Posts Tagged property management

Reason number 39756385 why renting a house blows.

And when I say “blows” I am not thinking about bubbles or dandelions.

Or even that hot guy I saw standing in line at the grocery store the other day. Rawr.

I’m referring more to hairy ballsacks, possibly even diseased ones.

I have a good running list of reasons (39756385 items long, clearly) for this particular brand of Makes You Want To Vomit All Of Your Meals From Ever suckage, but today let’s talk about:

“When Shit Breaks And Doesn’t Get Fixed In A Timely Manner”

When shit breaks and you own your own house, the reason why it sucks is because you have to FIX THAT SHIT YOSELF.  So that means, get off your lazy ass and determine the cause of the problemage and then do something about it.

When shit breaks and you rent, you’re often NOT ALLOWED to fix that shit yoself, nor are you allowed to hire someone else to fix that shit for yoself.  Because, of course, when you signed the lease you did no less than admit that your judegment is not to be trusted, m’kay? And you signed an agreement that says “I am a dummee and cannot fiss thingies goodlike and also I can not has enough smart parts in my head to find any other good peoples to help me fiss thingies eether. ever.”

I swear that’s what the thing said, and normally I wouldn’t sign a document rife with such horrible spelling mistakes, for chrissakes, but if I remember correctly I had diarrhea that day so I was kind of in a hurry to get things wrapped up, because there is really nothing worse than sitting in a realtor’s office with a hot wet ass that ISN’T just a euphemism for how damn sexy you are.

But I digress.

So, basically, we’re not allowed to fix broken things.  Instead we have to call and report them to property management, and they will send someone to the house to fix what’s broken.

Wait, no.  I wrote that incorrectly.

They will THINK ABOUT HOW THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO send someone to the house to fix what’s broken FOR ABOUT A WEEK, but they will not do anything about it.

Then when your husband calls them and says, “Uh, did you get my two messages about how the kitchen light is broken and my wife has already set 4 fires in there trying to cook in the dark because she’s an idiot, and could you please just go fix it before she accidently builds an atom bomb trying to make Mac & Cheese in the dark? I know it sounds improbable, but really, you don’t know her. And it is not at all improbable.  That kitchen light is SO MUCH MORE important than you realize” they will be like, “Huh?”

And then they’ll be like, “Oh, we need approval from the owner since it’s just lightbulbs.”

This is the part of the story where I tell you how I almost threw the phone across the room when John was relaying things to me.  Because I was in the room the day that John called them and left a message, and I heard him saying, “Hi, our kitchen light is broken and we thought it might just be the bulbs, so I went out and bought new ones, but it still won’t turn on, so it’s not the bulbs.  We need someone to come out and have a look at it and fix it.”

And:

1) See that part where he said IT’S NOT THE BULBS? Yeah. I HEARD THAT.
2) John hasn’t been home since October 16th.  I just want to go ahead and point that out.
3) As I type this, the light is STILL BROKEN.

After he set them straight in a much more polite way than I’d ever be capable of, they promised him someone would “be out tomorrow” to have a look at it.

BAHAHAHAHAHA!

“Be out tomorrow” in Property Managementese CLEARLY means “sit around with a thumb up one’s ass.”  Either that or “laugh at your dark kitchening ass while we pretend like we care about you and your broken thingies, when if fact, we so very much do not. Buy a lamp, asshole.”  I’m not sure, but it’s definitely ONE of those.

A WEEK LATER he called again to find out if they would prefer that we:

A) Burn down their building.
B) Set bull weavels loose in their office.
C) Poop in a box and send it to them instead of next month’s rent.
D) Get H1N1 first and then poop in a box and send it to them instead of next month’s rent.

They asked if there was an option E, and while I told John to say, “Yes, All of the above, you sons of bitches,” instead he just asked if they could please come fix the light in the kitchen.

He is such a pussy.

So finally, someone came the next day and looked at the light.

(Technically, they said someone would “be out tomorrow” again and so I got all pissed off because I AM LEARNING THEIR LANGUAGE. But they decided to mix things up to keep me on my toes.  I am on to you, anyway, Property Management.)

On Friday, a nice man came to the house, stood on one of my chairs and looked at the kitchen light fixture.

He told me it was broken.

I almost had a hysterical breakdown at the delivery of this news because I had no idea the kitchen light was broken and I thought frantically, “Holy crap, how am I going to make dinner now, in the dark???”

But really, he said the ballast is fried and that he’d have to remove it and replace it.  Then he took it off the fixture and he left, saying, “If I don’t see you again later today, I’ll see you Monday!”

It’s Wednesday.  I have not seen the friendly Ballast Replacing Fairy yet.

I’mma gonna go into the kitchen later and whip up that atom bomb.

Hope you fuckers liked your lives. Some shit’s ’splodin’ tonight.

****

UPDATE: So after I wrote this, but before I could publish it, the friendly Ballast Replacing Fairy actually showed up, except it was the same guy who came before and told me the ballast was broken, so I was a little bit disappointed.  I was hoping for something with wings and a tutu or at least a glittery wand or a Pegasus waiting for him in backyard while he was inside working.  Regardless, he had a new ballast with him and the knowledge necessary to install it.

Fortunately, while he was working, Braden made sure to point out loudly to me that “that’s not Daddy!” saving me from making the horrible mistake of pestering the poor guy to rub my feet.  Of course, this is nothing new from Braden; he’s always screaming that information at random times, like when I’m on the couch making out with boyfriends, and also sometimes when my pimp comes to collect.

Duh, Braden, DUH.

Oh, but apparently the Ballast Replacing Fairy IS a fireman.  Braden said so.  Which clearly means he needs to be reported to the fire chief for his Fairy Side Gig.  I’m 97% sure that there’s a “No Fairies” rule in the Fireman Job Requirements.  It’s right next to the part that says you have to have really big muscles and the ability to grow masculine patterns of facial hair on command.  I’m not sure whether it’s more or less important than looking sexy while you slide down a big metal pole in a hurry.  Anyway, he’s breaking the rules.

I’m telling.

PS: You’re a bunch of lucky bastards. There’s light in the kitchen now, so I probably won’t be blowing up the earth tonight.

Probably.

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32 Comments

Hai-This Suc-ku’s

Once upon a time,
our gas bill was very high
and I wrote this post.

Called to complain to
the Property Management.
Something must be wrong!

Owner of this home
didn’t care to make it right.
“Let’s just ignore it!” :-|

We wanted to move.
Instead we turned down the heat,
trying to save cash.

Latest water bill
clued us to the real problem.
And then the gas bill.

This time the gas bill
was a whopping three-fifty.
And from LESS HEATING!

Checked water heater.
OH MY LORD, it is leaking!
Both water and gas!

And, oh my, the mold!
It is being birthed right here,
then coming inside.

03.05.08 waterheaterroom

This mold in Braden’s
room is growing because of
leak in the heater.

03.05.08 bradenroom

Mold on all windows,
making us sick for a month…
now we know the “why.”

Inform the owner…
“Someone will be out sometime,
for an ESTIMATE.”

But we need help now!
Leaking! Dangerous! COME ON!
But they do not care.

Two days after that,
our hot water is all gone…
check water heater.

Both water and gas
spraying out of the unit.
This is REALLY BAD.

Call and tell the turds
“property being damaged.”
Here within an hour.

“It must be replaced,”
says the contractor who comes.
But then what happens?

They send another.
Owner did not like the first
estimate he got.

So still we’re waiting.
Now owner says “his man” will
fix the old heater.

But this is not good.
It is beyond fixing, and
this is dangerous.

And while we still wait?
We have no hot water here.
Wash dish? Take Bath? NO.

I bet that you can
smell me from where you are now.
I really stink. Yuck.

I look at this shot,
and I long for my shower.
It’s now but a dream.

Another Shower Shot

Oh, yeah, and the mold?
Will cost a lot to clean up.
We doubt it gets done.

03.05.08 waterheaterroom2

Can’t stay here like this!
Our health is compromised, and
that is not okay.

But lease runs through May.
Will they let us out of it?
What do you guys think? :-S

But look at this face.
We will do whatever it
takes to protect him.

Dazed & Confused

We must get out now.
Things might get pretty ugly.
Please send us good vibes.





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143 Comments

Paradise Below Us

Ahhh.  Renting a house.  I suppose that some people are able to have a good experience renting a house.  Unfortunately,  The Carrolls are not those people.  Let me tell you our lovely story.

May 2006: Move from Austin, TX (*sniff*) to Nashville, TN.  Move into apartment (gag) while trying to sell house in Austin (torture).

I really, really tried to keep a positive view of things.

4 Months Pregnant

After all, I was glowing with the aura of happy pregnant lady!

july06
Photo by Athena Carey, lifeprintsphotography

It didn’t work.

May 2006 – May 2007: Miserable living in apartment.  Why?

*Brown Recluse Spider infestation.

*Loud “Horse-Laugh Harry” upstairs.  I honestly think he is the illegitimate child of Mr. Ed.  Really.

*Drug Dealers outside our window.  Thank you, but no, our recovering drug-addict friend would NOT like to buy some pot from you, asshat.

*Stupid lady smoking a cigarette practically in my VERY PREGNANT face at the pool, who obviously had a death wish, but got lucky and somehow survived with her life.  I am not holding a grudge, she just really deserves to have her Marlboros shoved into her other bodily orifices.  While they are lit.

*Sh*tty Property Management Office that likes to lose your packages.  “Ohh, really?  That was your package?  So sorry.  We thought the box looked like it would be happy WITH SOMEONE ELSE.”

Etc.

May 2007: Not ready to buy another house yet, but eager to leave apartment living, we rent a house. 

Summer 2007: Among (many) other crappy things, we discover that there is a problem cooling the house.  The AC Unit runs all day long just to try to maintain a 78Degree temp setting.  It fails.  It is usually at least 85 in the house. 

We nearly die.

Property Management fixes some of the faulty duct work (wasn’t even ATTACHED TO THE VENT under the house!!!), but refuses to do the entire job.  We are left with leaky duct work.

Bills arrive for AC.  We die again.

Current Day: We have just received a gas (heating) bill.  This is separate from the electric bill.  Almost $250.

For one month. 

Our heads simultaneously exploded.

For that amount?  My ass better have been leaving all the doors and windows open, cranking the heat up to about 85 and walking around here NAKED, sipping rum-filled drinks from my SWANKY COCONUT CUP and getting my feet rubbed by the Cabana Boy by the INDOOR, HEATED POOL that we had installed, while lovely Hawaiian tunes play in the background.  AND I’d be needing to have had perfectly moisturized hair and skin and a FREAKING TAN.

Oh. No. Wait.  Is that what was happening?  HELL NO.  I was all up in this mother wearing my ugly sweatshirts and socks, scratching my dried out, pasty-white, itchy skin, wondering why the stupid heater has to run so much just to maintain a temperature of 68. 

DUR. It’s because our CRAPPY Property Managers and CRAPPY House Owner refuse to fix the duct work properly!  They literally told us this on Friday.  “Hi.  This is your CRAPPY Property Manager.  I am a useless bag of ****, have a nice day!” 

They refuse to fix it.  They don’t care about our exorbitant Heating/Cooling bills. 

I think, in short, this is what they said to us:

Except they aren’t cute.

John walked outside the other night and saw steam rising out of the door to our crawl space.

STEAM IS RISING OUT FROM THE CRAWL SPACE.

*slaps self in forehead*

Of course!  The Tropical Party is under our house, not inside it! 

I need to pack up my hula skirt and my coconuts and squeeze under there.  Do you think the Cabana Boy is waiting to give me a foot rub?

Until then?  I’m off to browse real estate in Nashville.  Guess who’s moving in May?

Me

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87 Comments