And you all think my day can't get any worse? More thieves! Another THEFT!

[vacationhopeful]

Last night (5PM) I get a call from my realtor about a problem my very new tenants have that the cable guy "found" in the attic of my rental house.

Serious enough to warrent a 12 mile drive down and to meet the new tenant. I won't discuss my general level of unhappiness with my fuel oil delivery company who ran me out of oil in the 6 unit apartment building and who is telling me not to fill the tank, but to read the gauge every other day. That was the 7PM call to the furance repair guy and quality bonding time in the dark and dreary basement.

Up to the attic and looking with my flashlight to figure out the cable guy's issues. Why is this attic so messed up? There is the catwalk of plywood down the center of the trusses and the cable guy fooling around to drop cable lines in to the bedroom below, but he didn't put back the fiberglass insulation. Wait - he was exposing sheetrock ceilings where he ran NO cable. WAIT! Where is my 9 inches of ADDED insulation batts I added a couple of years ago? ALL OF THE NEW INSULATION IS GONE!

My worker guy is stunned when I call him on the way home. The realtor is stunned into silence! I am calculating $1000 replace costs and how to investigate --- plus, I have to CHANGE the locks to the house to protect the NEW TENANT.

As for the original problem ... mice damage. But the mice did not EAT NO 9 inch batts of INSULATION!

 

[Htoo0]

So mice, but no batts? I hate those creepy flying things!
Sorry, hope you're new tenants are better.

 

[pjrose]

Stealing insulation? Wow, that's really sleazy. Is there a market for used insulation?

 

[vacationhopeful]

With home heating oil getting to $4.00 per gallon, stealing insulation, and putting into your attic is attractive.

Selling "installed insulation" to your neighbor for $500 is less than half a tank of oil --- 2 hours work with 100% profit --- better than stealing copper and selling it at the scrap yard which is now required to get tags numbers off your vehicle (for $100).

 

[ronparise]

I gave up landlording in Baltimore when fuel oil got up over $0.50 cents a gallon..and my tenants adjusted the temperature by opening and closing windows

$4 is crazy...good luck Linda

 

[easyrider]

Stealing attic insulation would be the act of some one that is really hard up. That stuff is so itchy and no fun to work with. Maybe next time you should use a blow in insulation.

We had someone move out of a rental recently and they swaped the range and fridge with some 1970's junk. We were able to get the fridge back after threatening to have the law get involved.

 

[pjrose]

. . .
We had someone move out of a rental recently and they swaped the range and fridge with some 1970's junk. We were able to get the fridge back after threatening to have the law get involved.

If they were pink or turquoise, maybe they were worth more than the new ones! Or was that 1960s.....

 

[easyrider]

If they were pink or turquoise, maybe they were worth more than the new ones! Or was that 1960s.....

Avacado green Monkey Wards matching set. :whoopie: We gave them away for free to who ever wanted to pick them up.

 

[MuranoJo]

If they were pink or turquoise, maybe they were worth more than the new ones! Or was that 1960s.....

Oh, shoot, we left our turquoise oven in our starter home when we sold it about 20 years ago. And then there's the brown frig which is still humming along in our garage from that first home.

 

[Sandi Bo]

Oh, shoot, we left our turquoise oven in our starter home when we sold it about 20 years ago.

LOL, same here - only we electrostatically painted them to beige or maybe it was called almond at the time. BIL bought the house and just replaced them last year.

Linda, I soured on renting when I was a kid. My parents owned several rental properties and I have countless memories of cleaning up after other people and disbelief at damage people would do or the messes they would leave. I've pretty much never owned rental property of my own, other than some odd situations when moving and having in-laws that needed somewhere to live. We've managed to do okay with all that (still talking and no financial issues, well no big ones, left over to deal with).

Now here I am dealing with my Dad's rentals . I do enjoy it, but yikes dealing with people continues to bring eye-opening experiences. I never cease to be amazed.

 

[dmharris]

We had someone move out of a rental recently and they swaped the range and fridge with some 1970's junk. We were able to get the fridge back after threatening to have the law get involved.

Really? Did they think you wouldn't notice? People can be so stupid and so brazen!!

 

[vacationhopeful]

On Tuesday afternoon, my 87 yo aunt calls me. The scrap metal theives hit her house AGAIN. 2nd time in 6 weeks. This time they stole the 1961 Plymouth car (except the engine and frame were a bit too rotted into the ground). My worker (whose wife makes $90K a year with no bills) eyes popped saying "What? That was surrounded by trees".

My aunt's comments were "they just ran over all the trees". The trees were 12-15 ft tall and they had some type of big truck.

I haven't even done the police report for the insulation yet; now I got another one (different town) for my aunt.

 

[vacationhopeful]

In case you all are wondering "WHERE in the world do you all live?" --- my aunt's house is in the same town (about 2 miles away) from the Senate President's house for the great state of NJ and 3.5 miles from the deputy Assembly's leader's house for the great state of NJ. Their joint district office is 1/2 mile as the crow flies. The county seat and offices are also less than 3 miles away. My aunt was "born" in her house; it is a Dutch colonial field stone with stucco exterior built in 1723.

This is NOT an urban/high density area. Both of these politicians have lived in their homes for 20+ years; one is track housing built in the mid 1960's and the other is in small town on main street in a converted multi-family/victorian (where they filmed 85% of "Jersey Girl" several years ago).

 

[Zac495]

geez what a bummer!!!

 

[Sandi Bo]

There was a full moon last night (as if people need a reason to be crazier than usual...).

Bad things can happen anywhere. We live in a good neighborhood and have had vandalism and theft. I always park in the garage. About 10 years ago I came home, left my car unlocked and EVERYTHING in it, in plain view, including the keys, in the driveway. I was planning to go somewhere else in a few minutes, however I did not, and forgot to put my van away. Next day my van was gone. I understand my stupidity, but the odds that on that one night someone would be prowling around my house was a big eye opener for me.

 

[bogey21]

Done right owning rental property can be a good deal. My Brother bought a duplex when he was 17 years old for (I think) $8,000. Today he owns almost $2 million in rental properties, a mix between residental and commercial. He visits each property at least once a month and personally picks up the rents. He tells me he has no signed leases as he feels a signed lease protects the renter more than him. If someone is delinquent and can't handle the rent, he pays the cost of their move to a new location.

George

 

[Carol C]

Linda...is this stuff happening in the Poconos? Geez, I thought it was only urban cities where this kind of crime of opportunity was rampant. What's this country coming to? So sorry to hear what's happened to you and to your aunt!

 

[GeraldineT]

That whole side of the state is slowly falling apart. Anything anywhere near Camden is on the decline. We have friends that live down there in Delran and Riverside. Beautiful homes (one on the river) and we went from their house to Philly and the closer you got to Camden the more abismal it became. Very sad.

Of course the fact that our state just hands out money to the laziest of people doesn't help the situation. Selling used stolen installation is tax free money. These people need something to subsidize their welfare checks.