Any other small landlords feeling the incredible gloom of moveouts? Especailly when you're left having to clean them up yourself alone.

First had a tenant I couldn't have screened more carefully, suddenly abandon an apartment lease leaving it full of furniture.

I spent a month getting all that out and renovating, only to find out my worst and filthiest tenant is now moving out on the 15th. And I haven't even gotten the other vacancy rented yet!

The old womans do-nothing son apparently got approved for disability, so they're moving furniture out already and eager to start trashing their new place. They've accepted they've burned through the Security deposit, but thats small consolation looking at the mountain of work ahead renovating their wreckage which I'm sure will cost a lot more in time and materials. Mostly just knee scrubbing work and labor. I've had another tenant tell me "That place will need to be gutted when they leave."

The worst thing is the roaches. I was on them constantly to take out their trash, but they still brought them in and hiring exterminators only put off the problem. Now the downstairs tenants are already complaining the roaches are going down to them, looking for food. I said I can't get in there to start trying to exterminate until I get possession, the old mom is extremely fussy about any pesticides affecting her precious sons breathing.

And they're German roaches too, which I've been told are impossible to get rid of. Daunting to say the least.

I put so much work in that apartment, and they destroyed it. Now I'll be getting handed this back as their discard, along with whatever trash they leave in their wake.

I suppose I could just pour gasoline on everything and light the place on fire. Then throw myself on the pile......

Do you do in-home visits before you sign the lease with any approved prospects?

If the prospects know that you will be doing an-home visit, then most will not go any further if they do not treat their current place with care and respect. If they do allow an in-home visit then you can judge how well they will respect and care for your place by how they have treated their current place.

I feel your pain. I've lessened mine by doing two things:

1) in-home visit before leasing a property.

2) hiring someone else to do the cleanout. Then it just becomes a cost of doing business.

The above posts have good information. Also:

If your not already, go to a month-to-month lease.

Demand two months minimum security deposit.

You already know it is bad, so nothing to be gained by worrying about it. Look at it from the positive side, they are LEAVING! Good!

Get somebody to help you and get it cleaned up. We treated a bad roach problem ourselves, but since it is an apartment, maybe a pro would be best.

Maybe you can go up some on the rent?

Already some good advice on here. I haven't started doing in home visits but I am going to.

This seems to be a pattern. When you posted as "Duplexer," you posted these same scenarios, vacancy after vacancy. People offer advice, all or most of which you ignore, and then the cycle repeats.

The problem could have been prevented with proper screening. You're looking for a reason to accept prospects when you should be looking for just one reason to deny them. Your financial dependency on the rent is skewing your judgement.

I got two move outs planned for the end of November. I hate winter move outs. My plan is to make the new tenant's lease end in the spring when its easier to find new tenants.

As other have said, hire out the heavy work. There are people that will remove all the left over trash and furniture. Then there are people who will do a deep clean and there are exterminators to deal with the bugs.

After things are cleaned out, if you feel like dealing with the roaches yourself thee is this web site for chemicals.

domyown.com

domyown.com/roach-identification-guide-a-456.html

Also screen better. Require a good credit score. Do an in home inspection and see what their old place looks like. Call their references and ask if they smoke, are a slob, have pets, etc.

Go to Jeffrey's boot camp and learn to be a better LL.

JP/Duplexer:

All the advice above good - listen to them.

Yes, I have been there. Before I learned to take better care of myself & do math.

What is the cost of 1 month lost rent (include utilities, taxes, insurance) AND the cost of you being overworked to the point of illness & frustrated to the point of "throw yourself on the fire"?

Compare that to the cost of a dumpster, clean-out crew, Cleaning crew & handyman.

The cost of hiring help may seem like a lot, but when you are only paying the difference of the two, it's not so bad. You can (will) still stay busy, working with the crews & supervising them to keep things on schedule. Choose to do yourself the tasks you are good at, that you don't mind (as much) doing.

OR...

Keep doing what you've been doing and struggling as you have been. Your choice - you are in control (not the evil tenant); whether you choose inaction or action, or what action - it's all YOUR decisions & therefore in YOUR control.

Have a nice day

I have one more meh tenant. I decided a while back that I was changing the way I did things. I am sticking to that plan of action and it has worked out fine in the end.

Right now I am on the worst rehab in years. It is easy to get overwhelmed. I knew she was bad but I let it go because it was already bad.

Well, that is not the way to do it. The longer she stayed the worse the place became. She had been there eight years. Back then I was more lenient.

Just getting the smell out was a feat in and of itself.

But I know I have stopped allowing this to happen. My newer tenants take care of the places and thus they take care of me.

I know you just need a sounding board. That is fine. But you really should heed the advice given.

Maybe a vacation is in order? I took one to Florida with my spouse. We attended Jeffrey's boot camp.

But why take that after we have been at this for more than two decades?

Easy, you don't know what you don't know. If you only use a tenth of what you learn there it will pay for itself.

Plus you are on holiday, after classes are over.

There's lots of good advice here, so I won't repeat them, but I'll add a few.

Go month to month. Leases only benefit the tenants. Leases lock you into their rent rate and they make you have to prove a reason that you're using to get rid of them. I love having leverage over my tenants by "adjusting" their rent rate if they're uncooperative or won't mow the lawn or move in a boyfriend or children.

Require 3 months of bank statements. I learn just as much (sometimes more) from bank statements than I do on credit reports.

Find a local rental owners group and pick their brains regarding what works best in your area to weed out bad applicants.

Don't get so desperate to rent a unit that you compromise your requirements.

I am retired Senior Chief.

You get ONLY what you inspect too. Nothing more, and occasionally less. These are training opportunities on your standards. If you don't do inspections, you are relying simply on the residents' standards. This doesn't appear to be working well, so I would encourage you to consider this also a training opportunity.

While I was in uniform, everything was a training opportunity or a celebration of a mission or training session completed.

"I suppose I could just pour gasoline on everything and light the place on fire. Then throw myself on the pile......"

That's one option, all be it rather painful. I am perfectly okay with death. Even tonight would be fine, but I prefer it is in my sleep.

Your biggest hurdle is going to be finding a more qualified tenant in today's world. However, if you don't screen well, you should have no problem. That is, until they move in and out.

About Roaches:

Living in the South, roaches are a fact of life. German roaches are a sign of dirt and filth but can be transported home from the grocery store via paper bags and boxes, but the dinosaur roaches and the tiny ones are just fellow residents that must be controlled.

"Professional" Pest Control does NOT work - in fact I think it feeds and nourishes them. I tried it for too long.

The ONLY thing I have found that actually works is Raid or Combat "Large Bug" bait traps. They come something like 8 to a box and you have to use at least all of them - put them where food or water or moisture can be found. Use two boxes if you have a big place. You will start seeing dead and dying bugs within a day. When you start seeing live ones again, time to replace the bait traps. Usually every few months.

If a new tenant complains about bugs, I explain about living with beasties in the south (include snakes and spiders in that) and I send them several boxes of the bait from Amazon or Walmart.

On roaches .... I had an exterminator tell me the industry is regulated to use WEAK pesticides. HD or Lowes can carry more powerful stuff.

My bug guy loved the gel baits. He called it crack for roaches. They would run over each other to get to it.

I just cleaned up some very old gel bait that was placed by a pro probably six years ago (?). It was dried up. No idea if it was still good for roaches but there are none in the apartment so I feel ok about cleaning up the aftermath.

I am hoping that putting DE in all the electrical boxes will help if I get any other crawlers.

There are two sayings I run through my head when tenants get me down:

1. They are tenants for a reason.

2. I'm sure glad I don't have their life.

Please use the good advice on this thread. Many understand your feeling of moveouts done alone after departing slobs of tenants. You have a group who wants to help you with their invaluable advice and experiences. Please do share what issues you find.