Second time I had to kick a tenant out today.

[Bushman]

I own a few rentals and had a tenant that got a dog (unauthorized, no pets allowed), had other people living there, trashed the like new carpets and the freshly painted walls and new doors, not to mention left behind truck loads of trash (only in the shed and the yard though).

She had a habit of not being able to pay rent on time. Would lie about paying the next day then a almost a week later still hadn't paid, etc. Always some sob story. Neighbors told me she was dealing drugs out of the house, people coming and going all night, etc.

So she sees I don't mess around when I go to serve her notice to pay rent or vacate. Next month, she gives notice (Month to month lease to protect me). Go down there at the end of the month, still not out. Go down there today, STILL not out. Slams door in my face, threatens me, and calls me all kinds of unfriendly names and insults.

I leave tell her to get out NOW before the cops come, then I go around the corner to call 911, several houses down, to avoid confrontation. Mind, you I have ALL of this on HD video via my body cam. That's right, I have a dash cam in my car and a body cam on my person all the time, though usually only use it when dealing with tenants. In any case, cops didn't show after 4 HOURS. Luckily she and her loser boyfriend left within about 2 hours while I was waiting. Neighbors who have had issues with her let me use their bathroom while I waited several houses down in my car for my safety.

As soon as she left I changed the locks and started cleaning the place up. Left me truck loads of garbage in the shed and yard. and I need to do some painting and hire a carpet cleaner. Replace the blinds, etc. Deposit will definitely not cover it. I have a half a mind to sue her to teach her a lesson, not just for her insults but the damage. I can really screw her over good, good luck finding a decent place to live with a civil judgement from a landlord.

I almost want to email her and let her know that (in response to her text about me being mean), I am generally not going to lay down and be walked on when tenants are trashing my house, not paying their rent, have unauthorized dogs, unauthorized tenants, damage, and still there DAYS after they were supposed to be out.

I also want to tell her that I paid more in federal income tax than her and her loser boyfriend COMBINED in response to her very specific insult and that her little insult just makes me laugh because she is too dumb to understand just how much of a loser she is and that I paid cash for that house when I was in my mid twenties and it's one of MANY I own and rent out. How's that for a "loser"?


Oh, and just to note, I got ZERO help from the police after I was threatened, had my own door slammed in my face by a trespasser. Per her lease her right to occupy the premises as a tenant ended November at midnight with no right to be on the property explicitly stated in the lease....

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[Stomper]

You should keep a couple of goons on the payroll for those times when the cops take their sweet time to roll up,'if at all.

 

[The Heretic]

Go ahead and sue. You won't get money from her, but yes, it will be on her record and yes, most landlords won't rent to her then - but some still will. I know this from trying to keep my ex-wife off the streets (gave up eventually - not sure where she is now because I changed my phone number and she has no idea where I or her daughter live to make sure she doesn't show up in the middle of the night as she has with other people).

The only way such people stay off the streets is they wheedle their way into some poor soul's house by renting a room or something like that, and even then wind up getting kicked out for their behavior (which is why my ex has been disowned by all of her/my family and friends).

I feel for my ex, but I am not going to let her ruin my life or my daughter's life as she has her own. If I won the lottery I would get her a house (using a trust - she would wind up trying to sell it if I gave it to her) and pay someone to be a full time keeper, but even then it probably would not last more than a year or so - might even make her worse - probably would.

My dad used to rent some houses but after seeing what some of the renters did to them, I know I will never will. Not worth the hassle.

 

[Caveman Jim]

It's sad that there are people in this land who just don't G.A.S. They believe that the people who work will take care of them (free money to them=freeloaders).
This right here is the reason we opted to sell than keeping and renting out our property, Nope, to many head aches... Good luck to you in the future.

 

[NWGlockgal]

Unfortunately you have to keep your views and opinions to yourself.
Fortunately you can sue. You probably won't end up getting money
out of her, but her credit (if she has any!) will get dinged and you
will be fore warning other landlords about her.

 

[U8395279]

What in the way of personal references did she give you? Did none of them warn you about this possibility? What did prior landlords say about her? Did her criminal background check come back clean? Someone that is dealing drugs and behaving like this is most likely going to have a criminal record.

 

[jbett98]

Sounds like being a residential landlord hasn't worked out to well for you.
Fix it up, sell it and go buy a commercial piece of property. Lot less headaches.

 

[CoastRange57]

My son had some rentals and had a rock solid contract and did background checks. I was in on two of the houses with him. If they were 6 hours late on the rent he was over knocking on the door. Really never had a problem in that aspect. Other son rented his main house out when he moved to Central Oregon and did a BG check on them. Checked out fine, but since I went by the house weekly and they let the yard go to shi*, grass was foot and half tall, he told them they were in default and better clean it up or else. They did not so he gave them a default notice and put it on the market. Sold it for 100K more than he paid 3 years ago.

With the way the market has gotten, we put 2 of them up for sale, sold them in less than a month, paid the other two off and kept another on a note, they are flowing us about 3800 a month right now. We keep an eye on them and do inspections at least 2 times per year. The way the market looks we will probably sell all of them this next spring though.

We were doing pretty good finding houses to fix up and rent, but that market fell away big time in the last year, and we got out of it. Rentals can be a big pain, but are still a pretty good investment.

 

[Bushman]

What in the way of personal references did she give you? Did none of them warn you about this possibility? What did prior landlords say about her? Did her criminal background check come back clean? Someone that is dealing drugs and behaving like this is most likely going to have a criminal record.

Record was clean. Credit score of a homeless ghost. No credit except for bad credit from an abortion at planed parenthood. Was renting a room out of someones house (she has two kids and is in her mid twenties. Unfortunately I had a friend who rented rooms in his primary residence to people and I did not learn the lesson on the quality of the people from his bad experiences with 3 attempts at renting to decent people. I should have known that despite him being unemployed for TWO years he still refused to rent rooms out to people after his first three experiences, stopped paying rent, almost burnt the place down, drugs, etc.).

Good tenants don't live with relatives, rent rooms or live in motels. I actually read an article about this on a real estate investing forum just this week. Too little, too late. Luckily I have solid tenants in my other rentals (I've learned over the years) but this was a legacy tenant to an extent. Plus in my half million dollar plus rentals I attract higher quality tenants. The lower ones (150-300K) are...losers, essentially. You will be surprised to hear they breed like rabbits.


I may have gotten the entire incident on video. Too personal to post, but my gf is having a hoot. All in all, after review I did everything right. I arrived and assessed how many people were there including the yard. I had my body cam rolling before I arrived (land-lording is a litigious business).

I asked her why she was still there and she immediately started yelling at my and crying, then called my all kinds of foul things and slammed the door on me. I addressed her and told her I was calling the Police (who didn't show even after FOUR HOURS...Thanks Police Department) and then went to greet the appointment for a tour that had just shown up (I had directed them for parking). I had also dealt with the random few dudes who were there.

Suffice it to say, most tenants do not meet my current criteria. I'd rather let a house sit empty and pay the mortgage out of my paycheck than rent to morons anymore. Some of these people are so dumb it hurts to talk to them.

 

[The Heretic]

I stopped having a room-mate my last year in college - said never again even though there were times when I could have used the money being unemployed from time to time. I just value my privacy, quiet time and lack of conflict/contact with other humans too much.

That is the way I look at a lot of human contact - as "conflict". Being something of a recluse, borderline Aspergers, a lot of social contact with humans is stressful for me. Even just living in the city, even though I didn't seek out contact, was annoying and when the inevitable person came to my door to sell me something (whether to sell me home improvements on a house I was renting - *sigh* - or to sell me cable, or their religion) - I found it very annoying and it added to my stress.

Now, living on 20 forested acres on a mountain, I am usually only visited by the neighbors dogs, or the occasional wildlife (this morning it was a fox) - rarely by strangers, sometimes by neighbors (who I usually only see when I am out by my private road).

So dealing with renters would be totally out of the question for my sanity. I didn't like dealing with landlords either - last landlord (an agency hired by the owner) would get on my case for not mowing the lawn once a week, while not dealing with various safety problems around the house like a deck or entranceway that was falling apart.

I am so glad I own my own home now and can pretty much do whatever I want without a landlord bugging me about it. It is a LOT of work though.

 

[Bushman]

I stopped having a room-mate my last year in college - said never again even though there were times when I could have used the money being unemployed from time to time. I just value my privacy, quiet time and lack of conflict/contact with other humans too much.

That is the way I look at a lot of human contact - as "conflict". Being something of a recluse, borderline Aspergers, a lot of social contact with humans is stressful for me. Even just living in the city, even though I didn't seek out contact, was annoying and when the inevitable person came to my door to sell me something (whether to sell me home improvements on a house I was renting - *sigh* - or to sell me cable, or their religion) - I found it very annoying and it added to my stress.

Now, living on 20 forested acres on a mountain, I am usually only visited by the neighbors dogs, or the occasional wildlife (this morning it was a fox) - rarely by strangers, sometimes by neighbors (who I usually only see when I am out by my private road).

So dealing with renters would be totally out of the question for my sanity. I didn't like dealing with landlords either - last landlord (an agency hired by the owner) would get on my case for not mowing the lawn once a week, while not dealing with various safety problems around the house like a deck or entranceway that was falling apart.

I am so glad I own my own home now and can pretty much do whatever I want without a landlord bugging me about it. It is a LOT of work though.

I feel you. I hate dealing with people, especially stupid people. Imagine owning five houses.

Sad to say my experience with contractors has not been much better. Same for many other investors I talk to. It's rare that you find a guy that actually knows what he is doing and shows up on time, sober, and get's the job done. Last guy I hired showed up drunk, couldn't get a hold of him (had to charge his phone at tenants) and couldn't do the job, wanted to postpone and I told him he was not getting paid until the job done, at which point he got his son to come and do it for him. What a loser. Did I mention he showed up sounding like he was drunk??

Can't wait until I sell all these houses. Will invest in something else and retire without all the headaches. Maybe. I dunno, funny thing is these idiots always comply because they have no legal standing. The idiot I dealt with today left within the hour. Left a bunch of stuff behind but I will take her to court for damages. If I file over 5K I can file in District Court and collect. Small claims is 5K or less. She is moving out of state anyways so unless she wants to make the trip I will win a default judgement anyways.

 

[Bushman]

It's sad that there are people in this land who just don't G.A.S. They believe that the people who work will take care of them (free money to them=freeloaders).
This right here is the reason we opted to sell than keeping and renting out our property, Nope, to many head aches... Good luck to you in the future.

Been a landlord of a handful of rentals for four years. It's been...an interesting ride. Must have strong personality to deal with tenants who constantly push boundaries. Luckily I do. Still, it's frustrating knowing people are REALLY THIS STUPID.

 

[Camelfilter]

... She is moving out of state anyways so unless she wants to make the trip I will win a default judgement anyways.

When was the last time you squeezed water out of a stone?

 

[Bushman]

Sounds like being a residential landlord hasn't worked out to well for you.
Fix it up, sell it and go buy a commercial piece of property. Lots less headaches.

Actually apartment units that are 5+ units are commercial as well. Commercial can be residential, retail or office. I don't really understand the residential and office in and outs, but I understand the residential. It's not a bad business (I make 350+K a year between this and my job). Lot's of risk though. Luckily most of my money is in high end properties, which actually return the most money.

When was the last time you squeezed water out of a stone?

It's not about the money. I could use the tax write off. I don't qualify for any deductions on the rentals as is because the salary from my job alone is more than 150K a year (yet I live like I make 20K a year, ha, but still, IRS tax rules, google it). Taking her to court will help reduce my taxable income. Plus it's the principle. And luckily teaching this stupid bubblegum a lesson and screwing her over by dinging her background will make me feel muuuuuch better about the insults she spewed at me, and almost caving my face in with the door when she slammed it on me, not to mention serve as a warning to future landlords. Funny, after three days of squatting in my house she sure got out quick when I told her I was calling 911 and would press charges. Sadly the Cops didn't show but I'm glad this loser is out of my house.

 

[Bushman]

By the way, most of the money I make in RE is appreciation. King County is the sixth most expensive market in the country. Makes for high appreciation on highly leveraged yet expensive houses (except this one called out in the thread and one other).

I really enjoy being a landlord in some ways though. Like when tenants tell me I can't serve them legal notices when they don't pay their bills. I'm like, OK, go ahead and call the cops. I brought the lease and a print out of the deed and your delinquency. Have yet to have anyone take me up on it. If they did I'd just show the Officer the paperwork and that it's a civil matter since I'm serving legal notices, well within my right as the owner/landlord. Luckily I have the body cam to document these adventures to protect me from false accusations.

BTW, no joke, I wear a cheap $30 watch I got at Walmart, and drive a beater Honda with dings and dents all over, high mileage. I'm an old shoe old hat kind of guy. Don't own much furniture and possessions despite living in a huge house (bought as investment for appreciation). Just lot's of stocks, bonds and real estate. ;-)

 

[jbett98]

When I said sell the residential and buy into commercial, I meant something like a warehouse or a professional building with long term triple net leases.

 

[Bushman]

When I said sell the residential and buy into commercial, I meant something like a warehouse or a professional building with long term triple net leases.

I HAVE considered storage units. Need to learn more about them though. Part of the problem is the profits are really low for the amount of land and structures. Land is really expensive. As are structures. Storage units provide small rents for the SF. Low maintenance though. There are the dreaded auctions for abandoned units. Hey maybe I'll get lucky and get a unit filled with automatic weapons and grenades like you read about in the news all the time.

 

[Bushman]

I will say, I realize now why a lot of landlord blogger I've followed have sold/are selling. They are tired of these issues. I am getting there. When I imagine my ideal life, it's not managing rental properties, dealing with inbred morons.

 

[NWGlockgal]

I own two rentals and have never had a problem. They are in a desirable part of town, the rent is not cheap, and I request a healthy deposit. BG and credit check too. Never have trouble renting them, I actually have people asking when they will be available.

However, even if I did have some trouble getting a renter, this is important:

Suffice it to say, most tenants do not meet my current criteria. I'd rather let a house sit empty and pay the mortgage out of my paycheck than rent to morons anymore.

I would rather have my rentals sit empty for a month or two than rent to people who are
less than stellar.

 

[Larrytpdx]

There never seems to be a shortage of low-lifes.