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Landlord Blues
allen griggs
Member Posts: 35,509 ✭✭✭✭
My fiancee owns two rental houses in Atlanta, I help manage them.
Last Christmas we had a vacancy. Shirley told me, I have a black lady who wants to move in, What do you think. Well we had never had a black person apply to move into one of our houses before. I said, If she has the money, fine let her in. She told Shirley she was a single mom with a 4 and 5 year old kids, and she made $90,000 a year in the real estate business.
Shirley checked her job and previous residence, and credit check, it all checked out.
The first red flag was, she paid the deposit, and first month rent, with cash. This total was $3500. She paid on Dec 22, said she had to get moved in so her kids could have a Christmas at their new house, she was going to get a tree.
Well, she didn't move in at Christmas. Three weeks went by and no one had moved in. Then I went over one day and there was a brand new Audi SUV in the yard, literally pulled up off the driveway and on to the yard. Standing in the door was a 30 year old black guy, decked out like the star of a rap music vidio, hooded sweatshirt pulled down over his face, blue jeans sagging around his knees. I thought, Oh God here we go. I went up to the door, he said, "I live here" and turned and went into the house. Didn't introduce himself or say anything else.
I followed him into the house and said, Shirley rented the house to a single lady with two little kids, so who are you?
He said he was Chad, the tenant's nephew. Him and another rap star were moving some beds and a sofa in. I told Chad, How about you get your car off the grass, and park in the driveway?
We checked the lease, and it was not a violation for the tenant to move one more adult into the house, though she is supposed to notify the landlord first and give id of the new resident.
The next day I went over, and the gravel driveway had been made twice as wide in the back, a big truck load of gravel had been put down. A little 25 foot sweet gum tree had been cut down. In the carport was a brand new Lincoln monster stretch limo, pearl white.
No one was there.
The tenant had told Shirley she wanted to put some fresh gravel on the driveway. She hadn't mentioned widening the driveway, cutting down trees, or Limos. I called the cops on the Limo, it looked stolen or like a drug deal, I didn't know what to think. The cops smelled a rat with the limo, they begged me to tow it in. I said, No. They ran the tag, it was not stolen.
So, she was supposed to move in 7 weeks ago and she has not moved in. There are beds in the bed rooms, but no clothes in the closets. There are dishes in the kitchen, but no food.
The tenant never got the gas put in her name, 5 days ago the gas co shut off the gas.
The tenant did not pay Feb. rent, so today we started the dispossessory proceedings. We tacked a letter on the door, and sent one by certified mail. It says, Get out in 7 days.
We don't know what this bunch is up to. The limo has been in and out of there a dozen times. Shirley called the tenant, hard to do cause she ids Shirley's phone and won't answer when Shirley calls. Shirley got through once, and told her, you can't run a business like a limo service in this neighborhood, there are covenants that forbid it. Plus it is a violation of the lease to run a business.
One day I was there, working on the bay window. There was a brand new Chevy 4 door pickup, extra big size, there was a huge van with some kind of "dish" on the roof, looked like a radar, there was the Audu SUV and the Limo. I mean, $200,000 worth of wheels in the driveway, and 3 of these young rap artist types milling around, they had got the Limo stuck because the driveway still isn't wide enough.
When you see the Carlton Sheets infomercial, and he is talking about making easy money by the truck load in real estate, beware.
Last Christmas we had a vacancy. Shirley told me, I have a black lady who wants to move in, What do you think. Well we had never had a black person apply to move into one of our houses before. I said, If she has the money, fine let her in. She told Shirley she was a single mom with a 4 and 5 year old kids, and she made $90,000 a year in the real estate business.
Shirley checked her job and previous residence, and credit check, it all checked out.
The first red flag was, she paid the deposit, and first month rent, with cash. This total was $3500. She paid on Dec 22, said she had to get moved in so her kids could have a Christmas at their new house, she was going to get a tree.
Well, she didn't move in at Christmas. Three weeks went by and no one had moved in. Then I went over one day and there was a brand new Audi SUV in the yard, literally pulled up off the driveway and on to the yard. Standing in the door was a 30 year old black guy, decked out like the star of a rap music vidio, hooded sweatshirt pulled down over his face, blue jeans sagging around his knees. I thought, Oh God here we go. I went up to the door, he said, "I live here" and turned and went into the house. Didn't introduce himself or say anything else.
I followed him into the house and said, Shirley rented the house to a single lady with two little kids, so who are you?
He said he was Chad, the tenant's nephew. Him and another rap star were moving some beds and a sofa in. I told Chad, How about you get your car off the grass, and park in the driveway?
We checked the lease, and it was not a violation for the tenant to move one more adult into the house, though she is supposed to notify the landlord first and give id of the new resident.
The next day I went over, and the gravel driveway had been made twice as wide in the back, a big truck load of gravel had been put down. A little 25 foot sweet gum tree had been cut down. In the carport was a brand new Lincoln monster stretch limo, pearl white.
No one was there.
The tenant had told Shirley she wanted to put some fresh gravel on the driveway. She hadn't mentioned widening the driveway, cutting down trees, or Limos. I called the cops on the Limo, it looked stolen or like a drug deal, I didn't know what to think. The cops smelled a rat with the limo, they begged me to tow it in. I said, No. They ran the tag, it was not stolen.
So, she was supposed to move in 7 weeks ago and she has not moved in. There are beds in the bed rooms, but no clothes in the closets. There are dishes in the kitchen, but no food.
The tenant never got the gas put in her name, 5 days ago the gas co shut off the gas.
The tenant did not pay Feb. rent, so today we started the dispossessory proceedings. We tacked a letter on the door, and sent one by certified mail. It says, Get out in 7 days.
We don't know what this bunch is up to. The limo has been in and out of there a dozen times. Shirley called the tenant, hard to do cause she ids Shirley's phone and won't answer when Shirley calls. Shirley got through once, and told her, you can't run a business like a limo service in this neighborhood, there are covenants that forbid it. Plus it is a violation of the lease to run a business.
One day I was there, working on the bay window. There was a brand new Chevy 4 door pickup, extra big size, there was a huge van with some kind of "dish" on the roof, looked like a radar, there was the Audu SUV and the Limo. I mean, $200,000 worth of wheels in the driveway, and 3 of these young rap artist types milling around, they had got the Limo stuck because the driveway still isn't wide enough.
When you see the Carlton Sheets infomercial, and he is talking about making easy money by the truck load in real estate, beware.
Comments
Sounds like they are running a fatladyhouse to me. Don't laugh, they are everywhere now. Guy I know recently kicked some people out that were doing just that.
Good luck with it. Next time, be VERY selective about who you rent to. It normally takes me 2-3 weeks to rent a vacant property, BUT, I've only had ONE "bad" tenant out of all of them! It is much better to lose a few hundred dollars on the place being vacant, than to spend a few thousand repairing it because you rented to some idiot.
Merc
Insignia?
Nos nullus habitum rancidum insignia!
"Tolerating things you may not necessarily like is part of being free" - Larry Flynt
You mean a w****house?
That is what we are thinking.
They must be doing ok under those blankets with body heat, with the gas off, it was 41 degrees inside the house yesterday.
Them ducks is wary.
Our basis for the eviction is, the cut tree, the gravel, and non payment of rent. There is a limit to the number of people who can live there, but if it is just 4 it is not a violation.
Shirley has got a lawyer.
I know, you think they will mess the house up etc. However, so far they haven't messed up anything inside the house. It is quite neat.
And, no one lives there.
Shirley did not demand payment of the Feb. rent, she just demanded they get out in 7 days. If she tries to pay the rent, Shirley can refuse it, then it is time to send the lawyers before the judge. However, the tenant would have to hire a lawyer too. So I am telling Shirley, if the girl tries to pay rent to refuse the rent and proceed with eviction.
Yes, we know, everything we have been told is a lie. Except, the girl does work for a realtor and make 90K, and she has good credit, and she paid her last landlord the rent on time, and he said that rent was $3,200 a month.
We're men. Its our God given right to watch sports and smut" - Al Bundy
ALWAYS use a Real Estate Agent
ALWAYS reqire a completed lease application.
ALWAYS get a credit report and have the tenant pay the cost.
ALWAYS personally check the reference by makeing calls.
Made lots of money and I've had one problem in 20 years and that was a combination of a Real Estate Agent and "Tenant" using someone elses name and credit references. I still caught them but not before they moved in. Won't happen again,,, but they used "friends" numbers so I'd get a good reference. Bet these "friends" were suprised when I called them and said they were involved in Illegal activities with intent to commit Fraud. After all,, their phone number was on the lease application and calls were made. Bet those people NEVER do that again.
Writing this gives me a great feeling,, I almost wish someone else would try this,,, Plus,, keeps me from smoking.
But it was Fraud,, trust me on this,, when the police accompanied me to the door (they didn't open it) they moved out,, left the keys and garage door opener at the Agent and I got to keep their damage deposit. Why,, well,,, gosh the "Tenant" didn't move in and these people were in the property illegally.
W/O paying attention to the Advise,,, you can have a sticky problem.
I should throw this in: Don't "REDUCE" rent to friends and relatives. I never did but knew some who ended up with problems. If you want to give someone a "good deal",,, rent your place for the fair price and give them the "extra" money every month... at a minimum,, don't expect to get paid or have your property taken care of properly...
She has some furniture in the house. There is a bed in every room. There is a sofa and dining room table. There are no clothes, no food.
Know what else is weird? The same week she rented our house, she rented another house just around the corner. We found this out, because Shirley cut off the power, and the girl said she had had the power cut on, but she hadn't, the power was off. Then Shirley called Ga Power and gave them that tenant's name, and asked why they hadn't turned on the power. They told her, well, we turned the power on at ***** address, the house around the corner, like you asked a few days ago.
We checked further, this girl has power and gas on at this house around the corner, she is renting it too. But, her car is never parked there either, she has a brand new Cadillac SUV.
And, the Limo has never been seen at the other house that she is renting. In other words, there is a whole different set of expensive cars at the other house.
Money [:D] the reason I will get back into it at some point.
The gene pool needs chlorine.
Merc
Insignia?
Nos nullus habitum rancidum insignia!
"Tolerating things you may not necessarily like is part of being free" - Larry Flynt