Take the money and run

Viewing the lies landlord/owner posted online about the great amenities of this house in order to sell it, it is clear he has learned nothing from his deceit and is still deluded by his own greed. If any of these things are actually true would be miraculous.

Overuse of the word “custom” throughout the description is indicative of the simple fact that he most likely did the hackjob work himself — as he did in “replumbing” the place — which is why there was never any hot water in winter nor cold water in summer.

The fact is that as tenants we arranged and withstood the installation of the new air conditioning unit during a week in August of 2010,  when landlord/owner refused to have it done, even in February 2010 upon our advice that it would be less expensive.

The fact is that the installers noted the fire hazards in the attic due to landlord/owner’s faulty wiring near his plumbing handiwork.

The fact is that the new bath tubs, particularly the one in the smaller bathroom, was replaced while we were tenants as the old one was scratched to the point of being unusable. That installation entailed replacement by owner’s cohort in crime, someone who was inept at doing such work but who would do it for a bottle of vodka. His first attempt was merely a smathering of glaze to cover the scratches. The chemical odors filled the house for two weeks. When that did not work, owner’s friend installed a new tub improperly which resulted in a complete flooding of the nearby bedroom, requiring replacement of the carpet.

Owner took credit for appliances that we purchased when he went AWOL that five years.

The fact remains that he cannot look into his own reflection to know the horrible things he perpetrated on us as we withstood five years upgrading his appliances, withstanding his lies about the pool pump destruction by his own hand, my husband trimming trees and scaling the roof to clean gutters, without remuneration, done only in accordance with his promise that the house would be ours someday. No consideration, no remuneration for us trying to keep his dung heap from stinking up the neighborhood after he abandoned it for those years. Just lies, abuse, assault and theft of security deposit.

Hopefully, at least, he did some true, actual repairs by a PROFESSIONAL to this money pit before trying to unload it on an unsuspecting, gullible buyer.

Did owner reveal the fire hazard in the attic, pointed out by professional air conditioning installers?

Did owner reveal the fact that by his own hand the “custom” electrical work he did is faulty, with many outlets and light switches not grounded properly, as any professional electrician had told us when we were forced to have electrical work done on the property.

Did owner reveal that there was no insulation?

Did owner reveal the crack in the slab that he had told my husband about?

These are crimes he can live with apparently, in his signature take-the-money-and-run mode of operation without remorse or restitution.

It is clear that more than one life lesson for him will be necessary and is inevitable.

Delusions of grandeur

I’ve been asked by many why we withstood so much for so long.

After looking over the property in January 2007, I had made it clear to landlord that this was not something I wished to rent at his exorbitant price of $1550 per month plus lawn care. I was too old to be without a house and just continue renting. His promise that day — if we stayed at least three years, the lease would be converted to a rent to own.

This was the prime reason we withstood so much abuse from this man. When we moved in, we began thoroughly cleaning and replacing fixtures — particularly closet hardware. He had left furniture of all kinds that we had to sell for him. When all of the appliances eventually needed replaced, landlord was too lazy to perform his property management duties so we ended up running around town time and again buying those appliances on our credit cards, waiting, and hoping, for reimbursement. We made sensible purchases of those keeping in mind that some day this would be our house, and, therefore, we would not want to have cheap or scratch-and-dent preferred by owner to “cut his costs” — a phrase engraved in my mind by him at any circumstance that involved him opening his wallet in performance of his rightful duties.

But after that three years elapsed, no such arrangement materialized. He informed us that “a millionaire had bought his estate.” It was his terrible  joke. But it indicated to us that he was clearly deluded. He informed us shortly thereafter that he wanted approximately $45,000 more than the property value. And that was that.

It was at that point we ended his days of “landlord enrichment.” And we watched our investments — financial, emotional and physical, go straight down the proverbial drain in one instant.

Everyone has their delusion of grandeur. He based his on lies. And that crushed ours, which was based on misplaced trust. And when I left, I told him:

— Your word is worthless. Your word is not your bond. —

It is, thus, no wonder that he had two failed businesses in two years, PLUS this one. Three strikes you’re out! Hopefully, he will stay away from entrepreneurial endeavors that debilitate so many.

A foundation mortared with lies and greed will not support a strong business relationship.

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Recently, we drove by the Eagles Crossing property.

Had our eyes deceived us?

Parts of the lawn were as high as an elephant’s eye, and other parts were dried to a tumbleweed. Now that landlord has to pay for the water to keep the lawn green, this is what has happened.

Landlord required my husband to cut the grass TWICE A WEEK in the summer. Yet, here I am staring at a pasture that would take a flock of sheep a month to eat enough grass to be in compliance with the Hunters Creek Homeogres Association.

While we resided here, my husband, daughters and I spent hours weekly cutting the grass, pulling weeds, gathering fallen palm tree leaves, raking, etc., on top of manually watering the lawn with our hose. The lawn watering system didn’t work upon move-in 2007. Many, many, many months later, when it was replaced by landlord’s friend who was not proficient in doing such work, the system stopped working again, and landlord never had it repaired. Though we bought a sprinkler to move around the lawn to get it watered in all of the dry spots, often times my husband or I would be standing around with the hoses we purchased to water the lawn.

And here, parts of the lawn — dead in large pockets! While we resided here, he was tyrannical about HIS cost and forcing us to pay for his negligence on all levels. Landlord was relentless in using the water we paid to water the lawn, let leaky pipes go without repair, adding water every week to the green swamp of a pool he created, or he would just stand with a hose and let the water run against the house in more of his despicable ways.

In 2007, landlord/owner promised he would be back every quarter, at least three or four times a year, to do landscaping, take care of the gutters, etc. Except for one time around 2010, when he brought the woman he was currently living with to show off his “Florida estate,” he never did any of the tree maintenance, nor sent any lawn care maintenance from February 2007 through June 2011.

Over the years, we did the lawn care and tree maintenance, from climbing tall palm trees, to cutting down a tree that was struck by lightning; from my husband having to climb onto the roof to clean the gutters, to trimming dead trees that landlord planted because he liked the look of them in a shopping mall!

Landlord/owner does have an arsenal of excuses for not cutting his own lawn I am certain, though any excuse from us would have been completely unacceptable.