All Forum Posts by: Jim Bryant

Great news, they caught the perpetrator and now they have to pay!  For your amusement, here's the situation:

The lady who rents is a single mother and she had a baby sitter take care of the kids while she's at work.  Apparently the last babysitter wasn't very good and there was a pay dispute.  So, maybe to get back she accuses her erstwhile employer of child abuse, on facebook of course.  My renter decides to post this message on facebook with a pithy (with requisite bad grammar and spelling) retort of her own.  

Out of her concern for the kids, I guess, the old babysitter throws a brick through the window, in the dead of winter, in the house where those very same kids sleeps.  She, however, did not notice that my crappy little village has a surveillance camera on main street and just happened to notice a car going around the block 4 times.  

So, anyone else want to invest in the Illinois Valley?

Ok no prob, we're paying for it because it's less than the deductible.  They filed a police report and in our presence (not mine since I'm overseas) and there was a brick in any case.  So yeah, hopefully it doesn't happen again.  ****** thing to do, break  someone's window in the dead of winter, there are kids living there. 

Gregg thanks for your comment in particular.  I think it was an unrelated party or at least someone who had a grudge but doesn't reside in the home.  Renter's insurance, hahaha, believe me these are the renter's insurance types (well I guess I'm not either).

So my renter's house has just been vandalized.  I guess someone broke a window and we're in Illinois and it's still winter. 

What's my liability for that? Should I replace the window through my insurance or is it on them?

I'm inclined to help out in some way, on humanitarian grounds, but it isn't like the furnace is faulty or something like that.

@Brian, the problem is I paid.  So, I'm sure much like you, I demand good service for my good money.  I mean we hired this guy in early November.  He printed the notice, but after that hasn't done a damn thing.   

@Laura I wasn't aware of the limited time to do a court procedure for eviction.  This is only my second one and my dad handled the first one.  This is also the first one where I want blood.

So I evicted some ne'er do wells from one of my houses.  Had to do a fair amount of fixing up and such.  So I'm looking to at the very least get these guys in court to make sure they've got an eviction on their record.  Also, I'd like to bleed them too, although I know that will be in uphill battle.

The trouble is my lawyer I hired has really done nothing.  He printed out the eviction notice and then we posted it.  After that we haven't heard about a court date and he has become harder and harder to get ahold of.  Does anyone have experience with this?  What is the best way to get him back on the job.  I am not afraid to drag him through the mud and take it to the Bar association, but my preferred solution is simply to have him do the job we have paid him to do.

My wife is planning to go talk to him on Monday, I'm currently overseas, so any advice you have before then would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks for the reply, I guess all those people were right about what you put on your social media haunting you.

I just wanted to extol the virtues of facebook.  Even in my crummy little area I got about 10 people interested in the home in a few days.  Also, I was able to look at their facebook pages.  So a question to you well-heeled landlords, have you ever rejected someone on the basis of pictures of them using drugs on their facebook page?  If so, how did you word that.  I mean I'd like to be blunt (no pun intended) but I don't want to somehow get myself in trouble.  Although I don't think "weed smoker" is a protected group.

I'm talking north of Peoria about an hour.  @Diana, I would say this area is pretty good, but it's small time ball.  I bought my first house here 2bd/1bath before the crash for 56k but in 2012 I got a house for 20k 3bd/1bth and my best house 3bd/1th 19k at a silent auction.  I get 500, 600 and 650 respectively.  Taxes in the low 1000s.   Anyway, I'm trying to find some people who invest in the area to at least get to know one another and swap notes.  Especially since the population is small, to pass around names of people never to rent to :D.

Just curious to see if anyone else is investing in this area.  Kind of a small place but with dirt cheap housing.   If anyone works in this area there might be opportunity for collaboration or at least war-story exchange.

I'm set on pursuing this one.  Yeah I suppose I'll have to ask, I think I have some good evidence that they were living there, lots of letter, prescription drugs, kid's report cards with the address.  I'll see, it took me all day to get the place cleared out and about 4-hundo on the dumpster. Cat piss smell, still a work in progress :D.  

I know the juice probably won't be worth the squeeze, but I would like to be the reason for annoying phone calls and possible garnishment down the road.  

Also I'm calling CPS on them, no child should have been living in that joint!  There were straight up pee bottles, that had more than pee in them.  Animals!