Adventures in renting...
As most of you know, hubby has a rental house here. He wouldn't have it at all if it weren't pretty much smack-dab in the center of our property; well, it is right on the highway and our fields encircle it. So he bought it when it came up for sale just so he could control the place. He has owned it for over 10 years now, I believe. The first folks who rented it were there for over 5 years. The guy was a chiropractor and was frequently 3-4 months late with his rent...but he always paid.
Since then there have been a series of renters, none of whom have lived there longer than 2 years and most of them less than a year. One had 2 large inside dogs, which at one point got up on the sofa back, stood up against the plate glass window and broke it out. "What should I do?" the renter asked my husband. "Get the phone and call someone out to repair it...at your expense," he replied.
One guy went through the house and, for whatever reason, cut random holes in the walls, redecorated one of the kids rooms by tearing up the flooring and then subsequently hot gluing carpeting down in the shape of a ladybug. He didn't pay rent for several months and hubby had to have him evicted. The guy left I dunno how much junk all over. And the really horrible thing is that they must have had several dozen cats; all of which he left inside for sometime before they left. There was cat...ummmm...poop literally piled up and MOLDING in every corner of the house. There was a FULL litter box of molding poop down in the basement. You could barely move without stepping in some.
Another guy did pretty much the same thing with his two dogs; left them in the basement and garage for 2 weeks during the ice storm we had a couple of years ago, while HE lived IN TOWN with some relatives. Lord what a stench there again!
One couple had financial trouble, so they went to at least 5 or more of those payday loan places in 3 or 4 different towns around here and got loans. To top it off they listed US as references, without our permission I might add. It wasn't long before we started getting calls from various payday loan companies, looking for them. This went on for a couple of months! We started telling them they'd have to take a number to get their next payment; WE wanted our rent money FIRST! Ha.
Anyway.
We just had the place up for rent again. Hubby listed it on Craig's List. It has been an adventure getting applicants for it. One lady from Kentucky wanted it. She was moving out here to be close to her sis. She mailed the deposit; sight unseen. She gets out here, takes one look at it and doesn't want it.
Back to the drawing board.
One guy has a rottweiler that he keeps inside with him when he's home, and puts in a pen outside when he's gone. Oh and, by the way, he hasn't looked at it yet, but he wants to know if hubby will finance the place so he can buy it from us. Hmmmm...
The last one takes the cake. I copied hubby's email verbatim so I could share with you:
"i would be intersted in geting your place to rent would there be any way i could move in with no money like do some work or something
dont have any rentel refronces besides my parents and car inserince but both get paid and on time as well"
Is that not hilarious or what? No money, but could he move in and do work around the place to pay. We laughed and laughed. To make it even funnier; hubby knows this guy. His family used to live in the neighborhood. His older brother had the gall and audacity to ask hubby to co-sign a car loan for him. He was 18 and had had a job for all of 2 months and now he wanted to buy a truck but his parents had rotten credit.
Never boring here....
Since then there have been a series of renters, none of whom have lived there longer than 2 years and most of them less than a year. One had 2 large inside dogs, which at one point got up on the sofa back, stood up against the plate glass window and broke it out. "What should I do?" the renter asked my husband. "Get the phone and call someone out to repair it...at your expense," he replied.
One guy went through the house and, for whatever reason, cut random holes in the walls, redecorated one of the kids rooms by tearing up the flooring and then subsequently hot gluing carpeting down in the shape of a ladybug. He didn't pay rent for several months and hubby had to have him evicted. The guy left I dunno how much junk all over. And the really horrible thing is that they must have had several dozen cats; all of which he left inside for sometime before they left. There was cat...ummmm...poop literally piled up and MOLDING in every corner of the house. There was a FULL litter box of molding poop down in the basement. You could barely move without stepping in some.
Another guy did pretty much the same thing with his two dogs; left them in the basement and garage for 2 weeks during the ice storm we had a couple of years ago, while HE lived IN TOWN with some relatives. Lord what a stench there again!
One couple had financial trouble, so they went to at least 5 or more of those payday loan places in 3 or 4 different towns around here and got loans. To top it off they listed US as references, without our permission I might add. It wasn't long before we started getting calls from various payday loan companies, looking for them. This went on for a couple of months! We started telling them they'd have to take a number to get their next payment; WE wanted our rent money FIRST! Ha.
Anyway.
We just had the place up for rent again. Hubby listed it on Craig's List. It has been an adventure getting applicants for it. One lady from Kentucky wanted it. She was moving out here to be close to her sis. She mailed the deposit; sight unseen. She gets out here, takes one look at it and doesn't want it.
Back to the drawing board.
One guy has a rottweiler that he keeps inside with him when he's home, and puts in a pen outside when he's gone. Oh and, by the way, he hasn't looked at it yet, but he wants to know if hubby will finance the place so he can buy it from us. Hmmmm...
The last one takes the cake. I copied hubby's email verbatim so I could share with you:
"i would be intersted in geting your place to rent would there be any way i could move in with no money like do some work or something
dont have any rentel refronces besides my parents and car inserince but both get paid and on time as well"
Is that not hilarious or what? No money, but could he move in and do work around the place to pay. We laughed and laughed. To make it even funnier; hubby knows this guy. His family used to live in the neighborhood. His older brother had the gall and audacity to ask hubby to co-sign a car loan for him. He was 18 and had had a job for all of 2 months and now he wanted to buy a truck but his parents had rotten credit.
Never boring here....
Comments
I mean, if the renters owned the house, I'm sure they'd be more careful and respectful of the house and property.
What adventures you guys are going through! The potential renters are nothing short of interesting, eh? Best of luck finding someone suitable :) Keep us posted! XOXO