The rental property that we’ve successfully regained access to is one that we have both the fondest and the worst memories of the renters who lived there. It is such a quaint little apartment. We love the stained glass windows and the staircase. We adore it when the renters take care of as well as appreciate the place like we do.
Our fondest renter memories for this place include my daughter, her significant other, and our little grandkitty, Bee.
While they lived there the place was decorated so ‘Sarah Mae’ like and we were tickled they were living not-to-far from us after leaving the nest.
Our worst renter memories are longer than I care to list. My memory gets foggy when I try to recollect them, or maybe I block them out! The worst that I can remember though was when the renter died and was found several days later. She had ferrets and cats (all of them had used the flooring throughout the place as their litter box) and it took us almost 4 months from the moment of getting access to the apartment from her heir to the point where the place was restored, and livable once again.
We are thanking our due diligence this round for acting fast (not as fast as we will in the future) to get the most recent Hunkyuk out. Thank goodness the damages are minimal, and a good thorough cleaning will have the place restored in record time. The laminate flooring has only one spot that is slightly damaged. A counter has water damage, we should be able to repair that as well.
From what we understand, from the other neighbors, the “H’s” parent figure arrived and helped clean-up the place as they emptied it on d-day, or I should say e-day.
The “H” was fond of leaving garbage everywhere so the piles and liquid containers had attracted flies. The big flies caused us once to call the sheriff for a wellness check (having someone die in your apartment before causes one to wonder when the flies appear on the windows…). The police came out of the place and said, “There is garbage everywhere.”
The big flies were gone when we entered the place yesterday, but the fruit flies were everywhere, in every room. Not just the kitchen, every room!
The stove is almost always a mess that has to be cleaned. We just replace these every time and buy a can of Easy Off Oven Cleaner, add elbow grease, and the oven is restored.
The grossest part is always the bathroom for me, and this toilet lived up to those expectations. I was scared to open it…
We’ll see if the flies succumb to the less circuitous exit method we chose to use this round.
Moral of this foggy renter story – As a landlord, you have to keep on trying to find a good renter mixed in with the bad ones. When your gut tells you something is fishy about the renter, follow it. And if you’re not up for the kind of messy adventure where you win some and you lose some, I’d highly recommend you look into another type of investment and avoid rentals all together!
This quote is fitting for both rentals as well as blogging.
Keep on going and the chances are you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I have never heard of anyone stumbling on something sitting down.” – Charles F. Kettering
Today’s challenge for the 30 Day Blogging Writing Style Challenge (see instructions here). The word prompt is fondest and the question is: “What is your fondest post you’ve written so far?”
My fondest posts are the ones I haven’t written yet, because that means I’m having fun and can’t wait to write more. If I must answer though, several from the past stand out in my memory bank. (I’ve written over 400 posts on this blog, so you know…it’s hard to pick just one).
This post reminds me of the street that my youngest lived on while she was going to school in Chicago. She was so brave to move there and she navigated the area like a local. Here’s my story of the adventure I took there alone to see her.
My stardom post comes to mind too. That post taught me a lot about blogging and how to get noticed. Obviously, the lessons didn’t stick, but I know what I did to make it a popular post.
This post I received the most comments on. My guess is that by the time I posted this, I had more followers and I had figured out how to comment back!
And this post was the first one I ever got a comment on. I can’t even put into words how excited I was that someone I didn’t know took the time to say, “Hey…I can relate to this post!” I don’t think I’ll ever forget this one – it was pretty darn exciting to hear from a stranger in this big wide world of blogging!
PS – If you’re a landlord, what’s your fondest memory? Okay…hit me with your worst memory, can you top my story? If you’re following the 30 Day Challenge, share your link or your answer to the question of the day. Happy Tuesday all!
I ve been there, I worked as a property manager for many years and I am a landlord.
All you can do is start over, looks like a cozy place theres someone out there to love it
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Alice! You’re right, start over, and hope for the best! We’re keeping our fingers crossed for someone nice to love the place!
Good tips about renting. We were considering keeping my mother-in-law’s house and using it (or ours) as a rental but since she lives in another state, keeping track of “strange goings on” would be difficult.
Thanks, Janet. Yes, that would be tough for me to deal with, but I do know people who have been successful doing so. If you have excellent renters, it may be doable. Best wishes deciding what to do. 🙂
As a homeowner in a formerly lovely neighborhood that has over the course of the past 10 years declined considerably as the number of renters has skyrocketed, I can’t say I think much of most renters. Our homeowners association circulated a petition earlier this year seeking to limit the percentage of homes available to rent in the neighborhood, but it didn’t work out. Nashville is experiencing unprecedented growth, and homeowners can’t see anything but dollar signs. The Boss’s car was broken into night before last. That’s how bad it’s getting, and I’m really upset about it. I hope all of your renters from here on out are good, responsible ones.
Aw, Denny, sorry to read of your rental issues in Nashville. Yikes on the Boss’s car, that’s horrible!!! I hope your situation gets better, thank you for the wishes for better outcomes here on our end! Thanks for stopping by to comment, as always, it’s great to hear from you!
You’d think if your renter had parents that would help him move and clean that they would have made it right on the rent he owes.
Ah…yeah, THAT would’ve been nice!!
Yikes! What a story… here’s hoping your next renters are much cleaner and more thoughtful!
—
http://www.areweadultsyet.com
Thank you, we appreciate your wishes for a better renter this time around!
Ugh! As an apartment manager at one time, I know all about the bad renters. I have plenty of stories. Glad you got your bad renter out and I hope the next one is responsible and makes the place as cute as your daughter did.
Thank you, Mary! Sorry to hear that you had to endure such nonsense too during your time in rentals! We’ll take your wishes for success and add them to our wishes – we’ll find someone nice this round!
This is scary stuff. I want to be a mountain house to rent out short term in between my visits to see my granddaughter. Maybe a property management place will make it easier. Still exploring.
Yes, it is, we spent the morning there today cleaning again. But, now it is ready and smells great and it is clean once again! Good luck in your quest for a place!
Thanks!