The previous owner didn't really care much about the building, the occupants, or the neighborhood. The extent of his tenant screening method was to have a prospective tenant breathe on a mirror. If it fogged, they were obviously alive and could move in, and in some cases without a deposit. But I knew all that.
Initially I had this naïve idea that I could just remodel each unit as they vacated, filling the complex with good tenants one by one — Darrell's definition of a "good" tenant is one that has a job, or other legal means of support.
Alas, this patient approach had some immediate drawbacks.
My brand-new $667 paint sprayer was stolen. A small fire was set in the laundry room after it was used as an unauthorized campsite, and the dryer was turned upside down repeatedly to fetch the $4 in quarters inside.
Two of the tenants simply stopped paying rent, which made it a bit easier, legally speaking, to arrange for their moves. A search of the court records revealed that these guys had a long history of taking advantage of landlords, as they knew the system and how to take advantage of it.
It took a friendly visit from the local sheriff to carry out the eviction of one. The tenant honestly didn't think we would go through with it. Piling his belongings in the alley, in the rain, was somewhat therapeutic, I shamefully admit. That was the low point, and things are improving. Well, sort of.
My girlfriend's daughter found a crisp $100 bill while we were ripping out the old carpet. There it was, sitting under the pad in the middle of the room. She also scored a buffalo nickel, just to rub it in.
In 20-some years of doing this type of work, the best thing I have found in a wall, crawlspace, attic, or under carpet has been a faded antique newspaper. And this 12-year-old rookie scored a C-note!
So, maybe that's a good omen.
I'll try to keep it in mind over the next few months as the broken cabinets are repaired, the holes in the drywall patched, thousands of cigarette butts are picked up, the carpet replaced, new countertops put down, old toilets are junked, the roof is patched, the parking lot sealed, and everything inside and out painted with my much-less-attractive $58 paint sprayer.
At the very least, it may keep my mind off the recent past, when my investment strategy meant simply surviving the spiraling stock prices as I joined countless others in watching my dot-com investments evaporate.
A note: Several readers have let me know that they too have experienced noises similar to the ones reported by the person who wrote in last week wondering about a random and mysterious "whooshing" sound in her home's chimney and furnace area.
In each case, woodpeckers beating up the wood-sided chimney (or metal chimney cap) were the cause for the mystery noises.
How a rat-a-tat-tat on the siding, or a bang-bang-bang on the chimney cap evolves into a whooshing noise in a chimney flue completely escapes me, but there you have it.
Darrell Hay answers readers' questions. Call 206-464-8514 to record your question |
