And then things got really stressful...

A few days after we got home from our wonderful trek experience we were slammed with the stress of our rental.  Once again.  I try to remind myself that I'm grateful that I was able to rent out our old home and move into a house that would fit our family.  But I REALLY, REALLY, want to sell that house!!!! 

We got access to the home on the night of the 15th and our new tenants were anxious to move in the next night.  I knew that the condition of the home had deteriorated over the last 6-12 months but I wasn't prepared for what was ahead of me. 

I hired 2 people to help me clean on the morning of the 16th.  And clean we did.  And clean.  And clean.  And clean.  There was a thick layer of dust and dog hair on the walls.  It was nearly impossible to get it all off.  I spent an entire hour wiping down walls, windows, and blinds in one room and it still felt dirty. 

My helpers stayed until around 1:00 and then had to leave. I continued to clean.  John came home from work early and worked in the yard.  My amazing carpet cleaners showed up that afternoon and worked for hours trying to get the stains out of the carpet and worked out a plan to repair damaged sections. And they actually got the stains out!  I was very impressed.

We also spent a fair amount of time taking pictures to document the damage.  It wasn't depressing at all.

 

 

 

There was just a little taste for ya!

 

After meeting with the new renters we were feeling hopeful.  They wanted to repaint the bedrooms.  (The bedrooms needed it.)  They wanted to repaint the pantry and the closets.  They wanted to replace base boards. They asked if they could put borders up around trees that had become overgrown.  To all of this I said...YES!  I was just happy to have someone in the home that wanted to do some work to it.  And as our new renter is an employee of tru green, he is attacking the lawn and going to bring it back to life.  And they want to do all of this because it's their home now.  I loved hearing that! 

 

Anyways, we left them keys and headed on our way.  And then that night we got a call.  They came back to the house after it had been closed up for a few hours and the smell was terrible.  They had gone to Lowe's hoping to find a solution on their own, but to no avail. John and I headed over and were welcomed by a blast for urine smell.  It was horrible.  It took just a few minutes to determine that the carpets had to go. And so we pulled them out right then and there.  And this is what we found...

The carpets were covered in pet stains.  The subfloor reeked of urine.  There was even mold on the subfloor...apparently the dog had a favorite pee spot.  All of this damage caused by a small Chihuahua that was supposed to be kenneled while inside.  I'm guessing there was no kennel.  But that's just a hunch. 

The next morning new carpet was picked out.  I spent time over the next few days helping with the paint.  The bedrooms are now the most beautiful shade of grey.  Our renters were troopers and had to wait another 5 days to move in.  And now there is nice new carpet and sealed subfloor. 

We have sent a bill of over $2000 to our previous renter to cover the damages that her deposit didn't cover.  Honestly I'm not planning on getting a dime from her.  I guess time will tell and we'll have to decide if it's worth taking her to small claims court.  She was also kind enough to ask us to take her last months rent out of her deposit and to not pay her last water bill.  She's super thoughtful.

And on that note...at this point I'm hopeful that the silver lining in all of the stress and money lost this summer is that our home will be ready to sell within a year.  Maybe our new renters will even want to buy the house?!  It's newly recarpeted after all.