Hey Yall! How has your week been so far? Mine has been stressful. I've been dealing with my slumlord landlord harassing me these past few weeks.
You may have noticed I haven't been that active on social media; I haven't been on the go as I'm usually am, and that's all because of my greaseball landlord and what he has been putting me through.
I have mentioned to y'all recently that I've been going through some drama with him. Well, let me tell you some more details of the stunts this scumbag has been pulling.
Three weeks ago, my landlord called me telling me he has to sell the house starting in July since his mortgage on his house he lives in has gone up $400. This sounds like B.S., but anyway, I figured that him selling in July would give me some time to find a place to move to, hoping I would find something in the same school district. However, since this is the start of moving season, it has been hard to find places for rent, also places I do find is either too high, or someone has already leased the property.
Every other day, my landlord would harass me asking me have I found a place yet. Come on now, didn't he say he was going to sell the house in July? Why the rush? We pay our rent on time, every time! We painted and cleaned his house before we moved in since his lazy butt didn't want to, put up blinds in the house because some were missing and broken.
I kept running into dead ends searching for places, so I came up with a plan to buy a house, yes buy a house! My fellow blog buddy Kita recently purchased a home, and I was talking to her about my situation and she explained to me that the purchase of a house is a good idea because, for one, you own it, two, you don't have to worry about rising rent prices.
Buying a home is a huge deal, but my concern is about making sure I'm making enough money with my blog every month, I didn't want to get into a problem that I'm no longer is making enough and I can't pay my mortgage and lose my house. But Kita assured me that I need to have faith. She's right.
I was preapproved for a mortgage loan, had enough for a down-payment and closing cost, found a real estate agent, and each day I have been house hunting. During this time, my landlord was still hounding me about if I found a place yet, and he took things a step further by telling me he's going to start the open house process very soon, needed pictures of the inside of the house to get the ball rolling.
This man was doing way too much! He started to get me stressed out. You all know I have severe anxiety, I worry a lot. This situation was putting me on edge, to the point of depression. I wasn't eating much, wasn't interested in blogging, I just wanted to roll up in a ball under the covers and be left alone.
Finally, I found a house that I loved. It was brand new, beautiful three story four bedroom townhome around the corner from my girl's school. It was perfect! I had my real estate agent and lender crunch the numbers of what my mortgage would be, the mortgage along with the fees and HOA would be $1600 a month. Ouch! That's not the price range I want to pay. I can pay that, but I have to be cautious. This is something I needed to pray about; I didn't want to jump into something and regret it later. Although I could always refinance later. But I want to play it safe.
Again, my landlord contacted me saying someone was interested in seeing his house and wanted to stop by to see it, if interested, this person would like to move in at the end of June. Mind you; he wanted to do all this when it was Michelle's birthday, I had guest over, I don't have time for any open house!
I was so furious, this man rushing us out of his house, Mr. M and I decided just to pay him the extra $200 a month until the end of the year, by that time we would have made a final decision about purchasing a house. Plus, this gives me time to see how I did a full year working for myself without having an outside job.
Moral of this story, always sign a contract!!!! My lease was up at the end of December 2015; my landlord contacted me through email to see if I was staying another year and I told him yes. Then, he should have given me a contract to sign to renew my lease, but he didn't. Also, before we even moved into his house, he told me as long as we are living in his house he would not go up on rent, we should have gotten a contract on that too.
This scumbag is a liar! I now see why people hate landlords. I told him off through email the other day, and now he wants to have a talk with me face to face. His best bet is to leave me be; he doesn't want to feel my wrath, I may be a sweet and kind person, but when you do me dirty, I go off!
Always, even in business, have a contract! This will save you if it comes down to a legal matter. Lesson learned for me, and hopefully by the end of the year I'll be stepping in my very own home. I have thought about moving to Texas, but I have to put my children first, I can't move them away from their friends they've grown up with, so my plan is to buy a house, and in a few years or so, rent it out. As you can see, I watch too much of the DIY channel, learning about income properties. But it's good to have income coming from different places.
Have you contacted an attorney or got your hands on your states local landlord and tenant laws? Your local clerk of court should have these for free or just a couple of bucks. It's amazing how people like that will prey on folks because not everyone is well versed on the law. Hope it all work out well for you guys. Oh, be sure to keep a call/conversation log of all your communication with this man. It may become evidence should you end up in court over this situation.
ReplyDeleteDebbie...(0;
Florida Legal Assistant
Hey Debbie!
DeleteNo I didn't know there were tenant laws. I'll need to check into this because how he did me is very wrong. I believe he set me up by not sending me a contract renewal when I told him I was going to stay another year. And I sure did keep our conversation logs, we mainly communicate through email.
Thank you for these tips!
I'm sorry you are going through this foolishness but sounds like you are on a good path to home ownership! All the best Louida!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.robincharmagne.com/blog
Sorry to hear this. I hope you decide to purchase. We did a year ago and the best decision yet. Landlords are the worse.
ReplyDeleteLandlords are the worst! I've been hearing that buying a house would be a better option for me, especially since rent continues to rise.
DeleteOh goodness. That's why I can't do landlords no more. Keep looking and something will come up. I feel you on moving. For the sake of my kids I will stay here until they finish high school then I am out of here. I can't stand GA
ReplyDeleteGirl....some of these landlords are crooks! I'm taking a break searching at the moment since my landlord had me sign another lease with the increase rent. But once fall hits I'm back to searching.
DeleteI'm not much of a fan of GA either, doing it for the kids. But if they say they want to move out of state, I'm out of here!
The house I live in is in foreclosure n they think I don't know, however I been looking for an apartment or studio as soon as possible.
DeleteOh no Mireya! That's awful! Yes, get out of there quick before the bank puts you out. I had the house I'm staying in checked if it's in foreclosure too since my landlord was in such a rush to get us to move, lucky he has been on-time with his payments. Pretty much, all he wanted to do is up the rent to get more money out of me.
DeleteOmg I'm so sorry that you're dealing with this! He sounds awful and like he might be kin to 2 of my previous landlords!!!! We rent too but we go through an agency to keep it professional bc mama doesn't have time to be out here snatching people's edges while I'm trying to make a difference in the world. You guys are in my thoughts and I hope you find something soon!!!!
ReplyDelete*Snatching people's edges* Girl you just made my day, night, week, month, year with that comment!!!!! ROTFLMAO!!! I really needed that laugh.
DeleteI bet these landlords do hang in packs together, talking about who they're going to screw next.
I should've known to use an agency, instead of going to the owner directly.
Hang in there hon, better things are to come for your and the family!
ReplyDeleteThank you, I will! :-)
DeleteWow, you're going through landlord drama too! These landlords are ridiculous! Those two are major repairs that have to get fixed right away.
ReplyDeleteI will say that last year our air conditioner stopped working and our landlord had it fixed within a day. And he did fix a couple of other things in a timely manner.
Good things are ahead for you Suzie! Congratulation on your new home! I hope you blog about it.
((Hugs)) Thank you girly for all your love and support!!!! I appreciate you!
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear you that you are having so much drama with your landlord. I'm all for purchasing your own home to avoid the landlord drama. Plus, it's nice not to have to worry about rising rent prices. We purchsed our home 12 years ago and it's nice to know that you wil be paying the same amount each month from year to year. It does suck having to be responsible for replacing everything that breaks, but at least you get to customize your space the way you want to when you have to replace appliances.
ReplyDeleteSee, that's what I want, my own place that mortgage doesn't go up every year. I'm trying to find a home that had repairs done recently so I won't have to worry about home repairs for awhile.
DeleteLouida! Sounds like you have been going through it with this guy! I agree that you should look into your tenant rights asap! He should at least honor the end of July. Either way, chalk it up to a life lesson - LEARNED. I would look into buying a house too, Aren't house really cheap there? I'm sure you can do it girl!
ReplyDeleteYep, lesson learned. Yes, homes are cheap out here, you get a lot of bang for your buck here.
DeleteThe sad thing is that this kind of landlord drama is common all over the US. Several of my friends have gone through things like this and all we can do is pray. I hope and pray that you find the right house for you and your family!
ReplyDeleteI hate that landlords are like this. Gives a bad rap to the ones that are actually good. But this situation is a lesson learned so it won't repeat again.
DeleteThank you for the prayers Dani, I appreciate it!
Don't let it stress you. Now you can take your time and really find something you like.
ReplyDeleteThanks girl! I look at it that way now. Because I rushed into getting into where I'm at now, and look at the drama I'm going through. Although I'm paying more, it'll give me enough time to search so I don't end up with a costly mistake.
DeleteThat is horrible what you went through. With my last landlord I experienced something similar though, and it is a pain. Buying a house is an excellent plan though, but I do agree waiting to see how the rest of the year goes is wise. I'm so excited for you and hope to be reading that you found the perfect home soon.
ReplyDelete