People are just nasty.....I'm just saying!

So, for those of you that don't know, Drew and I own a rental home in a suburb of Cleveland, OH.  Yes, Ohio. I know I know, WHY Ohio.  It's a long story and it was a good opportunity to own some real estate with positive income with very little out of our pocket. But that's for another story.

This week some maintenance issues came up that caused us some concern. So I took Friday off and via Continental and United airlines I arrived in Cleveland.  Did you know it used to be spelled Cleaveland? But I digress.

Yesterday, on my way to the hotel, I decided to drive by the house...which is the first time I've seen it with my own two eyes other than via photographs.  Beautiful neighborhood, ethnically diverse, and very quaint. I could live here....minus the friggin crazy humidity.

While I'm outside the car taken some "area the neighborhood" photos, I here some R&B blarring and some girls giggling. Low and behold, it's coming from one of our second floor bedrooms.  Oh well, I was young and blarred Teena Marie once too. Once? haha...ok ok I still do.


This morning I arrived at 10am to start my scheduled meetings with various contractors to check out the necessary work.  WOW...upon entering the home I was shocked......and disgusted.  These people are slobs, and I think that word is too nice and polite.  There were dishes piled in the sink, dirty ones mind you. Who cares about clean dishes in the sink?  And stuff piled everywhere. She could open a Best Buy with all the electronics that she has.  Her living room flat screen is about as wide as my car is long.  And, as I come to find out, every room has one. But wait, the rec room in the basement has 2 for your viewing pleasure.

The bedrooms where piled high with clothes, sneakers, every gaming system made since the invention of the Commodore VIC-20 and Nintendo.

My saving grace is that she is taking care of the house itself. While she doesn't take care of her crap she is taken care of ours.  But I have some questions that of course I couldn't ask her directly...maybe you can answer for me.

1. If you rent a home that has a brand-new central air conditioning unit; but for some reason it's not working....wouldn't you mention that to the property manager?  and certainly wouldn't you do that before you went out and bought a window a/c unit?

2. You've lived in this home for 3 years now, and you never use the front door.  Why? That's right, because you don't have a key to it.  Hmmm...wonder if that is an acceptable question to ask of your property manager and landlord?  I'll have to check the rule book and get back to you on that one.

3. Knowing that the owner is coming out to see the house, and you've never met them, don't you think it would be wise to CLEAN YOUR SHIT UP? Clean the dishes in the sink, hid the cat litter box, put the clothes away.....even if you throw it all in the closet.

Well, she liked me and seems pretty nice enough.  There were a couple concerns that I agreed with her about.....a broken window lock should be fixed and if she wants to have ADT put in an alarm I don't have a problem with that.

HOWEVER, don't mistake my niceness for stupidity.  Just because 1 of the 4 windows in your BASEMENT doesn't open all the way, that doesn't mean you're getting all the windows in the house replaced.

And, let's face it....you live in Cleveland, Ohio in a home that is approx. 80 years old with a full basement. Of course it's going to get humid and musty down there if no windows are open. And, I wonder, hmmmm, does the fact that you have every nook and craney stuffed with crap contribute to the musty and mildewy smell?  Do you think having your dryer vent directly into the basement, instead of outside, has promoted this problem? Yes, there are some water intrusion issues that we're handling.....but you've lived there 3 years and this is the first we've all heard about it. You have more crap in the basement alone than Carter has liver pills. C'mon, give me a break. Clean your shit up and throw some of that shit away.

Why wouldn't you want your home to be clean and presentable to strangers?  In your case, you don't.  Why, I'll never know. I guess all I should worry about is that you're basically taking good care of my investment.  Wanna live like a slob, by all means....have at it.  But now I need a shower.