Wow! It's been almost a month since I had anything to report, and now...tada..I have NOTHING to report. Geez!

The rehabbed former drug/squatter/hoarded house sits empty. Lots of people dropping by to look at it. Lots of different realtors having Open Houses. The rehab company (older guy) stops by to make sure the doors are locked and the porch light gets replaced (burns out frequently).

The house sits looking pretty, but it's so far out on the price and the 'design' for our old neighborhood, that I haven't seen anyone come back a second time to look at it.

The price has gone down from $469,900 to $455,000 for the 'rehab guys' and down to $449,900 for the other, unrelated realtors. ALL the building/rehab crew who bought the house are relatives so they pool money, pay cash and then wait for the big payout at the end to divide it.

It's been pretty boring just watching and waiting. No police action, no graffiti, no break-ins. Geez it's BORING!

I'd love to announce a new era over there with some strange occupants, but so far nothing. Maybe they will rent it out for awhile to get some cash. Everyone I know around here had taken the 'tour' and has the same opinion. TOO expensive, taxes would be about $6,000 a year alone. Gotta make big bucks to pay the mortgage and taxes. I can't think why anyone who would make that kind of money would want to live in an old neighborhood, which isn't awesome, no cute houses, nothing historical, main, busy street.

So we sit, we wait, we watch.

In the meantime, I've got TENANT troubles. Ugh! Eldest son from another country finally got his Visa, immigration papers, all that good stuff after TWENTY SEVEN years of trying. He's been here for with his wife for 68 days now. FREE. Living with the parents and his younger brother (who have always been my tenants). After 2 months of FREE living, I finally had to tell them I needed some money from the 'newbies' to live there. Wrote up a weekly agreement to avoid any problems of locking anyone into anything and made sure that they knew this new weekly deal only applied to the visitors. It would not affect the original rental agreement with my long term tenants.

So all was sort of OK. Family 'attacked' when I presented the offer and we worked it out, or so I thought. Then it looked like the son/wife might be moving out yesterday (the LAST day I allowed without paying) BUT this morning, rent day, occupant son paid his money, and the newbie started a long dialogue about how he couldn't, wouldn't, didn't think it was fair, etc. He did pay me the hundred bucks I asked for but refused to sign the agreement. No problem, we just wrote a receipt which will prove that he's paying rent.

THEN he came back to argue the point again. Very hard to deal with someone who really wants to NOT pay for staying. I went through the entire routine about MY bills, MY electricity, MY water, and all that good stuff, and he really is just at the edge of 'I don't know what I will do, I will have to leave, I can't ask my parents to pay this, I am trying to find a job, you should be more caring of my position, etc."

I am drained. I will not however, back down off the extra 100 bucks a week to cover my expenses and referred him to Social Services, Unemployment offices, and all that good stuff. He is now going immediately to CHECK the laws about IF I can charge him to stay there. Geez! I expected that since his old job was working for a JUDGE and he obviously knows the laws. I told him exactly where to find the information. Hope he reads it carefully. I am free and clear with 'legalities'. I get the feeling he thinks I'm trying to gouge them. Oh well. Time will tell.

At least it's something to keep me busy for awhile. Worst case scenario, he keeps refusing, he stays, he doesn't pay and I will have to evict all of them (or threaten to). Best case is he understands, I have no more problem and he either pays or moves to another relative's house near by. There are several around here that could take him and the wife. He feels he's taking advantage of his parents (who have little money) and he's panicking about not causing them trouble. He said he will move out (sometime) but for now still wants me to take half of the amount I'm asking. I won't budge. I can't really. My rents are SO LOW, not even up to what they should be and every year, I have to explain to IRS that these are relatives/friends so I charge way under the normal rent. Otherwise IRS thinks I'm trying to scam them to avoid taxes on my income. What a mess, not unexpected, but hey, we needed some drama around here.

YOu can have my new neighbors. They've only been here a week and I've already burnt any bridges of getting along. I think they moved in 4 families, one for each bedroom.

Sorta, that's too bad. Sorry he is being difficult.

Ana, I'm sorry to hear that. Did they buy or rent?

Wow Ana! You must be having a lot more fun than I am. Living next to anyone is good or bad. Most of my neighbors are pretty nice or at least they stay out of my 'zone'. Got rid of the squatters, the 'thief' has been arrested, the 'apartments' have been almost totally cleared of most of the 30 people who lived there and we only can count the original 'family of owners' and about 5 'regulars' still there. Very calm for now.

The crazy guy across the street who is still shunning me, is very erratic and we all just sit and watch him do his strange things. He's really got some problems which we can't quite pin down. One is alcohol, and another is anger management. Other than that, he's pretty quiet and the rest of the family is great.

Now this TENANT stuff is just a bump in the road. It will resolve somehow. He will probably (or already has) go to the library and look up California Landlord/Tenant Laws as he threatened to do and which I told him the exact place to get the information. I have no worries about what I do legally as a Landlord. He's definitely going to be a minor thorn in my side until he figures out that I'm not a stupid person. He's tried his best so far to intimidate, bargain, make me feel sorry for him and everyone else. I sympathize, but they must have some money for 'living' since they moved across the world, and I can't imagine doing that with nothing. More important, the Immigration Authority surely would make sure that the couple would not be coming without someone to support them and give them a place to live. I know they are using my rental as their permanent address in the States. Not strictly legal, but I was trying to be understanding since the parents are my 'friends' for all these years.

If the arguing continues, I will just have to put my foot down 'somewhere' and remind them all that I can end this with a legal notice to move. They won't do that I'm sure. The son thinks he can find a place to rent around here for $400. or less a month. He already tried the 'the house here is old and needs repair.' Ummmm. Like I haven't fixed everything the very same day they told me? It's surely old, but in good shape. I checked his old country rents and they are the SAME as recommended rentals around here. Wow. I'm amazed they are the same. Nice to know.

Hoping it all works out quietly. I have better things to do with my free time.

Hey Ana, got any good 'terrible neighbor stories'? You might try Mrlandlord.com for some really good ones. It's a website that you can get advice about bad people and just plain funny stuff that happens when you are a renter/landlord. Fun to read and I get great ideas and advice there.

L4L, they bought it. It was rented for two years prior to the crazy folks that had the cops here at least twice a week. We were so glad they were gone and now I am living in hell again. There appears to be about 7 kids under 9 yo and 2-4 sets of adults.

Sorta,

Will Ana be taking over? Ana's Neighborhood

Hey, someone's gotta do it. I'm almost out of fun stuff to report.

Oh, Ana, I'm so sorry to hear that. Neighbors can make all the difference, can't they?

The house right next to us is for rent. I hope it takes awhile as I'm enjoying the quiet.

Update on the Drug house that got rehabbed. So I keep checking the realty sites and finally one put up this message: "We are no longer showing this house, the owners have accepted an offer and are in process of a sale." At an asking price of $469,900. I don't think it will fly, but some realtors were listing it for as low as $449,900. Maybe someone with a VA loan bought it. VA has NO down, and the figures listed say it's 5k closing costs period and you are in. Yup. Could be a military family. So easy to get into a house, but then a 30 year mortgage at $2500. a month will be a biggie.

I guess that means that unless it falls out of escrow, it's a done deal.

Yesterday, there was an Inspection Company over there for 3 hours. He was under, over, in the house and on the roof twice. There was a couple with a small boy there for awhile. I'm not sure if they are the prospective buyers or just more of the 'selling renovators'. Too many faces to remember.

So nobody today, nothing going on, boring. I keep waiting for the 'sellers' to remove all the 'staging' furniture stuff and then I will know it's sold.

I'm still thinking it will be a family with 4 kids and 2 large dogs. Or an extended family of aunts, cousins, friends, etc.

I've been wondering if anyone was going to pony up for the house! I just hope they are good neighbors...

I hope they are good neighbors, Sorta!

Woot, hope they are a fantastic family and great neighbors!

Sorta

Nothing, nothing, nothing is happening. No showings, no one walking around like they are waiting for escrow to close, just people dropping by to pick up the flyers. Don't know what is going on with the 'sale'. All realtor sites say, no longer on the market, etc. Wish something would happen. At the least, they could come and remove the 'staging' or something. Maybe they are selling it to ANOTHER rehab company just to get rid of it? So BORING!

But BORING IS GOOD!

I like boring. The house still sits empty BUT there has been some action over there for the past few days. The original 'workers' are back. They first liberated all the Zapota Fruit off the tree in the yard, then started to work on finally finished the inside of the garage.

It had been left with bare studs, a half-broken wall between the front parking area and the back 'office' room. Terrible horrible mess. It was a workshop with benches and cupboards and all, but they tore all that out when the started the re-do. So now they have completely drywalled the inside, put up some very nice cupboards, finished the dividing wall and installed a door inside. Looks really nice.

Can't tell whether they are doing this for the 'new' owner to finalize the sale, OR if that fell through and they are doing more little things to entice someone else to pay the big bucks. Time will tell. So quiet there, no squatters even wandering nearby. I'm really happy now for months.

When someone finally moves in, it will be another story. Can't wait to see what new adventures await.

This all sounds pretty positive to me Sorta.

Tuesday morning, 8am, they are TENTING the house! Wheeeeeee!

Termites?

Yeah or no. In Calif. most 'lenders' insist on tenting a place as part of the sale no matter if they find termites or not. Stupid rule but I guess it's better to start off 'fresh'.

It's a good sign that in 3 days we will have some NEW owners. One of my 'detectives' says she saw a family over there twice. I never saw anyone twice, but I remember that group. Mom, Dad, 2 grade school sons and a bigger son who could be teens or young adult with a girl in tow (girlfriend or wife). Could be the whole crew moving in or who knows.

All I care is that they don't have barking dogs. Dogs are great, barking ones (without cause) are bothersome. Around my neighborhood, there are a lot of dogs, but they never bark unless another dog is being walked by their house. Nice.

Expect an update in 3 days or less. Less if someone stupid sees a tented house and breaks in thinking they can steal a bunch of stuff. There is NOTHING in there except a stove and dishwasher and microwave (all built-ins). Can't wait to see if anyone figures it out. Loads of 'tenting burglaries' in recent months.

It only took 3 guys 2 1/2 hours start to finish to do the 1300 square foot house and a garage. All done, they are gone. I took pictures. It looks like a huge 'bouncy house'. Wonder if they put kids in there?

Oooo... exciting!

Could this be the beginning of the end?

Tenting all done in 2 days from start to finish. Nothing happened until today when I saw the 'old guy' who is the patriarch of the family that does all these rehab houses. One big family so he explained to me last time I 'accosted' him over there.

Today, I couldn't help myself and watched him go in, drive away and come back with a grocery bag. When he got ready to leave again, I went outside, he waved and I walked over. He loves to talk. Found out lots of stuff about the rehab and inspectors, and all that. AND he said it IS sold is in escrow and definitely sold sold sold AND he will find out the NAME of the buyer for me and tell me next time he's over here. He checks that house and the others they have, once or twice a week. Wow. Hope he follows through and sounded very honest about it. Nice guy, I'm fluttering my eyelashes a lot to get info. Fun. So soon, maybe we will have more info and a FAMILY moving in. Definitely NOT another company buy-out deal. Good.

AND I asked him about the 'dangerous' step down just inside the front gate that a lot of people trip down and up. He said he also trips on it. He can't figure out why the workers didn't slope that. I explained how easy it was. Maybe they will fix it, but he aid the BUYERS didn't ask for that to be fixed, nor did the inspectors mention it. The inspectors did mention other miniscule things, like 3 screws in the water heater cabinet that were missing, etc. Silly stuff.

Time will tell. Hope he comes back in a few days with info on the new owners and how much they paid. Yup.

Good work, Sorta!