Well it definitely doesn’t look as if I’m gonna make the 18k that I was hoping for. With about 16k in my account right now and 3 paychecks to go, I might be able to pull out $17,500 if I’m lucky, but that’s about all.
Part of the blame goes to property Chi and those damned repairs that I’ve had to make, some of which I believe were needed thanks to a saboteur. On Sunday morning I have a meeting with the Africans where I’m gonna tell them that, if anything else happens that is suspicious, I’m throwing everyone out. I could throw them out right now and, maybe when I get more properties, I’ll do things like that. But right now I have to give them a shot to correct the problem. I honestly think it’s one guy, Umar’s uncle that had that seizure when I went to replace the upstairs lock last month. None of these problems started until he moved in, and he’s the only adult male that doesn’t have a job. Mostly, it’s the people that don’t have jobs that cause mischief. But since I don't know for sure (and even if I did it wouldn't matter), this meeting cannot take an accusatory tone. I simply have to lay down the facts and have them understand what I say with interjecting.
The last time I held a meeting with a tenant in this fashion was last year, when Laurie and Annie were the tenants of property Chi. I wrote about the meeting in a post called Trumped By the Trump Card. It was an absolute disaster. I let them talk over me or change topics, and I didn’t get my points across clearly enough. By the time the meeting was over, they had ME convinced that Laurie (a 24 year old woman with 5 kids, no job, code enforcement caller, and welfare addict) staying would be a good thing! It was a bitter defeat, and now I’m going up against the ultimate hustlers in the Africans. They may have able to swindle me into paying $50 less for the upstairs unit, but now I have a major advantage: I don’t give a fuck. Yes I would love for them to stay, but if there was ever a time to rent that place out it would be in the winter when the streets are nice and empty thanks to the cold weather. Their immigrant charm has worn off and I don’t mind starting over with new tenants in property Chi. It’s their last chance not to screw with me and tell whoever is screwing with the house to quit it, or they will all be out on their asses. This is the last chance I’m giving them and I need to make sure they know that.
What’s important is that I don’t waste time with accusations and arguing, so I probably won’t use the term “sabotage”. If I wanted to do that, I might as well go over there and give them 30-day notices right off the bat. Instead, I’ll bring up the fact that the thermostat wires were cut, but that’s about it. I’ll mention how the repairs needed are too much, some of which should not have been needed in the first place. I don’t need to cast blame, that’s not my job. The only two things I need them to know is that: 1) it’s unnatural that so many repairs are needed since they took over the entire house; and 2) if any more suspicious repairs are needed, I’ll have to serve everyone with 30-day notices. That’s all. It should go something like this:
“Ever since you guys have taken over the house, it has been one problem after another. I could understand the furnace blower needing replacement, but both refrigerators needing replacement and the thermostat wire that was cut the other day lets me know that there is something else going on. The next time a repair needs to be made, I don’t want anyone to try and fix it themselves (speaking to Omarion). Call me and I will send a handyman to investigate. If the same thing happens again, I’ll have no choice but to give both apartments 30-day notices. I cannot afford to make these kinds of repairs, as I don’t have this problem at any other property.”
That should do it. All in all, it should take about 5 minutes. Before this little speech I’ll make sure to give them a chance to “explain” what happened with the thermostat. I don’t really care what the explanation is, but by giving them an opportunity to explain themselves, it allows me to say what I have to say and have the last word. There will be no need for argument and, if there is, I’ll shut it down. I’ll record the whole thing and transcript it here just to ensure that I did everything the way I’m supposed to.
P,S.: Come to think of it, this is another instance where I rented out the entire building to family members and it’s not working out. The first was with the sisters Annie and Laurie. Perhaps this is telling me that I shouldn't try it anymore. On paper, it looks good to have a family take over both units of a two-family home. For some reason, however, it just doesn’t seem to work out. Maybe there are too many variables when it comes to the different personalities of family members or something. There’s still hope for the Africans, so I guess I’ll wait and see.
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