All Forum Posts by: David Goossens

• Do you live in California? Yes
• Have you lived in California in the past 5 years? Yes, my whole life
• If so, where? San Jose, Bay Area 
• Will you be staying or leaving? LEAVING  in 4-5 years. 
• Why? Too many people, terrible traffic, high taxes, high cost of living (utilities, gas, vehicle registration, ect) jobs pay well but extremely high stress, and I don’t agree with a lot of the politics, including the way the state government goes about solving problems. My wife and I will be leaving in the next 5 years. When we do, we will have enough capital to reach our freedom number. We have been traveling to a variety of different states and found places with similar climates to CA. I look forward to a slower pace of life and more down to earth people.  
• What is your full time income producing job? Electrician 

Update: The PVC conduit going up to the electrical panel has been repaired, inspected and signed off. The second part of the project required excavating a large hole in front of the panel to expose the utility wiring where it enters the panel via a 2" PVC conduit. Once exposed, the utility company came out, confirmed that the repairs and excavation were completed correctly, and I am now scheduled for a reconnect. Basically, the they will come out, splice the wire underground, and then pull a new section of wiring into the meter socket. Once this is complete, I will be on the home stretch to getting my meter reinstalled and the power back on. 

On another note, I contacted my insurance company (after many people on this thread had suggested) and insurance has already paid for the majority of the damages which has been very helpful. Rehab is currently underway and upgrades are being made.

@Joe Splitrock

In California, it is very common for noncitizens to get a drivers license, so yes I did properly screen the tenant and do a background check. I perform an annual inspection, and have done so for the past 4 years. The house was always neat and a family was living there. I’m suspicious of the timeline because my inspection 6 months ago didn’t show any signs of illegal activity. I spoke with a property’ management company In the area and they have been seeing this situation a lot. “Good”tenants with solid backgrounds rent houses, then after a few months they are gone and someone is in the house growing marijuana. Maybe quarterly inspections are the key? I don’t know?

@Steve Babiak

The damage is not as bad as it could have been. I don't think they were growing for more then a couple months, otherwise the damage would have been far more extensive. Both bathrooms are pretty trashed and will probably be gutted. There is drywall damage in the ceilings where they were hanging lights and fans. Luckily the house is on a slab and I have tile everywhere, except for the bedrooms, so no water damage in the floors. Although, I guess the walls could be damaged. I will post more on the rehab after we tear into it.

@Tyler Resnick I checked those feeders for voltage and found that they were disconnected. I'm guessing PGE disconnected them in the underground vault across the street.

A good piece of information for anyone dealing with something like: the utility company owns the feeder wire up to the meter. It is their job to fix that portion of the wire. They will do this by pulling out the old wire and pulling in new wire. However, The pvc conduit that comes out of the foundation and goes to the panel is the homeowner's responsibly to repair. 

A property of mine in the California Central Valley went vacant at the end of November. For the past 4 years, I had a family renting the SFH. I performed annual inspections, serviced the the HVAC filter and smoke alarms, ect, so I was able to see the inside of the property every year and it always looked very well maintained. Fast forward to this November: I get a text from an international number. The person claims to be my tenant and says that he was deported, and that his friend has been living at the porperty for the past 8 months. He also claims the house is empty and that I can have access. I'm immediately suspicious, so I make a trip out to the property and find all the locks changed and the blinds closed. Just to be safe, I post a 24 Hour Notice to Enter and come back the next day. I arrive at the property, drill the locks out, and gain access. Everything is absolutely filthy (no surprise there). The carpet is trashed, the 2 bathrooms probably need to be gutted and remodeled, missing doors, broken windows, and the power is off (meter has been removed).

This is where it gets interesting. I start talking to the neighbors, and they say that the police and a news van were at the house about a month ago, and that some people got arrested. At this point, I do a quick google search on my phone and that's when I saw pictures of the house and of the marijuana grow operation that was taking place. The news story mentioned that the operation was discovered because the tenants were stealing power, so I instantly knew there were going to be some serious electrical issues. I pulled the electrical panel apart and luckily, it was in good condition and completely untouched. However, when i went in the garage, I found a section of drywall had been cut out underneath the electrical panel. I removed it and found where the tenant had illegally tapped into the utility power. Basically, they cut the feeder conduit before the meter, carefully strip away some of the insulation on the wires and then use some type of alligator clip or splice device to hook up the equipment used for growing (lights, fans, ect). Ugh...

After talking with the utility company and some contractor friends, it appears that restoring power is going to be a drawn out, complicated process. I wanted to post some pictures and document this process in case someone else runs into this issue. The first step requires all of the damage to the electrical system to be fixed, and a permit/inspection from the city so that they can issue a meter release to the electric company. I'm working with an electrician in the area to get the ball rolling on that. 

 Any advice from people who have dealt with something like this is always welcome.

I just had an interesting "conversation" with a tenant that is renting a SFH from me. I received a text message from an international number. The reads: "Hello, this is (tenant name). A year ago I was deported to Mexico. I left the house to a friend and he just sent me a message to let me know he left it. The house is already clean, it is open for you to have access to it."

I replied back to the message to get some more information but have not received a response. Up until now, the tenant has rented for almost 4 years and has always signed an annual lease with me.  Rent was always on time without fail. The current lease is up in May 2018. I have always performed annual inspections and the house was always clean and in good order, and I did in fact see the tenant in May 2017 at the last signing.

The first thought that crossed my mind was that the tenant was trying to get out of the lease early and that this is one giant game that he is playing. However, that would mean he would forfeit his security deposit. I've never had a tenant willing to do that.

The other option is that he is telling me the truth and he was deported, and an unknown person was living in the house. My plan is to visit the house tomorrow to verify that it is vacant. If it appears vacant, I will go inside to evaluate damage, take pictures, change locks, ect. If any items are left behind, I will store them for the time required by law.

Does anyone have any advice or experience with a situation like this? Am I on the right track here? Do I treat this as an abandoned property, or do I need to file an eviction just to be safe?

The subfloor looks pretty bad. I would rip everything out, including the tub and toilet. Fix all the dry rot in the floor and/or walls so you have a nice stable floor to support the new tile, fixtures, vantity ect. Otherwise, you will be doing the job over again very soon.

I’m not sure what the process is in your state, but in CA there are a few forms you file with the DMV in order to gain title to the abandoned vehicles. In some situations, you have to put a lien on the vehicle while the DMV tries to contact the previous owner. It will be challenging to sell and/or dispose of the vehicles without  first obtaining title. Just make sure you factor in the time it will take if the previous owner can’t sign the vehicle titles over to you.