No One is Going to Miss You

As some of you know, the house next door to mine is a rental. It’s a nice house. It has three bedrooms, two baths, a family room in the finished basement, a double garage, washer/dryer, central air conditioning, and a beautiful large deck. It rents for $1,500 a month plus the tenant has to pay for all utilities including water and garbage.

The landlord is my mortgage broker. He bought the house shortly after we bought ours. He gutted out the inside and redid the kitchen and bathrooms. Ray helped him with some of the work (and got paid for it). It’s a nice little house.

The landlord owns about 20 other rental properties, so he’s no stranger to renting and all the crap that goes along with it.

Over the past six years that I’ve lived here, this little house has had a whole range of annoying tenants. It’s interesting how what shows up in a credit report doesn’t reflect how people are in real life.

Mary was the first tenant. She lived there a little over two years. She was in her 40s, a nurse, a single parent with two daughters in college. She was OK, but a little odd. She was transitioning from being a full time parent to being more on the sidelines and that was difficult for her. She did meet a nice guy, and enjoyed having sex with him in front of the open living room windows. Ugh.

She moved out when she bought a house. When it came time to move, her new boyfriend did almost all the packing and moving for her. Joe and I often wonder if they’re still together . . .

The second group of tenants was young people in their early 20s. The lease was for four people, but eight people ended up living there along with a newborn baby and pit bull that was beaten. In fact, the neighbors behind them called the Humane Society about it.

Cars were parked everywhere. They didn’t shovel snow or cut the grass. Because most of them worked in the restaurant industry, they came and went 24/7.

Mark (the landlord) didn’t renew their lease after one year and they moved out.

The third group of tenants was what I called “the alcoholics.” They were two brothers and a girlfriend of one of the brother’s. They were in their mid-40s. They started drinking from the time they woke up until they went to bed. They started early so they were done early. They had their drinking buddies over to drink and watch hockey. But they took good care of the yard and the snow and for the most part, were pretty quiet.

Last year, they had a fight with each other. The brother didn’t like the girlfriend’s family hanging around and she didn’t like his hockey buddies. They ended up throwing stuff at each other and a few windows were broken.

The girlfriend moved out. And the money moved out with her. Her boyfriend was unemployed and his brother barely made enough to cover his beer and expenses. Mark asked them to move when they couldn’t pay October 2011 rent. They lived there two years.

Now we’re at this last group of tenants. They’re a family, four boys and a mom and dad. The boys range in age from 15 to 9. I’m using the word “ghetto” to describe them not as a race, but as an income level. They’re Puerto Rican, but their behavior is more like trailer trash. They leave garbage lying around. They don’t mow the grass. Their house looks like a bomb went off in it.

I had to call the police on them back in February because of boundary issues. The kids were tramping in my yard and the parents were using my driveway to get in and out of theirs (our driveways run together. Mine is cement, theirs is asphalt. They just got lazy and didn’t want to move their vehicles when both vehicles were parked in the driveway).

I haven’t had any trouble with them since, but they’re loud and obnoxious and to be honest, just icky to look at and listen to.

Last Friday night, Joe and I noticed a process server knock on their door. We knew it was a process server because he was carrying a clipboard and was wearing an identification badge. It looked like one of the kids answered the door and probably told him that their parents weren’t home.

Then last Wednesday evening, I was in the front yard when the process server showed up again, but they weren’t home. He asked me if they still lived there and I said yes. He said he was serving a final eviction notice and the next time he came out, it would be taped to their door.

Sure enough, the next night, there it was, taped on their front door. In Minnesota, an eviction notice has to be served at least seven days before the court hearing. The landlord and tenants meet in court. If the tenant can’t pay the back rent, then the landlord can get some legal document that will evict them in 24 hours. If there is problem that can be resolved, the court will allow the compromise.

I know Mark will work with his tenants. He’d rather be paid rent late than go through court. It’s expensive to file ($322) and then you’re still not guaranteed rent will be paid. I think most landlords will rather cut their loses, get the non-paying tenants out with minimal damage to the property and rent it again.

So I figure they must owe more than one month’s rent. Can you imagine owing $3,000 for rent, two months rent? That’s a lot of money.

But ever since they got the notice, it’s been life as usual next door. Both of them work, I have no idea what they make, but I would assume it’s between $10-15 an hour just from the clothing they wear for their jobs. We figure in order to afford the house, they would need to put $2,000 a month towards house expenses, the rent, cable/satellite, heat and electricity, garbage, and water. Plus, they have cell phones, car insurance, groceries, clothing, and lots of other expenses. I can’t imagine how much they spend each month with four kids.

Joe and I believe that they do a little drug dealing. I don’t track it, because I just don’t have the time, but there have been instances of quick 30 second exchanges either down the street or through their kids. I don’t have time for that stuff.

From their almost relaxed behavior (because I’d be in panic state if I was going to be evicted), we think either they came up with the past due rent or they used their rent money for a deposit, first month’s rent on another place. And if that’s the case, if the court rules in the landlord’s favor, then they have an unlawful detainer on their record, which makes it extremely difficult for them to rent again. Plus, it screws up your credit score. But maybe their credit is in shambles anyway and they don’t care.

But they’re not packing or anything, so I’m hoping against hope that they are going to move some way or another. It’s awful having a neighbor that is intolerable. I’ve had my share, because I’ve lived in some really bad neighborhoods, and there are some really screwed up people out there, but I guess I look at it that I pay enough for my mortgage and my property taxes, and I shouldn’t have to live close to people like them.

It’s kind of like watching our own reality show right next door. I honestly can’t believe some of the stuff that I see them do.

The other thing that I think about is being a landlord. I couldn’t imagine having to get rent out of people, deal with trashed property, and then after the tenants leave, you have to store their leftover stuff for at least 28 days.

The alcoholic group left a bunch of stuff there last year and Mark spent a beautiful fall afternoon putting it all into a trailer and hauling it off to storage. Maybe that doesn’t bother him – I don’t know.

But one thing I do know, I won’t be sad to see them go. And I sure hope they do.