Giving Away the Tenant's Possessions!

Today was a fun and interesting day. As you may recall, I had a tenant that decided to start taking crack instead of paying the rent. To make a long story short, she ended up being admitted to a mental health facility. Instead of being evicted, she decided to voluntarily leave. Her mother only took one car load of her belongings and then gave the key back to me. I confirmed with the mother, the administrator, and finally the tenant that she had gotten everything she wanted (although once I got the keys back, she was legally out). Today, I decided to trash out the apartment.

The place was a mess. Furthermore, there was a TON of stuff left in the apartment. I started in the living room and began bagging up the stuff. When I finished bagging up the first 45 gallon industrial strength trash bag, I took it to the trash area for the building. Before I could get back to the apartment, I saw one of the neighbors going through the bag, digging out some of the clothes. So, I walked back over and asked her if she wanted to go through the apartment to pick out anything else. Not only did she want to do that, but she got several more of her friends to come over as well. It was like a treasure hunt for them as they picked out clothes, the stereo, furniture, toys, CDs, DVDs, a microwave, tables, and a LOT of other things. By the time they were done, they had taken half of the stuff in the apartment and done half my job for me!

As it turned out, I got a lot done. I got the place trashed out; new mini-blinds put up; all the wood floors swept; the carpet vacuumed. Maybe the next time I trash out a place, I'll put up a sign!