All Forum Posts by: John N.

^^^^^ What he said.

I swear by Simplisafe.  I bought what is basically a portable alarm system that I put in during vacancies and when the vacancy is over I put the keypad, transmitter and single motion detector back in the box and go on my Simplisafe app and turn off the monitoring until next time.  The peace of mind is wonderful.  I don't worry about crackheads, thieves, looters, vandals or squatters.  Someone enters, silenced alarm triggers, po po show up.  Bad guy gets a free ride.

As a word of warning, I have friends who run a bird/parrot rescue.  These birds can be incredibly destructive.  Besides the dropping that will be on every square foot of carpet that will turn it into a gurgling primordial ooze a large bird with any sort of stress or behavioral issues will often act out in a destructive manner.  They can literally tear your walls apart.  I have no doubt that, with that many birds in one room there are stress and behavior issues.  You need to get those birds out of you house yesterday.

and when they are out install a portable Simplisafe alarm system with a motion detector that way you know the moment someone enters. 

You will eventually rent to friend or family.    NEVER EVER ends well.

Repeat after me....   Never rent to friends or family.   Sorry I know its not a help but it's my rule that I break and it bites me in the butt every single time I break it.

Good fences make good neighbors.

"Can I get back what I have lost?"  I've been asking myself that for 35 years.

@Jonathon Holmes you are absolutely correct.  This is not the landlords issue, it is the tenants issue and the tenant needs to be calling the police and code enforcement at every opportunity for various reasons. 

 1. It creates a history.  If anything ever happens there is a history of police dispatches to the address.

 2.  If these people are doing drugs the last thing anyone should want is hyper-paranoid tweakers thinking you are out to get them. Nothing is beyond these people.

 3.  The code enforcement attention will fall on the landlord of the tweakers house and it will force him to act.

 4. I had a house full of meth heads rent a house across the street from me once.  The landlord would do nothing but the continuous visits by the local PD drove them to move quickly.  One of them burnt all his belongings in the front yard and walked of screaming that he would rather " go back to the shelter than put up with all these cops"

I must be missing something here.  If the roof decking is soft and the "framing" is weakened then this is an old problem probably from an improperly installed roof. No insurance I have ever had is going to fix a roof with rotted decking, multiple layers of shingle and sagging rafters.   Did you get an inspection prior to purchase?  The soft decking and sagging rafters would have been visible from inside the attic most likely.