Well, I'm back from the first cleaning and I have to say...I never in a million years expected so much advice. The insight, the knowledge, the thoughtful discussion...really, I'm touched and kinda floored! ;-)
Okay, the tenant is 'a nice guy' but he obviously has issues. I'd call him a hoarder. Not quite as bad as those you see on the show Hoarders...but close. BUT, here's the cool part, he actually is allowing us to get rid of much of it! All the garbage, obviously. But also many other items, too. I overheard a discussion between the two about a chair. Tenant thinks it's a really nice chair and wants to fix it up. My husband calmly talked him through why it isn't the best idea because of this, that and that other thing. I don't know the outcome, but he seems amendable to overall change, including getting rid of the chair, maybe.
I am actually beginning to think that, with the leg up we're offering, this guy *may* pull his weight as a tenant a bit more. Plus, I do believe he's actually corralled a maid service to start once we're through renovating his whole two-level unit.
Just a note about this place, my husband made the mistake (not the worst mistake, but still...) of buying a 70 +/- year old STUCCO 4plex here in Oregon. There is NO END to the work. Though he didn't have to do much for about 2 years of the 15 we've owned it. But I'd love to have the 14,000 hours back he's spent replacing all the main drain lines, replacing the giant fence (posts also need to be replaced almost yearly due to high water table), laying all new concrete driveways and sidewalks, the 8+ remodels across the various units, the new roof and gutters, the windows he's replaced, the grinding/caulking/sanding/priming/texturing/painting of the billion and a half cracks in the plaster interior walls due to the poor underlying structure, the loads of landscaping installed specifically for a needy tenant who moved out after a few months (Cypress trees? Really? So why do they keep dying and falling over dear?).....but the WORST so far is the exterior paint job. I can't even talk about that, gets me too upset. Oh, let's not forget all the garage headers that are giant cement 'beams' and are all cracking....hope the Big One doesn't hit as has been predicted.
I'm going to promote selling the place, even though it's totally rentable and makes decent money. It's just taking way way way too much time and effort to keep it up. Well, until then, there's still a TON of work to do over there with more everyday. At least this particular tenant's kitchen is clean-ish. Had to clean around full drawers and stuff stacked all over the place. I wish I could show my husband this thread....oh man, I so want him to read these. But I really can't take even more rage and nasty crap. It would only make things a lot worse than they already are...but I totally appreciate EVERY SINGLE MESSAGE. Wow, thank you all so so much!!!!! I learned a lot, even if I can't actually act on some of the excellent advice. WTF indeed. :-)
