The Successful Landlord Blog

So, I just got a call from one of the dirtbag tenants who are being evicted and it was SUCH a “good” conversation that I just had to write a post about it.

First some background, one of the tenants informed me that they were moving out a month ago and leaving the other tenant to stay in the house. I said, “No problem, you need to write me a letter stating that you are moving out and have both [tenants] signatures at the bottom.” A week went by and no letter materialized. I then wrote the letter for them myself, mailed it and called the tenant who had moved out to let her know that she needed to sign it or her name would remain on the lease. Still, the letter did not come back.

SO, today, which is 17 days after I filed for eviction and probably 1.5 months after I sent that letter for them to sign, I got a call from the tenant who moved out who proceeded to “curse me out” on the phone and told me that I knew she was moving out and I could have removed her name from the lease but I didn’t, etc, etc. And how her credit is going to be ruined because of this, blah, blah, blah. I felt like telling her that this eviction will not “ruin” her credit as much as the $700 power bill I saw strewn around the house with “FINAL NOTICE BEFORE DISCONNECT” on it in big red letters and did I mention that the water utility company had shut off the water as well?

It amazes me how some people behave in an irresponsible manner and then want to blame someone else for the predicament that they find themselves in.

So, on Monday, I filed for eviction to get rid of these deadbeat tenants. Yesterday, I went into the house to inspect for damages (after posting the required notice) and got the distinct impression that they have abandoned the property. (see update)
The only reason that I did not change the locks right there and then, even thought it would be illegal, was because it looks like they left in a very big hurry and may expect to come back. (arrested maybe?) There is a bed, TV, DVDs, music CDs, clothes, a free-standing dishwasher, dishes in the kitchen and some furniture left in the house. There is also a locked car in the driveway.

However this may seem, the minute I get the possession order from the judge, that house will be locked down and cleaned out. There will also be a large garage sale at our house that weekend. I expect the possession order to come in some time next week….so here we go!

Saturday….Went by the property and there was a pickup truck in the driveway. I’m not sure who was there or what they were doing but I saw the nice big Sheriff’s eviction notice taped to the door. I also had neighbors calling me today to tell me about the truck. It feels good to have eyes on the place. They mentioned that they would call if they saw anything “fishy” going on.

So, tomorrow I will be filing for eviction to remove these “people” (and that’s being nice.) Thus far, they have not paid rent for this month nor have they paid late charges from being late last month nor have they called to say that they were going to be late paying, etc.

What this is telling me is that if I do nothing, they would stay in the house, not paying rent, until I do something. This time, we WILL be going to see the judge and I WILL NOT be filing a “voluntary order of dismissal” like I did last time.

“Hi, I’m a dumb ass who rents and I’d rather get kicked out of my place by the sheriff than talk to the landlord to have things wind down in an orderly fashion and possibly get my sizable security deposit back like he offered me.”

Can you say D-U-M-B-A-S-S ?

I was at a tenant’s house today doing some repairs when she asked me if I would be willing to allow them to rent-to-own the house they are renting. While I think that these tenants are on the right track wanting to own a home, I think that they don’t understand what they’re getting into.

I read a book last year (at left) about investors doing this as an investment strategy. Basically, when I was finished reading it, I felt like the focus of their “strategy” is pretty much taking advantage of green home buyers. The authors of this book, in my opinion, specifically advocate practically swindling tenant-buyers, as they call them, by luring them into contracts where, statistically, something like 75% of tenant-buyers never go through with the deal thereby contractually handing the seller-landlord a sizable cash down payment for doing nothing more than entering into a contract.

That just would not sit properly with me. I’m not sure how the investors sleep at night after doing one of these deals. I guess that the Buddhist philosophy says it best. A good deal is one where all parties win.

It’s kind of like when investors buy foreclosures and then rent the house back to the person being foreclosed on. I guess that for the person being foreclosed upon, it may seem like a good deal at the time but I’ve also seen many disadvantaged people (old/poor/sick) renting from their buyer only to be mistreated because they have no hope of being able to move.

So, last Friday I got a lovely certified letter in the mail from the code enforcement department where one of our properties is located. Here are my favorite things about this situation.

1) The notice DOES NOT tell you what the problem is, just that there is a violation with an extremely brief specific description (i.e.- To Wit: Grey commercial vehicle in residential area.) How about a better description and a copy of the city ordinance? They probably just like to get phone calls inquiring what the problem is. Duh! Efficiency in city government? Hello?

2) When you DO call the code enforcement officer to find out what the problem is, he sounds like he’s ready for a fight. Very gruff and short so you have to sweeten him up by being extra polite.

3) In my opinion, if you’re going to pass a city ordinance, ENFORCE IT and do it CITY WIDE!! But no, they wait until somebody complains ( like a neighbor) to then take action. Upon informing the code enforcement officer that that vehicle had been parked there for about a year, he tells me “Well then it’s been in violation for a year.” WTF?!

In my opinion, it’s the owner of the house directly next door. He’s trying to sell it because he’s basically flipping it and probably needs to sell it right away as the housing market continues to tank. Granted, he bought it when there were some strange deadbeat tenants living there. Case in point, they were using a portable commode as a planter…..IN THE FRONT YARD! Did I call code enforcement when I was trying to rent my newly fixed-up place? No. Whatever, my tenant will move his truck and the sale next door will only increase my property value. Thanks! Next!