tenant called said her husband was drunk and high and waiving a gun around house and shooting in back yard. Wanted me to come over and stop him. ..Also has report on same guy he was peeping tom .

You know how it's not uncommon for a tenant to leave a few things behind when they move out - several years ago, we had a young couple leave a dead iguana in the freezer.

Quote:

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asks about the power coming back on

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Happens all the time. Half the time it's the whole neighborhood - "Have you looked outside to see if it's everybody?" and the other half the bathroom light is out or a kitchen plug & it's a tripped the GFCI. How can no one know what those are & how to reset them?

We had another couple that we got with a property. His parole got revoked and he went back to prison so his lady stopped paying. We started the eviction process and she agreed to move but it still took a few weeks. She was terrible about it. She left a mattress and some other stuff crap, I guess for us to get rid of but we knew where she'd moved, so we loaded it all up and took it there. She then sent us a very wordy text threatening us to not harass her or she'd call the police on us. Mr. Schwack was all "I thought we were doing you a favor" but we knew she'd just left all that junk for us to have to clean up. We did.

Frank Bielec of Trading Spaces TV show rented a house from my grandparents in the 1970s.

Frank originally was from Sealy.

They cussed him every time his face was on TV.

He painted interior rooms bright purple without permission then moved out.
Grandpa had to paint the walls white three times to hide the purple before he could rent it again.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Bielec

I had a house rented to 4 college girls. They call me in Jan to tell me the heater doesn't work. I asked them if they had paid their gas bill. They told me they dont have gas. I said "your oven is gas, how do you cook" They responded that they never cook they just eat out. They had been there since August and never once used the stove.

Doesn't surprise me. Pretty sure I have friends who've never turned their stove on.

Had a guy in my townhome rental. Was decent for a while, only once or twice got a check for less than the rent with some excuse.

In the second year, I found out he had a puppy. Since he had been decent, I let him retro actively add the dog and pay a pet deposit. I'm a dog person..... Then it became two dogs. I explained to him that he could not leave them outside on the small 10 x 10 patio. I started checking. For a while it was okay.

Then as the dogs grew, I saw that they were Pitbulls (which I don't personally like but don't hugely discriminate against. As they grew I figured out he was leaving them outside on the patio. The patio was literally covered with poop and they WERE EATING THE BUILDING!!!!

Called him on it. He blamed his brother and promised to get rid of them.....It didn't happen.

Researched the Texas rules. Which, as stated above, are definitely skewed toward the poor innocent tenant and against the mean rich (NOT) landlord. Figured out it was going to be a uphill battle to do anything. Did some research into the HOA rules. Found that pitbulls were specifically listed in the HOA bylaws as a prohibited breed. So I turned myself in to the HOA. Received the $200 fine and notice to remove the dogs in 2 weeks. Sent it to the tenant. Told him he had to pay the $200 and that the dogs had to go. Sorry, wasn't me, it was the HOA.

He sent me the $200 and got rid of the dogs. He did then break his lease and leave early a month later. Go riddance, I kept his deposits for all the damage the dogs did to the property.

Honestly, kind of soured me to rentals in the realization that the system is totally set against the small time landlord just trying to get ahead..

You fellas have some great stories, and I feel for those of you involved on the residential side. My dad tried that years ago and just didn't have the temperament for it.

Anyway, I've got a few industrial buildings on which I'm the landlord, and most of the time things go pretty smoothly, although I do have to constantly stay on top of their G/L insurance renewals and make sure I stay named on their policies and get updated Certificates of Insurance.

But, when I have a vacancy, I get some of the strangest characters who show up wanting to 'take a look'.

One time, a guy showed up in an ancient pickup truck that barely ran and explained that he was a 'certified' diesel truck mechanic and that he was about to go out on his own and open his own shop.

The part about the diesel truck mechanic already threw up a red flag for me and I already knew he wouldn't be my next tenant. The thought of a broken lease, a building filled with drums of used motor oil and a yard littered with a bunch of 'parts' was not something I would ever want to deal with.

But, in the interest of being a professional, I let the man talk and tell me his plans.

After about 20 minutes, he ask me what the monthly rent would be (it was already posted). I told him and he promptly asked if I would spot him the first 6 months for free until he got established.

I guess it never hurts to ask, right?