All Forum Posts by: Derrick White

@Derrick White. LOL. The tenant in one of my upscale rental properties called and told me “hey, this place is falling apart”. I asked her to make a list of everything needing repair, as I want to keep the property in top condition. She texted back her complete list: 1. Screw came out of kitchen cabinet door hinge 2. master bathroom toilet water refill takes too long. Thankfully the property is located in Houston. In NY or Cal it would probably mandate 3 months free rent.

The only call we've had this month was last Saturday afternoon. "Hey a tree in the backyard fell and took out some power lines. I already called the city, but I figured you'd want to come check it out."

Fortunately, it didn't hit any buildings or damage anything other than the one power line. The tree isn't in anyone's way, so we can take our time having it cut up and hauled away. Definitely could have been worse.

@Derrick White I feel ya... I’m having to replace a stove, a washer, a hot water heater and a HVAC all within the same month... it’s across several MF properties but still a huge bill to start off a month after everyone might not have been working and may or may not pay rent 🤦‍♂️

We have seen a pretty normal amount of service calls, a leaky toilet and a broken dishwasher was pretty much it for the month. The issue is getting things taken care of, but our trades have been out and actually looking for jobs.

@Derek Carroll I remember as a kid going with my father to repair a rental we owned & finding a cow literally standing in the bathroom being milked by the old Yugoslavian tenant. They had 3 generations living in that big old home & their veg garden & home made slivovitz was amazing. But with an in-house cow fertilizer was always on-hand.

People are angry and stressed and looking for targets for their anger.  "Can you believe we still don't have a screen for this window???!!!" That they never cared about and probably never would care about, but it's safer to be mad at the window screen than their family. 

People in my apartment building have taken to writing nasty notes and taping them to walls in the building about crazy stuff that never bothered anyone before.  I got screamed at by a clerk at the local grocery store for bringing in my own bag - which I kept on my arm to simply put my bagged groceries into and I never put it on the conveyer belt.

People are stressed and angry and scared.  Plus, of course, they're doing a lot more "normal wear and tear," since they're home all the time.

I'm so glad I'm retired :-)  But, I feel for you.

@Derrick White Oh the old cow in the backyard issue :) Make sure its not a seeing eye cow.  What did they ask you to do about it , anyway?

I've received several nuisance item complaints, such as missing window screens (that haven't been there in years) and toilet handle chain broke.  I attribute those to tenants being stuck at home.  Fortunately I haven't had any major repair calls, but I tend to stay on top of major maintenance.  Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself!