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Jan. 16th, 2006 07:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickIn the landlording world, I have an update on Lauren. Her caseworker at MHMR finally came through and got her to give us keys and written notice that she was moving out. Huzzah! The caseworker also got Lauren to promise to pay December and January rent because it's now the middle of January and we got keys over the weekend. Excellent!
Now, we are supposed to call the caseworker when we have the keys from Lauren so that the caseworker can go in and clean up the place so that Lauren and Tom will get more of their deposit back. Er. Yeah. We didn't call today because it was MLK day and I expect that MHMR takes the holiday. (We do not.) I am not sure that the caseworker really understands what the place looks like, but I took pictures so that we can all do a before-and-after comparison to show the caseworker's clean-up effort. Also, I am not sure that you, gentle readers (with the exception of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
valleyhi, who was IN the apartment while Lauren and Tom were living there), have an adequate grasp of what the place looks like. Fortunately for us all, the magic of digital photography is going to do what a thousand words could not.
Behold!
View 1: Livingroom
View 2: Livingroom
View 1: Kitchen
View 2: Kitchen
View 3: Kitchen (note sink of dirty "dishes")
Bathroom (view from standing in the tub)
Bathroom (view from door
There are two bedrooms, in similar shape, with skiffy mattresses that have been left behind. I think, however, that you have seen enough to get a general idea of the state of the place. It wasn't like that when she moved in. I admit that this is low-income housing. We rent to a hell of a lot of poor people because rich people generally own homes and do not rent apartments. However, when tenants move in, the places are clean. The heat works. The plumbing works. There's hot and cold running water from all faucets and the drains work. The stove and fridge work. The lights work. The carpets are clean, if not new, and odds are good that the place has been painted in the last year or so. That's what Lauren and Tom started with. You've seen what they left us.
The really interesting things, here, the things that you are not going to believe are twofold. The first thing that you will have difficulty believing is that Lauren and Tom do not have to pay for trash removal. Anything that fits in a black plastic trash bag, they can throw away for free. We pay for trash removal for our tenants there. They'd have to pay for bulk hauling on the mattresses and sofa and stuff, but all the rest of it, they could have thrown away for free. They did not choose to do so.
The second thing that you are not going to believe is that the pictures above show an apartment that is substantially cleaner than the place was when Lauren and Tom were actually living there. They took assloads of stuff out of the place. I was amazed at how much they DID remove. While this is a hellish amount of trash, it's a big improvement on what the place looked like when they were there.
Lauren and Tom's living space was paid for by your tax dollars. You are working hard and paying taxes so that people who live like this are not starving in the streets. Don't you feel all warm and fuzzy inside? (As an added bonus, they're a breeding pair! See, this is GOOD habitat!) On the plus side, because I am busily exploiting the benighted proles in a vicious and evil landlordy way, your tax dollars actually wind up supporting me... so it's not a total loss, after all. :)
Now, we are supposed to call the caseworker when we have the keys from Lauren so that the caseworker can go in and clean up the place so that Lauren and Tom will get more of their deposit back. Er. Yeah. We didn't call today because it was MLK day and I expect that MHMR takes the holiday. (We do not.) I am not sure that the caseworker really understands what the place looks like, but I took pictures so that we can all do a before-and-after comparison to show the caseworker's clean-up effort. Also, I am not sure that you, gentle readers (with the exception of
valleyhi, who was IN the apartment while Lauren and Tom were living there), have an adequate grasp of what the place looks like. Fortunately for us all, the magic of digital photography is going to do what a thousand words could not.Behold!
View 1: Livingroom
View 2: Livingroom
View 1: Kitchen
View 2: Kitchen
View 3: Kitchen (note sink of dirty "dishes")
Bathroom (view from standing in the tub)
Bathroom (view from door
There are two bedrooms, in similar shape, with skiffy mattresses that have been left behind. I think, however, that you have seen enough to get a general idea of the state of the place. It wasn't like that when she moved in. I admit that this is low-income housing. We rent to a hell of a lot of poor people because rich people generally own homes and do not rent apartments. However, when tenants move in, the places are clean. The heat works. The plumbing works. There's hot and cold running water from all faucets and the drains work. The stove and fridge work. The lights work. The carpets are clean, if not new, and odds are good that the place has been painted in the last year or so. That's what Lauren and Tom started with. You've seen what they left us.
The really interesting things, here, the things that you are not going to believe are twofold. The first thing that you will have difficulty believing is that Lauren and Tom do not have to pay for trash removal. Anything that fits in a black plastic trash bag, they can throw away for free. We pay for trash removal for our tenants there. They'd have to pay for bulk hauling on the mattresses and sofa and stuff, but all the rest of it, they could have thrown away for free. They did not choose to do so.
The second thing that you are not going to believe is that the pictures above show an apartment that is substantially cleaner than the place was when Lauren and Tom were actually living there. They took assloads of stuff out of the place. I was amazed at how much they DID remove. While this is a hellish amount of trash, it's a big improvement on what the place looked like when they were there.
Lauren and Tom's living space was paid for by your tax dollars. You are working hard and paying taxes so that people who live like this are not starving in the streets. Don't you feel all warm and fuzzy inside? (As an added bonus, they're a breeding pair! See, this is GOOD habitat!) On the plus side, because I am busily exploiting the benighted proles in a vicious and evil landlordy way, your tax dollars actually wind up supporting me... so it's not a total loss, after all. :)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-01-17 12:05 am (UTC)And not because I'm awful, but because...ew
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Date: 2006-01-17 01:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-17 01:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-17 07:39 am (UTC)Assisted-living housing would probably be even more expensive for the taxpayer.
Yes, I am a very very bad person.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-17 06:03 pm (UTC)And yes, I am just joking.
The spouse works for assisted living. Ask him about it sometime.
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Date: 2006-01-17 07:26 pm (UTC)Unfortunately, I have experience with messes like that. When I first moved out of my parent's house many moons ago, I acquired a trailer for next to nothing from my oldest brother, which was previously occupied by his ex-girlfriend, who is also a local legend of filthy living. Dare I say, the place was as bad, if not worse, than this.
Our place isn't the most sparkling and squeaky-clean around, but places like this make our house look quite clean and tidy. ;)