All Forum Posts by: Chris DeTreville

Looks to me like your tenant had a dog. Those are teeth marks on the blinds and the scratches in the tub are likely from the dog being given a bath(s).

I hear this sort of thing all the time. The other day I had a lady call asking about one of our low income houses. She explained that she was being stalked by a person who was trying to poison her. She said he would go to the store before she got there and spray the box of cereal she was about to buy with poison. She said he already killed her mom and the police did nothing about it. (Listening to this, I'm in stunned silence)...she goes on to say that she saw the ad for the house for $525, and that she had been living in a hotel and this month she had already paid $1200 to stay there. According to her math- "she could have been had that house". She went on to say that if the owner of the property would not accept her application that she hoped he "would just burn up to a crisp" because she had a legitimate police report saying someone was poisoning her. That apparently is reason enough to rent to her based on her logic. Oh, and she can't stay in the hotel room any longer because the stalker was putting poison gas through the light fixture. Yea...all kinds of crazy. She hasn't actually applied yet....

@Deborah Burian ...Damp Rid might be a winner. I've looked at it online and it seems to be a cheap alternative to a dehumidifier. If I put two buckets of it out that might solve our problem. Interesting...

Thanks for the replies. I'll let you know if we try that and how it turns out.

Ok, the company I work for manages some low income houses in a rough area. Every time someone moves we have to go in immediately and take all the appliances out and put in storage, and board up the windows to secure the place. We also take out the window units so they don't get stolen and we screw the crawl spaces shut to discourage copper thieves. Anyway, one of these houses we have is completely renovated and on the market for rent. I went in to show it the other day and noticed a light dusting of mildew forming on the floors. Also, the freshly painted cabinets in the kitchen were starting to develop a light green mildew. So, since we have to keep the windows boarded, and can't have AC running...does anyone have any ideas as to how we could stop the mildew from coming back once we send someone to clean it up? We'd prefer not to have anything plugged in and running on electricity- that's the rub. I have looked for battery operated fans or dehumidifiers but have had no luck. Most of them are too small to be effective. Any suggestions?

Also, I had someone look up under the house and it looks to be dry. I think we are having this issue because of the high humidity lately.

Every tenant who has a dog swears that their dog is well behaved and doesn't do damage. And they can promise all day that he'll be crated during the day or whatever, but it's almost always BS. Do not allow a dog because the tenant said its a good dog and isn't destructive.

I had given 24 hour written notice to a tenant to go in to her house and inspect some work that a contractor had done about a week ago at the owners request. This is in a really bad, low income neighborhood. The tenant would not answer phone calls. So I go out today at the scheduled time, and knock on the door. I can hear the tv on (what sounds like cartoons) and after I knock a young boy looks thought the blinds and asks who I am. I tell him I am with the property management company and ask if his mother his home. He disappears and I knock several more times and nobody ever comes to the door. I call my boss and we both agree that it is a bad idea for me to go inside the home with the children present. I am pretty sure the mother was home but just didn't come to the door, but I wasn't sure. I would think that going inside with children home without supervision could open up all sorts of potential issues. When I told the owner I was not able to enter today, the owner was upset. My plan is to try again on the phone tomorrow and then post another notice, and when I go back again I am going to take someone with me. Question is, what if I run into the same situation? Obviously there are some major issues with anyone leaving young children home alone...and I could mention something about that in my letter...but I don't really want to open that can of worms either. I'm really just curious as to what you would do in the situation. Would you have entered?

I had a tenant call to complain about his heat not working. So I began asking him questions to try to figure out the problem. Does the unit come on at all? "yes" Does the unit blow warm air? "well, not like it used to" Ok, well what do you have your thermostat set on? "Well I called the power company so they could help me with my bill, and they told me I needed to keep it on 69" So I ask, what did you have it set on all Winter? "78"

So long story short, he has it set on 78 all winter, gets an outrageous bill, calls the power company's hotline that helps low income families pay their bills- they tell him to turn the thermostat down to 69, which he does, and although the unit is working fine, he calls me to tell me it isn't working because it's not blowing hot air. I explain to him the obvious, and go about my day.

Also, when it comes to pets- I love how people say "I know you hear this all the time, but my dog is the most well behaved dog ever and is crate trained and never causes any damage."

You're right, I hear that every day, from every single tenant with a dog, and 90% of the time your dog is the spawn of satan.

I also love how pit owners have learned not to say they own a pit bull. It's always a mix, or a terrier, or some other tricky variation.

I've got one for the record books. My mother manages a few of her own properties, and she told me this one the other day.

Younger single mother calls in. My mom tells her she needs to check credit and verify income, etc. The girl tells her she is currently unemployed and had been living with her mother, and doesn't have any way to verify her income. (whatever that "income" was)

My mom: "sorry, but we can't accept your application, you don't meet any of our requirements"

girl: "Oh, ok"

5 minutes goes by

My mom answers the phone and its the girl again

girl: "I just thought of something! I can show you my checking account statement! You'll see, I pay my overdraft fee every month!"

my mom hangs up in stunned silence.

@brandon turner yea, and I was told by a friend of mine who owns a bunch of laundromats that their lawyers aggressively fight if you try to break the contract. You might have legal grounds to break it but they're gonna fight it and its going to make it not worth it.