Seventeen Year Tenant Moves Out

Prior to hitting the road we were hands-on landlords. It was difficult to be on the road and see the costs for various repairs that we would do if we were home. Budget-wise we have been able to weather some extensive repairs and still pay all the bills. Now that we find ourselves at home, we let the PM handle the day to day repairs. However, it is in our best interest to be involved with larger vacancy rehab projects. We have a unit that was just vacated and it is a special one. It was the first rental property we purchased when we started our landlording adventure.

We inherited the tenants. One tenant had resided there for 13 years. This year we received notice of her plans to move out months in advance. She has now been a resident there for 17 years. Her damage deposit had been lost in the foreclosure so she did not have any vested interest in seeing that the place was in good condition when she left. We were aware of this and were prepared for anything. It was ideal that we could be in town for this as we expected the rehab would be extensive.

We met our Property Management Company representative and walked through the unit. The carpets and vinyl floors were of course hammered. The walls had many thousands of pinholes. She was a teacher and loved her push pins! It was clear her son had some issues, there was a large "I hate you" in marker on one wall. We expected it would need paint, but the prep for paint was going to be tedious. 

The dishwasher had been installed by Hub three years ago. It was a newer dishwasher, one we had in our place prior to our remodel. It was in great shape when we installed it but the door squeaked when opening. Someone saw fit to remove the squeaky springs, nice! So now it will need replacing ahead of its time. The three bedroom doors are gone, and in each room is a knob set, sitting on the ground. We can only surmise that the son and their dog took care of the doors.

The upper bathroom door jam is split and will need replacing. The solid core garage door has been cut into, likely by the same child who wrote the "I hate you" message. We will do some sort of repair or will cover it with a corkboard.

All in all however, it is not in terrible shape. There were no gaping holes in the walls, the tub and surround are good, windows remain serviceable and cabinets are in decent shape.. 

We finished the paint prep and plan to demo the floors, repair/replace the doors, dishwasher and blinds. I video'ed the before and the post prep. Video length 6 min 29 sec.

If you are interested in our backstory, start here-> How We Did It Part 1