Another Eviction.....

(I apologize to all. Apparently the last post was lost.)

It took us a long time to get this eviction done. The tenant paid timely rent in August, the first month we collected rent after buying Arrow Woods. In September he paid no rent, and indeed paid no rent until he was finally evicted in December.

We knew the tenant was not the owner of the home; the name in park records was his grandmother. We mistakenly gave the first 10-day notice to him in her name. When Jim went to the courthouse for the eviction, he learned that he had to give the eviction to him in his own name.

By the time we gave him the corrected eviction notice and waited the additional 10 days for his possible response, it was very late November. When the notice is 10 days the Federal holidays make a huge difference in timing to get a tenant out! This man only came to the home sporadically, so the Sheriff actually posted it on his door since he could not do a personal service.

The weekend before the final eviction date one of our tenants came to our door on a Sunday morning and told us there was a large amount of water coming from that home. Jim went down immediately. One of the water lines under the home had broken; the man was inside the home and knew it had broken. Jim locked the water meter to his home, but told him when it was fixed he would unlock it. (It is illegal to turn off water just because of an eviction, as I am sure you all know.)

Jim was working on a deck across the road from this home, and it appeared he had vacated the property. There was no electric OR water to the home. We needed the serial number of the home, however, so we could ascertain if there was a lien on it. It was very easy to get in the back door.....

The home was nasty inside, and we made sure we checked all out while there. Jim unlocked the water temporarily (since it had not been fixed) because the man had left a "gift" in the toilet which we chose NOT to leave there. We flushed the toilet using a bucket, got the serial number and left.

We then called the state and found out there is a lien on the home. The lienholder on the title is Conseco, which Greg Meade told us was now Greentree. Jim called his contact there and found out that the loan was current. That was a surprise, since there is over $5,000 in past-due rent owed on this lot. We knew the grandmother's telephone number, but Jim had been unsuccessful at reaching her, even leaving messages with others. Using the internet, we located her address, which was local.

We wrote her a letter telling her of the past-due lot rent as well as the fact that we had evicted her grandson and would allow no other tenants in the home. The next week we received a call from her!

We learned that she had co-signed for this home with her granddaughter, and had personally been making the payments on the home for the last several years because she did not want her credit rating harmed. She also told Jim she is 70 years old and the Dr. had recently told her she could no longer work. Therefore, she had just mailed the last payment to Greentree that she would be able to send them.

The lady came to the park and met with Jim. From our office she faxed a letter to Greentree telling them of her problem and offering them her life's savings (between $2,000 and $3,000) to "buy-out" the loan, which is currently at $10,000. The next day Jim called them to let them know the condition of the home, which is quite poor. The woman's plan was to get clear title and give us the home for back rent. She had never lived in it.

Greentree has turned down her offer. Apparently they prefer to repossess this home. We don't believe that anyone will choose to buy it and move it out of the park, because it is in very poor condition and only a 2/1 smaller home. We probably will get possession of it, but due to the immense amount of work it needs it is not worth much.

This is the second time in 6 months that we have encountered the elder generation being taken advantage of by their offspring. The first case involved a 75-year old mother who paid the daughter's (52 years old) rent from the point where we bought the park, plus late fees, plus the eviction costs that we paid for her eviction. That lady told Jim at the time that her daughter needed to take care of her own business, and this was the last time she was going to bail her out!

The funny part of all this is that the evicted man DID come back to the home, to collect some of his stuff. He came to Jim and asked him if he had been inside. (You can probably guess what the answer was.) He is totally confused because he told Jim he left something in the toilet and it was not there anymore. (Was he going to take it WITH him?????) He will never know what really happened to this valuable property........

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