Is it finally over?

SO...the past several weeks have been a roller coaster of stress and uncertainty.

The whole process has been a series of crisis after crisis. You'd think that it COULD have gone as easily as it did the first time, when I found a renter within 2 days of listing my property for rent. But no.

The most recent crisis had to do with the realtor signing the new tenant, which is a GOOD thing, but he signed the lease to begin 9/26, while the ex tenant's lease was still in force.

I assumed that he realized what he was doing, and that he had somehow worked things out to make it okay, so I didn't even think to question his actions, because he's the pro....

I just said "great!"

I was wrong.

He just spaced out. People make mistakes.....but this one caused a lot of trouble, or so I hear.

The fact that my ex tenant is CERTIFIABLY INSANE does not help.

The "end stage" of this process has just gotten more and more stressful, and has now managed to make me literally, physically ill.

I went to the doctor, after waiting three weeks for an appointment. She gave me medication for anxiety, and I turned out allergic to it...which made me even sicker.

This has not been my favorite month. The past week has been the worst of it.

So Dave has stepped up and gotten between me and the situation. He has been taking and making all of the necessary calls, even to my family, and is handling all of the final details.

There is stuff going on right now that I don't know about, that I don't NEED to know about....and I am trying to remember how to breathe again. He is insulating me from the stuff that would, at this point, land me in the hospital.

Apparently, my ex tenant has been in the way through every step of the process, and that has not yet changed.

I have no idea why. I was never, EVER, anything but kind and accommodating with her.

It makes absolutely no sense at all that she should have any kind of ill will toward me. But she has gone above and beyond in her efforts to block and thwart the process of my renting to a new tenant.

But, I am being protected and insulated from it, and for that I am very grateful. This is what I had prayed for.... to come through everything okay financially....as well as emotionally/mentally. To be protected from harm and the hateful energies being projected on me by my ex tenant.

My malfunctioning adrenal glands make it so I react to stress far more radically than someone with normal ones. I tend to freak out more easily than most. This situation has been no exception.

So anyway, the ex tenant told the realtor several weeks ago that she had not vacuumed my carpet, with a dog in the condo, for two years. This was one of the primary reasons the carpet had to be replaced: she didn't vacuum for 2 years, then had it cleaned, and left it wet, and it stunk.

So the realtor talked me into replacing the carpet. I could NOT afford it...had to do it on credit. More debt. Great. $100 less grocery money per month so I can pay for the effing carpet now.

Then, my sister went in and cleaned the place, and said that it was obvious that she had also never cleaned the oven...... or the bathroom. And that the whole place had a sticky, gray residue on it.

However, there was never an "official" inspection or walk through with the tenant, before the carpet was changed out, the cleaning was done, and the painting was started.... and this is apparently one of the reasons she is being psycho.

The realtor never got any of this information down in writing....but.....I have to wonder why that matters....

because when Dave and I moved out of our apartment in May, we had NO final walk through, and when we got our measly $18.00 refund on our security deposit, there was no attachment, no explanation, nothing we ever had to sign.

That was just all we got back. They didn't HAVE to tell us why.

And we moved out of an apartment complex. Not a privately owned property. You'd think someplace like that would really need to spell everything out, and they didn't.

Anyway, when she first notified me that she was not renewing, I had emailed her back in August and said that my agent would be contacting her for an inspection. I gave her contact info to a couple of different people.

I asked my realtor to be the one to compose a letter to her, since he was the one she told that she never vacuumed.

I just figured it would all be taken care of.

It wasn't. Or at least, has not been yet.

It's my fault because I TOLD her there would be an inspection.

But then, I remember that the manager at our apartment complex that we just moved out of told us that we'd "probably get our whole deposit back," because it was time to replace the carpet there anyway...and then, we just got $18....

so....what the hell??

So, I don't know yet, but I will probably have to release her deposit back to her, even though she ruined my carpet and never cleaned her home.

The good news is: the new tenant is a retired gentleman with an impressive credit score. He really wanted the place, and was willing to pay a higher deposit to get it (there was actually a bidding war last weekend, between two potential tenants, and he won).

Sadly, he lost his wife, but my condo was the place he wanted to down size to when he sold his house. Oh, and he also told the realtor that he might be interested in buying the place some day.

Yeah, sure, whatever. I've heard that before. The ex tenant assured me that she loved the place, never wanted to leave, and would buy it if and when she could. Right.

SO--I just need that rent check to come in every month to pay most of my expenses. I will still have the same monthly shortfall, as I am still charging the same amount of rent despite the new carpet....but that's okay. I'll take it.

I just want it all over, and I want to never, ever have anything ever to do with the ex tenant again.

She's just a hateful person -- for no reason.

this gives me joy

Dancing at an outdoor festival 9/17 in Norman, OK. Right at the moment this picture was snapped, a dragonfly flew right over my head.

gaaaaah!

So, it's the 15th, and there isn't a new tenant yet.

My realtor and a carpet guy convinced me that the carpet in the place was actually 25 years old, not 10 years old. (plus, the fact that my ex tenant told the realtor that she DID NOT VACUUM for 2 years....jeezuz!!)
The carpet guy said that if we tried to stretch and trim it, it would probably tear....and also that stretching and trimming would cost $1000, no payment plan available..

New carpet is about $2000.

So... shit.....new carpet was installed today. And they did give me a payment plan.

So...shit. Great, more debt. And Dave's most recent hospital bills have started to add themselves to the thousands we already owe from the heart attack and after.....

Good Gawd...this past month of relentless stress has been very very bad for me.

But the good news is, we have two applicants on the rental...but they both applied for a Nov. 1 move in. That's a month LATER than I need it to be.

But right at the moment, the realtor is showing it to another person.

Just trying to have faith...

The stress has effected me to the point that my boss noticed today. She suggested I take a "mental health day" tomorrow. I took her advice.

I am hoping that the realtor and my family will work together to get the place painted some time pretty soon, now that the carpet is in.

It's frustrating for me to be 900 miles away.
It bothers me that my family has to do anything in regard to this property.

It's scary to think that I have to send my mortgage and association dues checks out next week and have no rent coming in.

I really should also mail the refund check to my ex tenant, but the realtor tells me I have 30 days after the end of the lease before I have to release those funds.

Just trying to remember to breathe. Not so easy these days.

In other news, the 100 degree weather was not yet finished, as they had told us previously. We had 2 days this past week above 100. But today, it's been in the 50's with drizzle.

Some real rain could be nice, but we aren't getting it.

Dancing this weekend at the local Pagan Pride festival. We are doing a 30 minute set, and I am doing a solo.

Trying to focus my energies on that to give my mind and adrenal glands a break.

Emerging from hell....

The weather channel tells us that our last day in the 100 degree and above temp range was Friday....yesterday was 98 or so....today.....81. Tonight? 51...I. Can't. Wait.

The windows are open in the house this morning for the first time since we actually moved in. We we able to open them while we were just coming here to paint, but by the time we moved in, the heat had started, and we had to keep them closed.

The air smells SOOO good.

Rain should be coming soon. Nothing yet, but the radar shows some headed our way.

Highs this coming week? 80s maybe 90. Bliss, after a solid three months over 105, save a day or two here and there in the upper 90s.

This weekend, the party I suggested 6 or 7 months ago is taking place!! Dave's parents both turn 80 this year (Dad was in June, Mom is in Oct), and their 60th wedding anniversary is this year, too.

I could not let that kind of mile stone pass us by, so I started talking to Dave about getting with his brothers and planning something. Their family is NOT usually the type to do something like that....but THEY DID!!!

There are relatives in town from Kansas, Utah, Texas, and Virginia. Dave's Great Aunt Hazel in Virginia was the only one who couldn't come, as she has become too elderly and frail to travel.

We did not keep it a surprise, because we knew people would have to travel in from out of state if they wanted to come, and that some would probably be best off staying with Mom and Dad.

I was reminded during this planning that my parents would have celebrated their 60th anniversary the day before yesterday, had they not passed away. Hopefully, they're celebrating it wherever they are now.

In other news, my realtor FINALLY accessed the condo. I have no idea how or why my soon to be former tenant was able to PREVENT him from getting in there for TWO FULL WEEKS, when time is of the essence if I am to NOT default on my mortgage.....he has keys!!!

It's my property, he's my agent....what the fuck??

Anyway, he finally got in there Friday night, and said that she told him that she is having the carpet cleaned on Tuesday. This is good news. Now I don't feel so bad about giving her back that extra $100 she sent me that was NOT supposed to be refunded.

She's paying for something I was going to have to pay for anyway....so.....it's all good.

Supposedly, there is the first showing this weekend. I have also alerted another realtor I know back home and asked her to work the listing. She said she would.

If I don't get someone signed for Oct. 1, I am in deep, deep shit, and we've already lost the last 2 weeks of August for the search because the tenant was blocking the process.