QOTW: What is the funniest thing to happen to you in RE Investing

[Alicia Marks]

With the stress of the holidays looming, I thought it could be fun to share the lighter side of real estate. What are some of the funniest experiences you've had as an investor? How did you handle it? What would you do differently? Did it change how you did business going forward? 

[Sean Lambert]

@Alicia Marks

Went to check on a rental and heard a rooster crowing from the basement. I told the tenants they couldn’t have a rooster. That was the last time I heard the rooster. It might have been dinner one night.

[Lara White]

Last week... there was a nude photo in a house right out in the open on the living room shelf for all to see ... as we toured around,  total silence, no one mentioned it, no one commented on it. We all just ignored the elephant in the room. I was mortified. 

I let the listing agent know in the showing feedback as tactfully as I could: "I know everyone's tastes are different, but I would remove the nude picture during showings bc the buyers eyes are drawn away from the beautiful house and to the conversation piece".... I found out later the listing agent IS THE SELLER!!!   

[Terrell Garren]

You might be a redneck investor if - 

The strong smell of cate urine in a property for sale makes you smile

A property for sale sign cause you to slam on the brakes 

A tenant threatens to call a lawyer and it bothers you about as much as them calling their chiropractor 

You can estimate $30K in repairs after a 15 minute walk around 

You know the comps of every neighborhood within 25 miles of where you live

You have a contact phone number for every profession needed to buy, remodel or build a house

You would rather walk a building site than a golf course

You can lay flooring, hang a ceiling fan, and set a toilet without Google or YouTube

Half of the employees at Lowes and Home Depot recognize you as a regular 

Your HVAC guy invites you to the company Thanksgiving lunch 

[Jennifer Jo McCallon]

As an agent: A raccoon came out from under a bench in a foreclosure and walked through the room and out the door to the other room in a huff like he owned the place & we were interrupting

As a homeowner: I bought a house decorated with wicker, clown paintings and mirrors (tripled in value since 2012)

As an investor: I had a tenant who wasn't paying her rent. I had to swing by to fix something- this was in like 2008... we were on the verge of evicting and she had a flat screen TV. In 2008. I still had a CRT. Anyway, I said something like "How can you afford a flat screen TV when you can't afford rent?" she said "Girl, you know when you get a little money from your tax return, you gotta get yourself a lil somethin' somethin'.  Know what I'm saying?" I replied "Girl you gotta pay your rent or I'm going to evict your sorry ***." I was young, naive, new to real estate, and I think I almost puked with nerves when I walked out, totally out of my comfort zone. 

[Lynnette E.]

I was redoing a moldy mess of a bathroom in a 100 year old Victorian house.  This bathroom is located in what was the original back porch of the house.  It is now exactly in the middle of the house.  No ventilation, no fan, nothing but a great mold growing medium.

The building inspector had issued a permit for the remodel and plumbing and other things like a roof replacement.  As we removed the 'walls' to the studs the original wall to the house was uneven.  We took out some of the floor then when looking at it carefully we found that the 12 inch by 12 inch foundation beam that the entire 2 story wall was built on was missing one end.  There was some termite damage then...nothing...all the way down to the dirt.   As we touched the termite damaged part, there was no active termites, but the wood turned to powder.  Carefully we touched the wood near the other end of the room and it was solid.  So hoping the two story wall did not collapse on us we continued the magic touch and found out that the one end of the foundation was gone, but the middle and other end was fine.  

Going outside we could see that that part of the second story was crooked, leaning looking.  By chance the roofer was there, with the supervisor discussing the roof.  They had noticed that there was a slip of one end of the wall by 6 inches at the top of the house.  So we showed them the issue inside and the roof was put on hold.

We called the building inspector who had assumed it was something with the plumbing.  Surprised him when he saw the wall.  The look on his face was priceless as he tried to back away from the wall in the tiny bathroom with a few people in it!  That was the funny part of this story!

He did say he really had no idea what to do.  We proposed using jacks and lifting that part of the wall that was missing its foundation piece.  Sitting another piece of wood in place, putting in the support structure for the beam, but also leaving the jacks in place.  He was happy with that.  VERY happy when he saw it done.  The roofers had to do a little lift of the upper wall for the top to be level as it had settled weird and was not straight even when the bottom was straightened.

So the end was all good.  Its just money after all.  I like this house a lot!

[Jerry W.]

OK I had a call from a tenant who was a little behind on rent and she said the water heater wasn't working.  She had some job interviews and wanted to look nice, but trying to shower etc. in cold water was tough.  I came over lit the water heater, it ran for about a minute then quit.  Did this 3 times.  I figured it was the thermocoupler, but it was an older model.  I have no workers handy, but I go buy a new gas water heater, drain the old one as much as I can.  Haul the new in by myself, get it all hooked up. I am over an hour into the process by now.   Start the water heater, it runs about a minute and goes out.  I get a bad feeling in my gut and walk out to the gas meter.  Yep, there is a padlock on it.  The gas was turned off but apparently had a leaky valve.  It would run gas for about a minute then the pressure would get low and it would shut off.  Wait 5 minutes and you could run it again for awhile.  My pride on digging in and changing out a water heater fast with just the tools in my glove box in about an hour quickly turned into embarrassment.

[Gail K.]

Probably not the funniest but my youngest son was showing a 3/1 house to a couple while I was at work.  At one point he mentioned the attic had a pull down door and the attic was partially floored so items such as Christmas decorations could be stored up there.  The woman turned to him and asked if grandma could stay up in the attic (he assumed she meant grandma was dead...yet).  He stopped for a few seconds and then suggested since this was Georgia it might be a little hot for grandma up there during the summer months.

[Craig Janet]

I had a lady text me asking if I had been in the property over the weekend. I told her that I haven't. She was out of town and came home to a giant pile of dog poop right in the middle of the living room. She lives alone with no pets and we have no idea how it got there. 

[Jim K.]

Originally posted by @Terrell Garren:

You might be a redneck investor if - 

The strong smell of cate urine in a property for sale makes you smile

A property for sale sign cause you to slam on the brakes 

A tenant threatens to call a lawyer and it bothers you about as much as them calling their chiropractor 

You can estimate $30K in repairs after a 15 minute walk around 

You know the comps of every neighborhood within 25 miles of where you live

You have a contact phone number for every profession needed to buy, remodel or build a house

You would rather walk a building site than a golf course

You can lay flooring, hang a ceiling fan, and set a toilet without Google or YouTube

Half of the employees at Lowes and Home Depot recognize you as a regular 

Your HVAC guy invites you to the company Thanksgiving lunch 

This is my life in a nutshell.

[Jennifer T.]

@Jerry W., I have a similar story. I had a tenant, also short on rent, who called that she didn't have any hot water.  My husband and I were about to run some errands, so we decided to swing by her property first.  On the way there, she calls me back that the heater won't come on either.  Mmm...hmm.  Those are the only two things in the house that run on gas.  Where we live, gas and electricity are on the same bill.  I ask if her electricity is on and she says it is.  I wouldn't have thought that utility would keep the electricity on, but not the gas, so we continue on to the property.  Apparently I was wrong.  We get to the property and immediately see the problem.  Her gas meter is gone.  We tell her she needs to pay her bill and then call them to have the meter brought back.  She calls us about 10 minutes later asking who the gas company is and who does she need to call.  Wow.  Has she really never looked closely enough at her electricity bill to see the whole section for gas?  At any rate, we told her to call Entergy (electricity company), because they also handle gas.

[Jennifer T.]

A few years ago, I went to view a house for a fix and flip.  Good bones and a nice neighborhood, but the house was very dated.  A mix of 70s and 80s styles.  The master bedroom was very large.  Against the wall across from the bed, there was a hot tub on a platform.  High enough there were 2-3 steps.  The entire area around the hot tub, including the steps, had the same mauve carpeting as the rest of the room.  It was a sight to behold!

We passed on the house.  Not because of the bedroom hot tub, though that didn't help.

[Matt M.]

Not a funny story with one of my rentals, but still funny (from a contractor)

I was doing some painting for the athletic director from my High school one summer. He lived with his girlfriend who was head of guidance I believe. One morning I was there painting, and she came downstairs naked looking for “Bob” to go skinny dipping in their pool. Needless to say, she forgot I was coming and was quite embarrassed.

@Eric Hajdu you should know who “Bob” is.

[Bruce Woodruff]

Originally posted by @Terrell Garren:

You might be a redneck investor if - 

The strong smell of cate urine in a property for sale makes you smile

A property for sale sign cause you to slam on the brakes 

A tenant threatens to call a lawyer and it bothers you about as much as them calling their chiropractor 

You can estimate $30K in repairs after a 15 minute walk around 

You know the comps of every neighborhood within 25 miles of where you live

You have a contact phone number for every profession needed to buy, remodel or build a house

You would rather walk a building site than a golf course

You can lay flooring, hang a ceiling fan, and set a toilet without Google or YouTube

Half of the employees at Lowes and Home Depot recognize you as a regular 

Your HVAC guy invites you to the company Thanksgiving lunch 

Bro, you nailed it.....have you been following me around....? :-)

[John Brodeur]

Being asked if the minimum credit score of 620 for a rental is a combined score between all parties on the lease..... lol needless to say they did not make it through the screening process.

[Marcus Johnson]

@Alicia Marks

Being called to investigate a noise in the attic. So this is a 1915 duplex in south Minneapolis and it’s December and the tenant is on vacation. I go up into the attic with my hood on some safety goggles and some gloves and I don’t find anything. So I set a couple mouse traps, a squirrel cage and some mouse poison.

A week later I go back up there and I still don’t see anything, but I lift up this piece of insulation and there is a bat looking straight at me with hisfangs and he’s dehydrated because he must’ve eaten some of those mouse pellets.. I almost sh** my pants.

[Account Closed]

One of my tenants was moving out, so I started showing the unit. She moved everything out of the unit except for a single poster sitting in the main room when you walk in that says "F**K" in fancy lettering.

Same tenant...when they were moving in they asked "what's that" and pointed to an attic storage space with a little door on it. I told them it's just extra storage and not to use it since it was about 10 feet off the ground and I didn't want a liability. Well, three weeks after they move out, I have my contractor do some work on the bathroom and he needs access to the attic. He opens the door and immediately screams, because they left a "chuckie" look-a-like doll right in the attic entrance. Glad he didn't fall off the ladder...

Oh, also had a handyman run into a dumpster because he was scared of a dog.

[Ron H.]

Roofer sent out a young guy to repair leak in just installed roof on 3 level townhouse.  Wife thinks she hears a thud and goes outside.  Roofer still on roof so all ok.  Several hours later, getting dark and realizes roofer's truck still out front and goes outside to check.  Guy still sitting on roof.  Wife walks to the back and sees ladder on the ground.  Guy didn't have cell phone on him and was too embarrassed to ask for help.  Wonder if he was planning to spent the night up there?

[Tim Ryan]

@Alicia Marks Funny for me although a bit morbid. I was negotiating a the purchase of a 102 unit apartment several years ago. Before too long, the seller got mad at my business partner and I. He wanted all of our financials before signing a contract. We wanted the contract first and we did show proof of funds. Apparently not enough for him. He was an older gentleman and was very grouchy. He made the statement that we can “never, ever buy his property”.

Ok so we moved on. Three months later, he passed away (the morbid part). Our broker said we should talk to his daughter who is now the owner. Certainly she wouldn’t hate us.

Two days later, we got a call from the sellers Estate Attorney who read to us the statement “Tim and Rod are never, ever to purchase this property in my life or in my death as long as it remains on the family”.

So, he jabbed us again even from the afterlife!!

[Julie Toh]

@Mindy Jensen You had me at 'carpeted baseboards' and @Alicia Marks, carpeted bathroom. These stories are side-splittingly funny. More please.

[Alicia Marks]

My newest purchase is a duplex I'm rehabbing included tenants that wanted to stay. I was checking on the project when I saw the tenant there. I was surprised to find them and asked why they had stopped by. Apparently they were feeding two rats that had escaped from a neighbor two doors down who bought them to feed their snakes. The rats made it across a yard full of cats and took up shelter under a stoop where they keep the garbage cans. They were feeding them daily. Needless to say, the new lease came with a rat clause that they could move them into an aquarium as proper pets or they had to go. Fed or not, they will chew my house apart.

[Alicia Marks]

Originally posted by @Tim Ryan:

@Alicia Marks Funny for me although a bit morbid. I was negotiating a the purchase of a 102 unit apartment several years ago. Before too long, the seller got mad at my business partner and I. He wanted all of our financials before signing a contract. We wanted the contract first and we did show proof of funds. Apparently not enough for him. He was an older gentleman and was very grouchy. He made the statement that we can “never, ever buy his property”.

Ok so we moved on. Three months later, he passed away (the morbid part). Our broker said we should talk to his daughter who is now the owner. Certainly she wouldn’t hate us.

Two days later, we got a call from the sellers Estate Attorney who read to us the statement “Tim and Rod are never, ever to purchase this property in my life or in my death as long as it remains on the family”.

So, he jabbed us again even from the afterlife!!

 That's next level Grumpy Old Men! :) feel free to send that property my way since you're clearly out!

[Pat L.]

Originally posted by @Alicia Marks:

Originally posted by @Mindy Jensen:

Originally posted by @Kaylee Walterbach:

Two words: carpet baseboards...

I'll see you your carpeted baseboards, and raise you a carpeted bathroom.

& I'll raise you a beautiful white carpeted kitchen floor. Once the husband had died she redid the place the way she wanted. We did buy the place & the stains were impossible to remove.

On another property I just finished laying 18x18inch floor tile in a kitchen 12x18. Wife shows up with our excited rotund Weiner dog who comes bouncing across the still setting tile. It took a couple of extra days to remove the imbedded tile. 

On a similar job, we had just installed floor tile in a 7x12 bathroom. An hour later my 275lb partner remembers he left his cell phone on the window sill, so he nimbly walks over the tile to retrieve it. The window was OPEN, so he could have got it from the outside of the home. I left him to tear it all up & start again. 

Maybe you need to lock the houses down on flooring days!

[Dawn P.]

Listening to a cable installer scream like a banshee after running into an ancient cat carcass in the crawlspace.

Watching my realtor run out of a house we were looking at, gagging from the overwhelming smell of dog pee. It was August, the house had been closed up for months, and the smell was truly brutal. (my kind of house, I bought it shortly after)

Getting a call from a frantic tenant, terrified to go outside because of the cicadas. We'd had a fairly heavy hatch that year and they were everywhere...he was in such a panic. I tried to explain that there wasn't much I could do, they won't bite and will be gone after a while. 

[Jonathan R McLaughlin]

@Terrell Garren in New England your HVAC guy sends you a “thank you card” picture of his kids graduation from his fully paid off ivy college :)

[Scott Krone]

We had a client who was purchasing a property with the goal of demolition the house and building a new one.  During our inspection of the property, I went out to the garage to complete the inspection.  I went back and told him, "I think we have an environmental problem."  When he asked what the problem was I showed him the garage had WWII bombs in it.

Turns out they were just the shells without any ordinance.