One of the strangest things is; to rent out your home to strangers. I am not addressing real estate that was purchased, from the start – knowing, strangers would live in it . I am speaking of your ‘home ‘, where you spent countless hours cleaning and painting, and arranging to make it conformable. Only to have to leave the home – in order to “save the home” – due to the needed rental income needed to pay the bills. What a sad contradiction this was for me, and for others, who want to save their homes, after a bad divorce.
The bungalow now holds many memories of my past life – some that still bring water to the corners of my heart and eyes. Upon discussing this with a girlfriend of mine, I asked her – how can you live in a house, filled with old memories? Her answer was pure and logical – and it absorbed into my mind immediately – her response was ‘ You need to fill the house with new memories “
Of course, she did not have in mind, the cleaning of the renter Piggy – but new memories is what I have now. These feelings are called ‘ Revenge’ , and as I cleaned that house for 2 months, the feelings started in hurt, sorrow, outrage , and now revenge. I hired a private detective to hunt them down, and now have an address of where they reside.
I have hired an attorney to file a Breach of Contract on them- we are looking at over 7,000 in lost rent. Not counting the damage, of which many photos were taken. The lawyer told me, that he may be able to get any money from these people- especially if they ‘have nothing’. He did not want to get my expectations too high- and was I willing to pursue this, without a guarantee of money. I told him – I wanted Piggy to remember me, every time, she applied for a rental and was turned down, when her bank refused to offer her credit, when she applied for a job – and never made the cut … I am going after her in money terms – and for our family’s motto (Revenge).
The last room in the house, was what I called the Den, and the new renter calls her bedroom. This room – was the one, that has to be updated, because I had no choice at this time. The room had the old fashion windows, that required to be cranked open. These cranks were over 40 years old, and no longer worked, but I tried to keep the windows, and the natural light in this room. Piggy must have tired to force open the windows, because there was a constant draft from them and this back room. The cranks were un repairable, so I decided to start moving in the direction of the future look of this room.
This back room, needed a new ceiling, because there were so many holes in the ceiling. The ceiling tiles were no longer made – so a whole new ceiling had to be done. With the drafty windows, and a ceiling looking like it was in a war zone, I made a decision. To dry wall the whole thing ! I really do not know, if there were cheaper options for me. The only ‘improvement’, I made, was to create an overhead light fixture, which could be turned on , from both doorways – its called a “3-way “ ..yes I know, there are only 2 doorways – so why not a 2-way ?? The contractor told me, this requires special wiring, because it needs to circle ?? My ears then stopped working and all I heard was ‘ blah , blah , blah’
I told the new renter, that losing the windows would take place, but in the summer or fall – I planned on putting in one long window on the side of the home, and a French door in the back. From the outside, this will not look nice, because, I put in insulation in the walls and the window frames. So it looks like pink cotton candy from the outside.
3 windows will be removed from the outside and filled in with wood. This will happen once I finish getting the home vinyl sided, in the back. This needs to be done- because its unsightly to say the least – and I want my home – to look nice , even if , I do not live in it . This siding will match – of course, the cottage siding – so they will look, cute sitting next to each other.
At this room- is the end of the home, and the end of Piggy. I am happy to have found a new renter, who has no problem with me, keeping the small bedroom for myself ( under lock & key). Her 2 dogs seem very happy to have a yard, where they are safe to wander about . I spent lots of time trying to find a renter, who would meet all the requirements that I created. I know now, that I must be very hands on, with this home- especially with my learning experience with Piggy.
As for the real estate agent – the lawyer told me to file a complaint with the Realtors Board, and save money and not use him in this issue. I have posted a review of her on yahoo- and told neighbors not to use her. She was not spiteful, but just lazy and ignorant. My last conversation with her, consisted of my question I posed to her ‘Do you think you are a good property manager ??’ – to my shock she said ‘ yes ‘ – I almost fell off my chair in shock . I replied ‘Really ??? – did you ever take a management class ?? you can’t manage from your chair !! ‘ I guess .. this is news to her … maybe, its news to the RE Board too … we shall see …
bises
DIXIE in PARIS 