Renting

I am a landlord.  For everyone out there that ever considered renting, thought it would be a great way to make some extra cash, don't.  Just don't.  It is so odd and disappointing.  It's disappointing because you try hard.  If you've ever dealt with a landlord that was a bit of a jerk....this is why.

 Zac and I renovated Trailer #47 not even 3 years ago.  We re-carpeted, put wood flooring in the kitchen and entry way so the carpet inside the front door wouldn't get ruined.  We gutted the bathroom to the floor joists and started over, new wood floor, toilet, vanity, tub and surround.  We repainted the entire thing and I even hung curtains to make it nicer.
We lived in it, it was a nice home.  Really.  In return we have had multiple renters move in and destroy it.  The last two moved in and the carpet did have a stain in the living room, but all in all, I was able to undo most of the damage from the previous renters.

We had to evict these renters.  They lied more times than I can count about when they would pay us and why they couldn't pay us.  In the end, they just didn't even attempt to settle up.  We have had no payments since December.  They just left last Saturday.  I told them we would take them to court.  In fact, I told them I would be over 10 days after I served them their eviction notice to assess damages for the law suit.  When I went, this was the state of the home....AND THEY KNEW WE WERE COMING!

That's the light in the bedroom, hanging by wires.

That's a massive stack of clothes piled in front of the electric box....notice the empty hangers and otherwise empty closet. 

This is where the dog they weren't supposed to have, dug through the new carpet to the subfloor.

This is the the state of my less than 3 year old bathroom.  I especially appreciate the pure filth in the corners of the floor.

This is the tub they bathed their 3 little girls in.

This is the totally stained carpet and the dirt smeared walls.

This is just one of the broken floor vents.  They are metal.  How does this happen?!

The refrigerator.

And the kitchen floor

Just look at the filth, pure filth.  

How can this situation get worse you ask?  Well, let me tell ya.  I went over Saturday, the day after they said they'd be out, which was more than 3 and 1/2 months since they paid rent last.  Ample time.  I first thought I would look in the storage shed and make sure the AC unit I put there in the fall hadn't been moved with the rest of their stuff.
 It hadn't, but that wasn't the big shock.  The shocker was that these people left a bunch of stuff, and then threw bags of garbage on top of all of it.  It's been sitting, rotting in my shed, for weeks.  Animals have been in it, torn open the bags, and then drug it all over the shed.
I was already mad, then much, much more mad after opening those doors.  Into the trailer I went, only to find that they left nearly everything for me to take care of.  The bedroom set, clothes, boxes, a couch, random trash and a fridge full of all sorts of sticky red stuff in the bottom.  They broke the floor vents, the light covers, the front AC unit, the toilet and the kitchen sink.  

As I was photographing the damages for the judge I look out the window to see my renter, Chris, literally running away from the trailer.  I went from mad, to livid.  I walked outside and yelled at him to get back there.  He asked why.  Why?!  I yelled, "Because of this!  Do you see this!?  You threw your trash in my shed and let it rot! You haven't paid me in months, you destroyed the trailer, and now I'm expected to clean up your filth!?"  To which he told me, "I paid you. I don't owe you anything.  This trailer is a run down piece of shit."  That's right....he blamed me for he and his wife and friends trashing the home.  This is about the point in our conversation when I lost it.  For every excuse he had, I had a reply that actually made sense.  He told me he had strangers living with him because he had no choice...I told him that he needed to realize that at this point, all he had left was his choices. I told him that I have worked hard for everything that I have, including the "rundown POS trailer" that he didn't appreciate living in.  Then  I took the opportunity to tell him that I was "sick of dealing with people that know more about working the system than working a job."  Yep.

I tell ya, I am nice.  Up until the point where you screw me over, then personally offend me or a family member, then I am not.  In fact, then I am not nice in the least.  Then, I am downright rude and unapologetic about it.  I won't have a single problem looking you in the eye and telling you, in no uncertain terms, what a low-life you are.    

Now understand my disappointment.
I have to go through this whole process again.  And this type of person, the Chris and Kim's of the world, will never pay me what they owe me.  Will never pay for the damages they've done.  They will keep ruining the things other people have worked for.  They will keep doing things like trading their LINK card for beer and cigarettes (not made up....Kim told me they did...it was her explanation for why CEFS should know her...apparently she went there to get food from their pantry b/c of the lack of said LINK card).  And I will pick up their filth, scrub the baseboards, scour the sinks and tubs, re-caulk the bathtub, rewire lights, shampoo carpets, repaint and pray that I don't get burned again by another renter, or renters, who have so little respect for others, so little respect for themselves, that they are ok with being worthless people and bringing up children with that example.  I can only hope that extraordinary rage with which I yelled at my renters will snap them out of the Kool-smoke filled haze they live in.  For the sake of their 3 little girls, I hope so, but I doubt it.  And now my friends, I will climb off my soapbox.  In fact I will store my soapbox it in a dark alley and use it as a weapon the next time I run into my renters.  

P.S. God, please forgive me my trespasses....and I'll work on not feeling hand-shaking anger each time I think about this situation. Amen.