mid-september, one o' our renters calls and tells us she is quitting her lease with 8 month remaining. we scramble to mitigate our losses and we get lucky. well, sorta lucky. talk to one o' our real estate friends and the real estate friend has a client whose mother needs a place by mid-october, but the mother is old and has a fixed income and will need daughter to cosign.
*shrug*
we have been significant undercharging the current renter, so continuing to leave a couple hundred bucks on the table each month for the next few years is disappointing but not a real issue for us. however, new renter is old enough such that she may only have a few years in her before she either needs go to an assisted care facility or... well, or. old persons fall. is the nature o' old persons. the rental property in question is a one-story but there is stairs on the back deck and stairs from the garage and stairs to get in front door, not that anybody in our community ever uses front doors save for picking up deliveries. regardless, we may need add handrails in bathroom and garage and at front door just to cover our asre.
is a 3 bedroom and 2 bath 1900 sqft home, and in our area that makes it a family home. such homes is ordinarily rented in late spring and summer so families may get little billy or cindy registered with the new school district before classes begins in august or september. october-february is a serious freaking dead period for family home rentals in the area in question, which is why we have such leases end no later than end o' may. manage to get a new tenant in october with almost no vacancy? will take it even if is not optimal.
anywho, the exiting (deadbeat) tenant is complaining 'bout how much access we is demanding this last week.
...
seeing as how we now have only 'til the 11th o' this month to get the place ready for the new tenant, (mid-october became an october 12 hard cap) am not thinking a bit o' access is unreasonable, particular as new tenant moving in gets current tenant off the hook for rent she owes 'tween now and may 31, 2020. deadbeat is also angry 'cause we reminded her that she agreed to have carpets be professionally cleaned 'pon end o' lease. we always demand professional clean carpets be covered by tenant if they have pets. curious, what pushed tenant over the edge is when we offered her paint to cover up the dozens o' glaring white spackle patches she left on walls to fix minor dings and scuffs and nail holes. told her she were responsible for such painting.
deadbeat tenant is abandoning a lease which we generous were allowing her to remain in (signed a 1-year extension this last may) in-spite o' her paying at least $400 below market rate per month. she had a sob story and lives on a fixed income and Gromnir is a softy. nevertheless, talking to her, you would think we is a kushner-level slumlord.
aside: am wishing tenants in general wouldn't "help" by spackling every freaking nail hole. a reasonable number o' nail holes is ordinary wear and tear, but literal dozens o' spackle patches ranging from golfball size to basketball, is a whole 'nother issue. typical we remind tenants to leave nail holes untouched and focus efforts elsewhere, unless we is planning to repaint anyway. nevertheless, while the deadbeat is abandoning her lease and hasn't even pro-rate paid for october, she did go ahead and spackle every freaking nail hole and looks as if she were using a snow shovel instead o' a putty knife to get the job done.
next year am selling our remaining properties.
first world problems? maybe. nevertheless,
HA! Good Fun!