminal activity/convictions, he wrote "Yes....will discuss after approval".
Um, no, that's not how it works. I did a quick Google search and found that it was for Grand Theft and Traffic in Stolen Property, Possession of Illegal Weapon, and Concealed Firearm. All separate charges over several years. He did time.
And his wife doesn't remember this??
"On her husband's application, where I ask about any criminal activity/convictions, he wrote "Yes....will discuss after approval"."
Sometimes the stuff people put down on an application is so funny I have to sit down while reading it so I don't fall down laughing.
As many of you know, I'm going through an eviction with a tenant I am calling Tiffany here on Bigger Pockets. Tiffany got high today and called me up.
"Why are you evicting me?"
"Well, you're a junky..."
"I'm not a junky!"
"Oh really, was it someone else who bought black-market sleeping pills and crushed them up and snorted them, ODed on the fentanyl in them, and it took paramedics and Narcan to bring her back from death's door?"
"I'M NOT A JUNKY! Trying new things doesn't make you a junky!"
(Comparing a near-fatal overdose to putting Cocoa Puffs instead of Lucky Charms in your supermarket cart because you found a coupon in the local pennysaver...)
As many of you know, I'm going through an eviction with a tenant I am calling Tiffany here on Bigger Pockets. Tiffany got high today and called me up.
"Why are you evicting me?"
"Well, you're a junky..."
"I'm not a junky!"
"Oh really, was it someone else who bought black-market sleeping pills and crushed them up and snorted them, ODed on the fentanyl in them, and it took paramedics and Narcan to bring her back from death's door?"
"I'M NOT A JUNKY! Trying new things doesn't make you a junky!"
(Comparing a near-fatal overdose to putting Cocoa Puffs instead of Lucky Charms in your supermarket cart because you found a coupon in the local pennysaver...)
I shouldn't be laughing, but that's hysterical! Her response, not the situation.