TENANT BLUES

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Hi all,

What a great forum :D and the perfect place for me to vent today! As it happens, I am very concerned about my tenants - many Sec 8 voucher holders reside at my building and several of them are model tenants. The rest, however, enjoy kicking the hornets nest for all it's worth and riling each other up over problems which are beyond my control. For those of you in California, I'm sure I don't need to remind you about the awful heat wave we had just recently. Our county fairgrounds opened up air conditioned rooms for the public to use because of the heat and the State was on the edge of declaring a state of emergency. Well, some of my tenants decided that the air conditioners weren't sufficient - never mind that thousands of us were suffering in the relentless heat and humidity and others were actually dying. Somehow, the heat became my problem. We also have a building across the way filled with the worst kind of tenant offenders - parolees, ex-cons, drug users, layabouts and bums, you name it. These people harrass my women tenants with name calling and sexual innuendo - I have written to the owner many times about the BS with his tenants but not much seems to change. In a nutshell, I am frustrated by what I see as a complete lack of willingness on the part of all of these tenants to help themselves! They expect a government handout while they drive cars that look better than mine, get expensive hair and nail treatments, and generally sit around all day. Some of them look like they could get gainful employment if only they weren't so darn lazy. I don't get it. Where the attraction is in sitting around all day, bored stiff, gossiping and backbiting each other I DON'T know .... but that is what they like to do. Meanwhile they call me for every little stupid thing that isn't up to their exacting standards! I have several Sec 8 tenants who are so grateful for their homes it makes me realize that not all Sec 8 recipients are alike - thank goodness. Ok, so the faucet has a drip and apartment 4 has ants coming in - maybe if the tenant in apt 4 had the common sense to clean her kitchen there wouldn't BE ants .. but somehow that is my fault too. I took the building over a year ago after it had endured many years of deferred maintenance - you can imagine. Sure, there are still things that need to be done to make exterior things look better but what is the point when the neighboring building is such a problem I don't even want to go over to my property anymore? I sunk almost a quarter mil into this place and with the real estate market the way it is, I most likely will not be able to sell. Are tenants really this bad?? Do they get together and wind each other up as much as they do here in my building? I hate it when they smile at my face but then, as soon as I turn around, in goes the knife to my back - I am becoming a hard *** and I guess that is what you have to do to be able to stand some of the stuff that goes on. From where I sit, the government is allowing an entire culture to sit around on its collective *** all the while collecting Uncle Sam dole outs and expecting more - shades of New Orleans. It's sad. I don't care if a person is black, white or indifferent - it just makes my job seem pointless when I see the hopelessness with which some of these people surround themselves - out of choice I might add. Just last week I had to serve eviction papers on a woman tenant who was prostituting to homeless men in her apartment - and all the while the police dept were setting up their sting in the background. I tipped her off and told her she'd be on her way to jail if she didn't stop. The woman in question has 5 grown children, all raised by another family member - inexplicably, she chose cigarettes, alcohol and homeless bums over her own flesh and blood. I am sick of seeing this same situation play itself over and over. I am also sick of being played - tenants who suddenly burst into tears on rent day because they dont have the rent yet, behind the bedroom door, there are several newly purchased garments from the mall. It can be depressing indeed being a landlord when you find yourself observing human wreckage day after day. It has been a tough week. God help us if there's an earthquake. :violin: