We spent our vacation kicking out our renters!

[tawn]

Our vacation was not fun...but rather a distressing and unbelievable lesson which educated us about the depths of filth people can actually live in, and worse, leave behind for their landlords! My career as a landlord is over forever! The damage done to my house and the stress and hard work cleaning it back up has cleared me of ever renting anything out again!

Rats..and their mess and poop...and a lot of dog and cat poop. It wasn''t even cleaned up, but must have just sat around? The smell made me gag, and I have a super strong stomach for gross things! But it smelled like dead things rotting....*shiver*...The animals seemed to only use the inside of the house for the bathroom. There was no evidence that they had ever gone anywhere except on the carpets and porch! Nothing in the yard...Then the other damages....like the knife holes and beebee gun shots all over the house. They lived like filthy wild animals!

The only good news out the whole story is that we worked ourselves half to death cleaning and painting, and got an offer the day it got listed!

So, if all goes well, we should close by the middle of August!

I, of course, will start planning on getting that 2nd eternity band to go on the other side of my ring!

Every cloud has a silver lining!

 

[tawn]

A small portion of the garbage they left in the back yard...

 

[tawn]

The bedroom carpet....what the heck could you be doing in the bedroom to make the carpet that gross? That''s less than 3 year-old-carpet!

 

[tawn]

They let the plumbing leak and we had to replace this whole wall.

 

[tawn]

More carpet ickness! How could you walk on that! All I could think was that I had eaten stuff she''s brought to work before! Arrrgggghhhhh......

 

[Dancing Fire]

tawn

sorry to hear this

this is the EXACT reason i never want to be a landlord.

i would kill those SOB''s and end up in jail. how many months of rent did they skip out on ya?

 

[tawn]

I'm glad that we got it cleaned up enough that someone actually wanted to buy it! Here are the after pics...

ETA: This was the graffiti room with all the holes in the walls etc...

 

[tawn]

The bathroom after we cut the rot out and refinished the tub, and painted!

 

[tawn]

Love the old mantle...wished I could have taken it with me!

 

[tawn]

Date: 7/17/2006 3:32:34 AM
Author: Dancing Fire
tawn

sorry to hear this

this is the EXACT reason i never want to be a landlord.

i would kill those SOB''s and end up in jail. how many months of rent did they skip out on ya?

We ended up basically paying them to get out. In the end, we only ended up losing about $1000 in rent, $650 in unpaid late fees, and about $5-$6000 in damages! But, it could have been worse, in WA state, landlords have no rights. Best thing is to pay them to get out, because they can just stay forever until you lose your house!

I''m still amazed that it sold the same day it went on the market! That made up for a lot of the anger I was feeling over spending my vacation cleaning up their disgusting filth!

 

[Dancing Fire]

WOW!!! Ex job,beautiful

now, can you come over and remodel my house?

 

[MiniMouse]

Tawn, I seriously sympathise with you re your bad experience with renters. They can be hell, but there are some gems out there too - I''ve had both kinds. I remember going home to the UK on my vacation from Saudi Arabia, to spend the whole vacation clearing up after three professional pharmacists vacated my house. To say the place was wrecked is an understatement. All the carpets (which had been laid new a year previously) were trashed, through what looked like regular parties. A pine bed was completely smashed and as you mentioned, walls desecrated. It put me off renting too, so I ended up selling, just to avoid any future hassle. It was a shame, because I loved the house, but it wasn''t worth the hassle.

You did a FANTASTIC job with the remodel. It''s beautiful and I can see exactly why it sold the day it was listed. You deserved a bit of luck and your back breaking work has been worthwhile. Good for you, what a great job done!

 

[KristyDarling]

I can''t believe this happened to you!!!! How horrible!

Isn''t it amazing how "normal" some people can seem on the outside and then you go to where they live and you are amazed that they can function in society? Ugh, I''m so sorry. You were able to whip it back into amazing shape though...with a lot of blood sweat and tears though, I''m sure! Thank goodness for a happy ending!

 

[Kaleigh]

OMG YUCK!!! You did a great job cleaning up that horrible mess. I can''t beieve how they must have lived. You poor thing but looks gorgeous now and will sell quickly. And then you get a new eternity band. So there is a silver lining here. But man that just sucks.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Tawn, I can feel your pain. FI has 15 rental properties and the stories he has! He basically knows all his properties will get distroyed so he doesn''t have any surprises. The plumber has found a knife, car key, and even a BRA in the pipes of his one house! My parents rented out their house in San Francisco when we moved 20+ years ago. When I graduated from college FI and I were going to move out there and rent their house from them. Well, they are STILL in a lawsuit with the tenant (even though it was a LEGAL eviction) and that was 4.5 yrs ago!!!! Landlords have no rights at all in SF it is so scary. She is finally out of the house but I can''t believe she has a lawsuit. My parents NEVER raised the rent on her in all the years she lived there!

 

[blodthecat]

Hi Tawn,

It''s so hard to believe that people can live in that kind of filth!

Boy, have you guys worked hard getting it back to how it was. I''m not suprised it sold so quickly, you did a fantastic job!

Blod

 

[pricescope]

Date: 7/17/2006 3:17:46 AM
Author:tawn

They lived like filthy wild animals!

In defence of the wild animals, they do not treat THEIR habitat like this

, i am glad Tawn it''s over for you.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Wow Tawn, it looks like a whole new house now that you've got it cleaned up! I can't imagine how people live like that either, but obviously some do. As a real estate agent I've seem some icky tenant situations, but NOTHING like this

!!!

 

[FacetFire]

It looks like a whole different house! Wow! Sorry you had to go through that...but it looks amazing now!

 

[tawn]

Funny thing is that I used to work with her and she is a very nice woman!? She''s active in her church and always seemed fairly well groomed. They are in their later 40''s and have 2 teenagers....so it''s not like they were hard-partying college students or anything? Apparently, her husband drinks a lot and we could smell him from 15 feet away, so that may explain some of it. But, not the filth from never cleaning anything, or taking out the garbage, and then there was the animal waste. And, wild animals are so much cleaner than they are!

This was our 4th house, and the first we had rented out...and what a horrible experience! We basically ended up renovating it twice! I have to admit that I almost wanted to move back in once it was all clean and sparkly again, and we have so many awesome friends up there! I''ve never moved out of a place that wasn''t perfectly clean and disinfected! I would be too ashamed!

I''m buying my husband a huge stainless steel standing toolbox from Costco that he''s been coveting for a few years, and some new tools...and I''ll get the matching twin of my SP eternity ring to go on the other side of my ring! Those will be our rewards! We''re also going to invest in some land in Maine...because it''s set in stone that we will retire there, but we have to have a place south because I can''t handle the Maine winters!

My right hand is still swollen from so much painting and scrubbing. I can''t fit any rings on it...thank goodness I''m not left-handed!

 

[tawn]

Date: 7/17/2006 4:00:19 AM
Author: Dancing Fire
WOW!!! Ex job,beautiful

now, can you come over and remodel my house?

I''m getting pretty good at it! I''ve renovated 5 houses now....you can pay me in diamonds!

 

[Julian]

You are a miracle worker!

That was like seeing a HGTV show. The final product is very pretty!

Way to go!

 

[mrssalvo]

that's exactly the reason I don't ever want to have renters. hubby has talked about it from time to time and I say no way. My dad did was a lanlord when I was growing up and ended up in a situation similar to yours. i remember it all to well and having to help with the cleanup b/f he fianally sold it. You guys did an amazing job fixing it up. Oh at that comment about eating food she'd made, that would make me sick too...yucko

 

[blueroses]

Insane--looked like a crack house or meth lab!! You worked MIRACLES!!!

 

[Ellen]

Wow, sorry to hear about your house. We had 2 rentals, and just sold one last fall. (That''s where my upgrade entered the picture)

We have been EXTREMELY lucky, no horror stories. I don''t allow pets, which may help. But still, I keep telling hubby to get out while the getting''s good.

You did a FABULOUS job renovating/repairing the house. Beautiful!

 

[TravelingGal]

Wow no wonder it sold so quickly...you did a gorgeous job with the house! I wouldn''t have even known where to begin in that pigsty they left you with.

 

[Mara]

wow tawn you guys worked some serious miracles!! i''m so sorry you had to go through that but it''s over and yay for the sale and resulting goodies!! it looks SO FAB in the after pictures, i love that style of house!!

many years ago i moved into one side of my grandmother''s duplex after renters left, they had 3 kids in a 2 bedroom 1200 sq ft place for 8 years. the place was trashed, the carpet was sooo nasty. i pulled up everything, got new carpet and laminate, repainted, redid the kitchen cabinets and counter, repainted, i worked on the house for a month to get it to be where i wanted to be and even then still we had work to do long-term. it was fun but super hard work! anyhow after i left it, after 3 years there, she got a fab woman who takes great care of it, but she is now leaving so we''ll see who moves in now!

renting is hard! kudos on the great job.

 

[fire&ice]

Wow - it amazes me how people can live - I''d be a wreck in a house like that! And, some people who own their own homes live like that as well!

 

[Cehrabehra]

Oh crap! Your post reminds me that I''m supposed to list our rental today! Oops... Okay diamond fun is over ::waaaahhhhh::

 

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 7/17/2006 3:40:18 AM
Author: tawn
Love the old mantle...wished I could have taken it with me!

omg your work is amazing... I need to log off of pricescope!!! lmao!!!