Economic tsunami

Well, I cannot believe it has been a year since I last posted. Wow.  Well, there have been some great changes.  first I have hung in there and kept fighting for the potential of my properties.  I have spent so much of my money on these props to keep the ship afloat, and it is starting to pay off.  So here is what has happened,

I have rid myself of loser tenants, I have evicted a few and now only rent to good people.  Hard working, considerate, appreciative people.  People that understand the culture of respect and paying for what you use, and honoring contracts.  I do not rent to anyone who does not understand or subscribe to this montra.  

I have had so many tenant changes in the last year.  I read that I was just on the verge of renting to a roommate that wanted to stay even though the others wanted to leave.  Well, they turned out great. they decided to rent out both units in the duplex all on the same day, so I had the lady upstairs move-out the same day the roommates downstairs moved out.  Just turned out that way, and the remaining roommate said she had tons of friends that she could give housing to, so she rented out both places and has been renting out rooms ever since and I have been getting my rent no problem.  So that has worked out great, and some really great girls living there.

I also saw that Jeff had just moved in because of the tow-truck guy moving out, well that has changed again as he had a roommate Cass, and Cass decided she wanted to keep it as Jeff wanted out, and it looks like the reason was because Cass had a new boyfriend and he was always there.  Not a great roommate situation.  But now she has him living there and not on the lease, I am not happy about that.  Also, she never read the lease and has gotten two cats, I do not want pets, as they ruin properties,  And already all my blinds are destroyed, the cats jump up on the window sill and in so doing they bend back the edges of the blinds, now all the sides of all the blinds are bent up and tweaked!!!  also cats pee and the acidic smell never goes away, i may end up having to replace the carpets!  So I don't know if I am going to evict, or just keep the deposit. ALSO, she did something with paint in the apartment, and walked out on the front area of her door and left painted foot prints all over the front cement!! WTF!!  This has defaced the fuckin property, and she doesn't seem to think it means anything, it will take a ton of time and effort to scrub that shit off, does she think this is the kind of shit i want to do in my spare time??  jesus people are so inconsiderate.

another one I read about was the lady with 8 kids, I evicted her.  she is gone, and now I have a nice older AA couple that really appreciates the place and they were homeowners and lost their home then couldn't get a rental because of their now bad credit.  Well, I have sympathy for homeowners, it wasn't them that fucked up it is the banks and this fucked up economy.  they had good credit and they showed great financial commitment by owning that house.  So I rented to them and they are grateful and have not missed a single payment. Love them.

the other one that did not make the post was the Mother Daughter tenants, they just stopped paying and it was said that the mother would take over for the two of them, well the mother didn't pay, but she was the greatest con artist of all time, She made elaborate scenarios as to where her money was coming from and this made me think the money had at least an 80% chance of coming, well 10 months later and 3-4 elaborate schemes later I had to evict them.  fuck them.  so I lost $15k in rent AGAIN!!!   Note to future landlords, DO NOT TRUST tenants.  If they don't pay, spend the fuckin money to evict and get them the fuck out.  So I found a great tenant to move into this one, and she is so great and enthusiastic that I really love her excitement. She is so excited about the house that her perspective gives me new enthusiasm with my work on the houses. It is such an unappreciated art, and all my work mostly is shit on at best by tenants.  So her enthusiasm is greatly appreciated.  She also wants to rent the place in the back, and use it to rent out to her friends as well.

Another great tenant is the one where the two lady's were with 5 kids, I had to get her out and she was not paying and the hot one moved out. I went to the house and knocked on the door, I looked at her in the eye and I told her she needs to get out asap, or I start the eviction and go after her money.  She moved out the next day.  I went in and remodeled it AGAIN!!  I added tile for the whole shower. It looked nice.  So Carrie came and she had some roommates and she rented it.  I was so pleased to rent to her, she has completely changed the place, she has gotten really good people around her and they have planted, and they have really dressed the place up so nice. Love them all.

The other thing that happened is the greatest tenant of all time moved to Texas! I was very unhappy to have him move, it was very difficult to see them go, they left the place so clean, the carpets looked new. I had to paint and clean a bit, but very little, AND he got me a colleague to move-in.  No work to find a person.  So I only miss a month of rent.

So the biggest change of all, I cannot believe this day finally came, but i am so excited to report that the old lady finally moved out!!!  this took so long and the fuckin kids were such careless assholes.  But here's how it went down.  They never respond to my letters!  They wouldn't give me a phone number, or an email address.  I only had their mailing address so to communicate with them I either had to run into them at the apt or send a letter.  Anyways here's what happened.  on 10-11-12 the old lady flooded the apartment.  I got a call from the downstairs chick who was livid, she said the roof was bubbling and water was everywhere downstairs and "What are you going to do about it!!"  So I had to drive in and see WTF was going on.  I tried to get her to turn the water off but she kept telling me that she is not qualified to make those decisions, I kept telling her, I am asking you to go out and turn the water off.  But she wouldn't.  It was so fuckin lame.  So I called another tenant to go over and check things out.  the other tenant turned the water off and went into both units to see what's up. this other tenant by the way was from ANOTHER building!  Anyways it was determined that the old lady had flooded the place upstairs because she saw fire rising from the living room.  There was NO FIRE!! it was all in her fuckin head, so she turned the faucet on in the kitchen and blocked the sink with a cookie sheet, and plugged the toilet and kept flushing it over and over so all the water would go into the living room and extinguish the imaginary fire!  errrrrr! Can you believe the shit people do?!?!?  Anyways I called my insurance company and they sent out a crew to mop up and dry out and assess.  They came out and they told her that everything that was wet needed to come out, all the sheetrock in the bathroom, kitchen, living room, bedroom, and the ceilings and all the carpet, and there will need to be mold experts and all this fuckin bullshit.  My advice to any of you future landlords, tell the insurance co to shut the fuck up and DO NOT talk to tenants period!!! Shut the fuck up!  So after the insurance people looked at the damage and assessed the situation  they decide that they would not cover this as it was not a broken pipe or natural disaster situation it was caused by the actions of a tenant and I did not have that stipulation covered under the policy. ... WHAT?!?!?! WTF?! are they talking about! I pay fuckin insurance in case shit like this happens!  I was blown away. I tried to fight it and it fell on deaf ears, and no sooner did they decide this , the crew was removed asap without even a goodbye hug!!  So they left the place with all their fans and water vacs and stupid comments in an instant.  So now the tenant expects to see me rip out everything and start over.  And get her another place to stay while I renovate.  HA!! not gonna happen, there was one bubble and some water damage, as soon as it all dries out we can scrape and paint. So that is all I did and replaced the bedroom carpet.  She was angry and she called the city inspectors.  What a fuckin asshole! so the city looked into the situation and forced me to fill out a bunch of forms and pay fees for the inspection and it all came out to $400.  WTF!!!?!? this all was due to the fact that the fuckin insurance people filled her fuckin head with all this horseshit.  And no matter what I told her she didn't believe me. so the inspector came out and I was expecting him to rip me a new one and fine me for a million stupid codes because that's what they have to do in order to justify their existence.  But to my surprise I got an inspector that was a longtime contractor and a landlord ...... nice ....someone who understands, and guess what, he told her the exact same thing I told her and that nothing was in danger and the integrity of the walls were fine and there would be no violations.  All a big huge waste of my time and money.  After I have given her a break for 6 years on the rent because of some stupid deal.  People don't seek out what they should be appreciative for, they won't ever see it as something you are doing for them. So I sent her a notice to tell her how much back rent she has not had to pay and that from now on I want the full amount or I will evict.  She pays it all now.  So 3 days after the first flood, guess what, the old lady did it AGAIN!?!?!?!?!?  flooded the fuckin place AGAIN!!?!?!  unfuckinbelievable!  So I called mental health, which had been done many times before, but this time I sent a letter along with the call that explained the crazy ass shit the old lady was doing and how everyone is in jeopardy at that apt because of her including herself, i spelled out dates and personal accounts from other tenants, etc  and this time they sent out a Doctor instead of a flunky orderly.  And as a result she was removed to a hospital asap.  Now this has several repercussions , first it gets her the fuck out and to the help she has been neglected by her family. second it starts the process of getting her kids to admit that she should not in any way shape or form be living alone in my apt.  So I sent a rash of nasty letters to them. No reply.  See this unit was under rent control so in order for me to ask for market rent I need a voluntary move-out by the family.  Well being removed for mental reasons QUALIFIES as a voluntary move-out.  so I just need them to move her out and say they are out.  Well, they do nothing for months and ignore me. I am getting more pissed.  I talk to my lawyer, he said take pics and move her shit out, well not in those exact words.   So after 5 months of waiting and no responses from the at all, I went in and changed the locks.  the next day I got a call from the daughter and she went all up in my face about how she was going to have things moved out that weekend but I messed it all up and now she didn't know when she would be able to do it.  So I told her, well, since you just gave me a verbal move out date, that is the day for which you legally indicated to me that you were moving out. So since that is the day you moved out, I am only legally obligated to keep your crap for 30 days, then I will take it all to the dumps.  Well, she then slowly but surely moved all her mother's shit out, except for a ton of big furniture and mattresses and all the garbage.  So as I promised I moved all the stuff out into storage and gutted the place. did a total remodel, new bath, new cabs, new tile, carpet, counters, stove fridge etc. total rebuild.  And best of all I advertised it for $400 over what the others were getting, thought the market has jumped significantly. and I got 30 calls for the place.  I found two great girls who are very excited about it and have gone ahead and accepted the lease.  This was basically 9 years in the making.  I knew when I bought the place that the old lady and rent control would go away at some point, I had no idea it would take this long and have so much crap along the way.  But I out lasted them, and I got $0 rent, (long story don't ask, couldn't evict) for nearly 3 years, and now I gave myself a $1600 bump in income.  Now I want to get rid of the other as well.
whew! long time coming!

also, my job has hired me permanently and I now know I have financial security until the day I want to leave.  Very happy about it.  So now i don't need to rely so much on tenant rental income and not be afraid of the massive costs to evict, often it costs me more to NOT evict, but I have barely been surviving over the last 4-5 years and I just didn't have the money to evict, so I opted to work with people hoping they would come through, and most don't, when people stop paying it is for a reason.  It is a big red flag. now I won't have to put up with anyones shit anymore.

so as of today, Aug 1 2013, all units are rented and I expect all will pay as they have not given me any reason to suspect that they wouldn't.  I have two potential vacancies coming up both section-8s and i hate section-8's  don't get me started on that shit.

I'll keep ya posted

the latest:

I have a girl that gave her 30 day notice, and then stopped paying rent.  So now I can't
threaten her with eviction because she is already leaving.  I have asked about the back rent and she says oh I will be getting it together soon.  I n my experience once they move out they never talk to you again. I have sent about 6 tenants to collections and nothing ever happens.  It is such a scam.  the whole court process is set up to get money out of the fat cat landlords, not to serve justice.

I have a lady that is 3 months behind, she has promised so much and now she says she will have it all by this friday. yeah we'll see about that.

guy in 708 used to pay on time, now he is always a month behind and sometimes two months behind and never responds to my letters, texts, emails, nothing until I drive way the fuck over there and knock on the door, then he acts like "oh it just slipped my mind let me send it right now"  but I cannot wait three fuckin months for the rent because I have tons of costs all the time.

note to all: Don't be a landlord.  Write it down, no better yet, get a tattoo on your forehead that says. "don't be a landlord"  yeah that's it, that way if you don't remember, then everyone else will remind you.  trust me I am doing you a HUGE favor with this advise. No charge either.

I have the dude in 708b not paying me his portion, what a dick he does this over and over because he knows I am not going to evict for only $200. and he's right.  I have anothe section 8 that is not paying her portion now, and I have to call and send a letter and text and I get no reponse at all!!  I am not really a landlord I am a collector that is 90% of my job, collecting collecting collecting, if real estate is just location, location, location then landlording is collecting, collecting, collecting ....!!!!

I have not been completely full with everyone paying in about 5 years!!!

so I am so close, but you watch, next month it will be something else!!!

I did sign a lease with the guy at Prince, didn't have to clean or anything. He was a friend and he just moved in. that is the first time that ever happened to me.

i am going on sat to sign a lease with a roommate that is staying behind and wanting to keep the place while the other;s leave.  So I won't have to do alot after all for that one.

In the meantime I am working working working. good times!

updates for rentals

the last post was about all the tenants who weren't paying me.  I have updates on all those asswipes.  the first I think was the old lady, she is still the same, no pay and no moving.

next is the downstairs guys who haven't paid in like 4 months, they moved out and are promising to pay off the debt.  So I am waiting for that.  the good news is that the Tenant has a friend, and I told him that I was going to completely remodel the unit and charge $1500/mo.  He wanted it real bad, so we sat down and talked and we agreed that he would fix it up move in asap and pay $1250/mo  so I won't have to spend a dime and I get $100 more a month than I was getting.

The next one was the two ladies above the heater people.  Well i went over and told them I am going to evict them, so they moved the next day, I fixed it up and got two really nice girls to move in there. they are so sweet I don't think they have any idea what kind of neighborhood it is, but the area is changing alot.  I am getting more for rent than I asked for the two ass-ladies who owe me $4000.

The next was the one where the perfect tenants were moving, I hated to see them go, but while I was fixing it up a friend of my painter/hauler came by realized the place was for rent and wanted it, so him and his wife and kids moved in, VERY nice.  they stayed in their last place for 13 years.  So i love longevity.  So that is taken care of!!

The other was the lady with 8 kids, I told her it was time to go, or i will start the eviction.  So she also moved, I had to repaint the outside because her boyfriend wanted to "help" to offset the back rent and did a shitty job of priming the fuckin house!!  If he had just left it alone I wouldn't have had to spen any money painting the outside!!!!  Now I had to spend about $2500 painting the outside!!! thanks dude, great help!  Anyways i am going to finish this house this week and rent it for $300 more a month.

Then there are new updates,  A lady upstairs near 7th is moving she says she can't afford it anymore.  So i will have that place to fix up and get rented.

also, the house next door to that one is now 3 months behind!!!  this is not good.  She is struggling and promises to pay but she just is not paying.  I may have to send them packing as well.

the lesbians are now 2 months about to be 3 months behind in their rent.  Not good!

Let's have an snapshot of the current tenant sutuation huh? Whaddya say? First I have a tenant in a 5 unit that hasn't paid me in a year , why? because her daughter claims I ripped her off and wants to make a huge deal with courts and all and it would cost me more money than just leaving her there long enough to figure out what to do. I have APS involved because the lady is about 86 years old, african american, and poor, the three demographics I can't touch. so it sits, no rent and nothing I can do without doing a long and dragged out court case which would cost me tons of money. so fun!!

next I have a mother of 8, african american sweet lady who sold me hook line and sinker, it has been a years since she has paid. she tells me all these things she is working on getting money, she has relatives that are going to loan to her, etc. But she never comes through. It is so frustrating to deal with this over and over again. I have to weigh the cost of leaving them and maybe they'll come through or spending all the money to evict, fix-up, lay vacant, rent and then the next person may have some life event that makes them not able to pay ...err

Next is a lady who had a roommate and between them they had 5 kids. they were noisy and disruptive and just a mess, then they got into some weird fight and the hot one, moved out, she paid me her half of the rent fo the time she was there. the other one is still there and promises and promises and still doesn't get me any money, she begs not to evict, but now it's like 4 months behind and she is now pregnant and no job with 3 kids. She is latina. so this is another of big costs, evict, fix-up and vacant $$$$$

the next one is the one I already wrote about, the heater people, as of today they are now 4 months behind. Fuck!!

Next is the ones who are a lesbian couple, they only have to pay a portion as they are on section-8. but they did not pay their portion this month, I called and left text and have not received a response, usually not a good sign!!

next I have a great tenants moving out, can't stand this, great tenants who leave. They are so good, and pay on time and keep the place up, and they are going to be out in the next few days. Drag, need to fix-up and re-rent, hopefully no one steals the fuckin copper pipes, that is a huge job that I have to do myself cause it costs a fortune to have a plumber do it, I have had to do it twice so far!!!

I have the rent control board after me. See they charge you money based on the amount of rent you receive, NOT on how much profit you make. so at the end of the year I don't have any money, I lose $10,000 on this property and then they want their fuckin money, THERE IS NO MONEY!!! so what they do is to triple it in penalties and make it go up and up and up, like that is going to make it easier to pay. idiots. The system is flawed. rent control ruins communities, it should be outlawed.

so I have a ton of work to do again to get caught up ans start making some money off these properties again, but I work 40+ at my job, I had to get a job because there are so many tenant problems and because of that I don't collect enought to make all my payments and costs. It is a horrible spiral. My advice, don't be a landlord, you would be buying yourself a thankless job.

thankless

I got a text, oh yes I mostly get texts now, email second and rarely phone calls. But I texted a tenant and asked if they were planning on paying rent. He texts me back and tells me this whole line o crap about how it is illegal for a landlord to not provide heat and that I need to decide if I want to receive rent or not. WTF????? After I have taken care of them, they got cockroaches, I got the exterminator, the tenant upstairs was loud and they were going to move because of it, so I reduced their rent by $100, I promised them that if another 3 bed comes up I would let them have it as soon as one is available. So they are paying squat for this, and the roommate with kids moved out upstairs, so the noise has been cut in half, and they don't appreciate it. I have gone over two times to show the guy how to light the pilot if it gets blown out. And he just can't do it, so everytime he wants me to drive an hour spend 5 minutes lighting it, then drive an hour home!!! So he won't help me, then he said it went out I said ok I'll try to make it, he said ok. then I told him I couldn't make it, I don't hear from him again. I figured he must have worked it out. then I never get rent. so I text him and I get all that crap. I was pissed!! PGE will do it for fuckin free! thankless!!! so I paid a guy to go out and light the pilot and he charged me $75 to do it, and now the dickweed still has not sent a check. Now I have to threaten eviction!
It is a totally thankless job. So now there is no fuckin way I will alert them to a new 3 bed. No way, if anything I am now going to think about how soon I can get rid of them.
it's a give and take deal.

UPDATE: 5-1-2012:
So the tenants I discussed earlier about the heater, are now being total assholes. They don't tell me that the heater is not working, yes they told me but then I would go over and light it. What they don't tell me is that it goes out shortly after that, they just stew and get pissed at me. It is their fault for not telling me WTF is going on, I don't live there I have no way of knowing that it went out after I lit it. the last time I paid a guy to light it and he said it was working, so I assumed it was fixed. Well, 3 weeks go by, and then I don't get rent, when I ask about the rent they blast me about how it's illegal to not have heat etc. Anyways, now I have contacted people to get it fixed. But they are now saying they shouldn't have to pay for the two months there was no heat. and preaching to me about the laws of housing etc. they have no idea how many times I've been to court on this very type of thing. Each time in court the judge said to them "you still have to pay rent". See if they don't pay me then I don't fix things. Anyways this fuckin shit sucks, i can't stand being a landlord. It's their fault I didn't know it wasn't working. I may just evict them to get them the hell out of there.

UPDATE: 6-1-2012: so I finally got this fixed, and they said they would send a check. As of today no check. What a scam. I sent the repairman out there no less than 5 times and each time he said it worked. And then it didn't. Unbelievable. but now it works and no check. I smell an eviction coming on.

Garbage cans

So I had a new tenant move in, in Dec. She did not have a can. I had called before and forgot about it assuming that they would just deliver the new can. so naive grasshopper. I got another call from the tenant and she said they still hadn't delivered, she asked me if I had called. YES I called!! So I called again, and they said they hadn't any record of me calling! So I requested again to deliver a can. Well, another 3 weeks go by, i assume everything is fine, see I don't live there and unless I go by there I have no idea if they are there or not. So I get another call and she say still no can!! so I call the garbage people and they tell me that the driver, you won't believe this shit!, determined that I had enough cans, so he did not drop off a new can!!!! The driver!!! He decided. See he counted the cans in front of the house and said I had too many, those other cans belong to the OTHER houses around mine!!!! They are NOT my cans!!! So I told her that the driver has no authority to decide which cans are enough, he is just supposed to deliver the CANS!!! So they finally after 3 stupid months deliverd last friday one can.

today I got a call that said 2 other cans were stolen. WTF leave my cans alone!!!!
I may have to lock the effin things. Then that will cause more problems because then someone will have to be in charge of the cans locking and unlocking and then the other tenants will assume the tenant who locks and unlocks will take them all out to the street. And that person will want compensation from their rent, etc. What a pain in the ass!

Don't ever be a landlord!!

latest

I have now filled most of the units. At the moment ALL units are full, however 1,2, 3 are not paying me anything. One has owed me over 11 months, and pays something sometimes. Problem is that if I evict her then everything needs to be redone, we're talking 5,6,7,000 dollars in remodel costs plus the $2000-$5000 in eviction costs! and just to get another fuckwad in there to not pay! I know I said this before, only pay cash for rental properties! only cash!. this way when it is empty you don't lose tons of money.

Basic issues right now. 1- I have a tenant who for whatever reason cannot learn how to re-light a pilot. the gas heater's pilot goes out once in a while and his wife likes to have the heater on blasting all day, and the second it goes out they are calling me to get it fixed! they want me to drive 45 min spend 5 min lighting it, then drive 45 min back home. I tried to show the guy how to do it and he says "oh no! I don't mess wit no gas, I could blow up!" No you can'T! You would have to close all the doors and turn the gas on full blast for a week then light a match. He could really help me by just lighting the fuckin thing.

2- Another tenant keeps telling me the toilet overflows. But when I was fixing it up the toilet never overflowed. She sends me emails, then when I ask questions to clarify via email and phone she NEVER replies. It is very irritating! so I don't do anything.

3- the biggest issue I have is an alzhiemer patient who's family is using the apartment to keep her cheply she is under rent control, and they are abusing her bank account. they all have nice new cars and don't take care of my tenant, she is over 80 years old and can't take care of herself, she has locked herself out a million times, she has locked herself in, she has gotten sick and covered herself in vomit, she has bathed herself in feces, she has lit her gown on fire with the stove, she talks to people who are not there, she has thrown objects down the stairs at "the teenagers" that don't exist, she wanders around the city at 3-4am in her nightgown trying to get in cars. These are not the actions of a sane person, I have called APS and they have done everything to arrange a place for her, but the kids (in their 50's) don't want any part of it. The city says they can't do anything until something bad happense that proves she is unfit. ?!?!?! what the hell, she is unfit to be on her own, that qualifies as far as I'm concerned! She turned her gas on the stove and the whole building smelled like gas and the other tenants had to call pge to shut off the gas, it could have blown up the whole building! What a fuckin mess. I have tried to sell the place but no one wants it because of her unit and her situation, they don't want it because it is in rent control, and she is a potential danger to the building. so I get low-balled on the price and every buyer says the same thing, "get the old lady out" If I got her out then I could make the payments by getting market rent in that unit, then I wouldn't need to sell.

The recession has hurt me in so many ways. Losing 4 million in equity was the hardest, at anytime before 2007 I could sell, or get a refinance and put money in my pocket and keep going with the house auctions and continue to grow, but that is not the case. the banks shut me down, and all the properties went under water. Before I would make $50-$100,000 a year on each property in equity growth, now I lost from $100-$400,000 per property in a little over 6 months. Talk about a fuckin collapse, then the marriage fallout, and the divorce followed, she felt I was a danger for her and the kids and that I gambled the money away. I invested and we had a great life for many many years, I paid for her trips to fiji, africa, mt hood, mt Mckinly, mexico, etc I stayed and worked and took care of kids qnd I never asked her for a penny of her salary. What an ass i was. Never let your spouse skate, divide everything up and make sure you keep track of who spent what on what. We are doing this without lawyers, but if I start to lose all my houses I will get a lawyer. so the equity dropped, and then tenants stopped paying, didn't move, they just stopped paying. nearly 40% of them, so i lost equity I lost income and then I lost my big house with the pool, then I lost my marriage and now I am a part time dad, more like an uncle. It sucks! And now I work full time and handle all the properties so I can pay for the kids house and my own dumpy apartment. Life can really throw a wrench at you. I am miserable, and yeah I know I should feel lucky to have a job at this day and age, but I owe 5 million and have properties worth about 2.8 million. I am dependent on the recession to return for me to have any shot at getting out of this massive debt.