Wednesday, February 4, 2009

The End is in Sight

In the saga of deadbeat tenants, an end is finally in sight! The Sheriff's office called and we have a date and time for eviction. A mere three months start to finish. Not bad given the horror stories we've heard. Of course, we haven't gotten any rent from said tenants since a partial payment in October, and we're not likely to have the place rented before March, so we're out a little over four months rent. It could have been much worse, and we still haven't seen the inside of the house, so I'm still nervous, but there's light!

As sad as the media protrays all the people being evicted, I must tell you there are plenty of true deadbeats out there. Our tenants for example, just didn't bother to work. I live in an area that jobs are plentiful. We have a 2.2% unemployment rate and there's always the Federal government to work for. They always have tons of jobs. All different levels of experience and decent pay, not great, but decent. There was no excuse for them to not have jobs, other than they didn't feel like it. They didn't feel like paying us rent either. Unfortunately, I do feel like paying my mortgage, and I do need that rent to do so. My family depends on that income.

Of course, my husband has been between contracts at his job and has been trying to get placed while we have been waiting for the Sheriff to schedule the eviction. There are a lot of evictions taking place. Many are because of stupid financing on mortgages people could never afford in the first place, but I digress. On top of all this stress, my truck failed its safety inspection for bad ball joints and an exhaust manifold leak. Our other daily driver needs new struts, new tires, and it looks like a new ignition coil. It has an exhaust leak as well, but not as critical as the truck's leak. Can you say tension? Stress? Lottery?

No, actually I only buy a ticket once in a while. I never win more than a free ticket so I can't see wasting my money playing. Though I do think about it. It'd solve a lot of problems rather nicely, but then it's unlikely I'd actually win. I'd rather save the money and put it toward my kid's college funds. And I do.

Anyway, next Monday is the big day. It's likely the tenants will leave over the weekend and there won't be a scene. I hope so since it looks like my husband will be on a new contract come Monday and therefore won't be there. If not, the Sheriff is ready to remove them and a locksmith will be changing the locks while the Sheriff waits. Which is good since one of the tenants is up on a malicious wounding charge and obviously has no problem with violence.

I know there are a lot of people out there that didn't do anything wrong, and my heart goes out to them, but right now, I'm a little cynical when I hear a sad story. I'm sure my tenants are giving their friends a good story that has little basis in reality. All in all it's just a bad event.

I feel like I'm in a soap opera and some other catastrophe is just around the next corner. I hope not, but that's the way I feel.

7 comments:

Travis Erwin said...

I certainly hope you have no more troubles but I understand that sentiment.

Charles Gramlich said...

Man, I remember dating a woman in grad school who lived in a big house and rented out apartments to a couple of other tenants. She had so much trouble. I thought it was disgusting the way many of her tenants behaved.

I'm glad to hear progress is being made toward getting these losers out.

BernardL said...

They may as well be robbing you at gunpoint. I hope they can be charged with felony property destruction if they've messed the inside of your house up. It's always easy for the media to do the 'oh the poor tenant story', while neglecting the real crime going on: tenants stealing the house owners' money every month.

I've never been a fan of mandatory vehicle safety inspections, and I'm glad we don't have them out here. The potential for fraud outweighs the safety issue in my opinion. I hope things improve for you, VL.

Shauna Roberts said...

Hope you get all of these things resolved quickly and easily and can have some time to breathe and relax.

Virginia Lady said...

Thanks Travis. It's all a part of renting out a property, but it is trying at times.

Charles, we've been incredibly lucky since we started doing this about 13 yrs ago. This is first real problem tenant we've had and she was great until she was arrested this fall. Paid on time, full, called whenever something needed attention, but not to a fault. This too shall pass. I hope.

Bernard, it feels that way at times. I can't even watch the poor tenant stories right now, I get too angry. I'd love it if they dropped the safety inspections, but it's too big a money maker for that to happen, especially in this economy.

Thanks, Shauna. But once they're gone, then my real work begins as I paint and repair the place to get re-rented. I'm hoping that goes quickly and we can find a new tenant, one that will pay.

writtenwyrdd said...

Yech. I feel for you. And your bad luck with tenants is why I am leery of renting my house out. I don't want to lose the money to cover most of the mortgage and expenses, but I also don't want to deal with deadbeats.

Best of luck come Monday!

laughingwolf said...

good that things are improving for you, may the continue

when i was assistant manager for an apartment complex for a while, i quickly learned to do a thorough background check of all potential renters

when an opening in my trade at the time came up, i jumped at the chance
to get away from rental problems