Goodbye... and welcome!

[Raveni]

So, my business is managing HOAs and other associations. Sometimes, people love us, sometimes they hate us.

One guy we liked to call Old Yeller. OY got off on the wrong foot almost right away when we began managing one community when he paid his monthly bill with a check and immediately went and closed his bank account for some reason. Now, OY owes that month's bill, bank fees, late fees, interest etc.

Why did we call him Old Yeller? Because every month for the next year, he would call yelling about the late notice he got, demanding that everything be removed from his account (even though he never sent a replacement check), want to know when we were going to "fix" our problem and stop sending him notices, etc.

Finally, we get a strange call that gets transferred to me. OY is calling, but he's not yelling (at first).

OY: "I just wanted to let you know that I'm selling my home and moving out. Goodbye and good riddance! I don't want any of these damn fees to hold up my closing. I'm just glad this is all over with and I never have to deal with you again."
Me: "Well, I'm sure that your title company will contact us at some point about your account and they can go over your ledger."
OY: "Yes, well their name is ACME Title, so you can expect to hear from them soon. They also just took care of me when I bought my new house."
Me: "Oh, I've heard of ACME, we just did a closing with them for a home in $community.
OY: "WHAT?!?!?!"
Me: "Um, I said we've heard of them."
OY: "WHAT NEIGHBORHOOD DID YOU SAY?"
Me: "$community"
OY: "THAT'S WHERE MY NEW HOUSE IS. WHY ARE YOU GETTING ALL INVOLVED IN MY BUSINESS THERE?!?!"
Me: "We manage that HOA too. You should be getting a welcome packet soon. Welcome to the neighborhood!"
OT: "" -click-

[taxguykarl]

Frypan to fire. Didn't it occur to this so-and-so to verify if there's an HOA for the new area...never mind, I answered my own question.

[Sapphire Silk]

One on my idiot neighbors got his house foreclosed on last June for not paying his assessments and dues: the HOA foreclosed and took his house.

I don't miss him much, and I definitely don't miss the vicious little beast of a dog he used to have. But someone broke into the house last week, and has been breaking into other foreclosures in the HOA neighborhood my neighborhood (which does not have an HOA thank God) borders. Not cool.

Old Yeller should have done his due diligence. Sucks to be him.

[telecom_goddess]

Someone is breaking into foreclosed houses? How would they know unless maybe it's an inside job....just sayin'. And what are they taking? Belongings or actual house fixtures?

[starsinthesky]

Telecom,

Yes, copper, even yes the kitchen sink. Anything that can be taken out without quickly. Other times it is people looking for a place to party.

[PepperElf]

To be honest, i'm not thinking "inside job" as much as I'm thinking... former homeowner.

This weekend my BF and I were driving to a friends' and saw a home on the way there that was listed as a "short sale" (apparently it's an alternative to foreclosure). On the way back we got a better look and saw it was pretty much a piece of shit. My BF explained that with some houses like that, the homeowners often strip the house clean of anything worth selling - for both the money, and the revenge factor.


But yeah sometimes it's other people too. The friend we were visiting is a real estate agent. A couple of months ago, one of the homes she was going to sell turned out to have a squatter living there. So she had to change the locks and clean the place up before she could get it sold.

[Sapphire Silk]

Someone is breaking into foreclosed houses? How would they know unless maybe it's an inside job....just sayin'. And what are they taking? Belongings or actual house fixtures?

Anything left behind by former homeowners. Copper fixtures, anything that can be stripped out and sold at "yard sales" for quick cash.

Or they're squatting: a cold house with no lights is better than the freezing outdoors in the rain.

In my area, foreclosed homes are posted by the banks with a notice, and there is usually a lockbox to keep the previous owners out once the sheriff has evicted them (or they've left on their own). They're pretty easy to spot, actually. I know all the foreclosures in my neighborhood.

Telecom,

Yes, copper, even yes the kitchen sink. Anything that can be taken out without quickly. Other times it is people looking for a place to party.

Or do drugs.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Or do drugs.

"Or?" lah de lah filler

[PepperElf]

"Or?" lah de lah filler

good point. sometimes those parties include both, I suspect.


And I'm betting some may use it for dealing too - cos of the laws about confiscating the property on/in which the transaction takes place. lawman can't really confiscate the bank's house etc.

[Hanzoku]

occasionally the drug use occurs without the party is what is meant.

[RetailWorkhorse]

Anything that can be taken out without quickly.

To be honest, i'm not thinking "inside job" as much as I'm thinking... former homeowner.

Yup, I used to flip those foreclosed houses. Some of them came with no appliances, the plaster in the older 1920s houses were ripped to shreds to get to whatever new wiring were in them, the plumbing destroyed, anything that can be sold as scrap was hauled out. What they couldn't take, was destroyed with monster mauls, hack saws, anything to make the whatever un-salvageable (I myself kept a Lady Maul in the Jeep when I was working, just for safety since sometimes I slept in the house I was flipping). I ripped up the heart pine flooring and installed it in another house; idiots in House 1 didn't know what a wonderful thing they had so instead of destroying it for the cheap-ass blonde pine they wanted, I put the red-tinted heart pine in another house with different decor. Ditto the Hickory flooring. Idiot wanted to PAINT that one. Ugh.

I miss that job.

[EricKei]

Ditto the Hickory flooring. Idiot wanted to PAINT that one. Ugh.

Tempted to ask for this idiot's address, but I'm trying to stay on Santa's good list Painting a perfectly good hardwood floor, indeed.

Anything left behind by former homeowners. Copper fixtures, anything that can be stripped out and sold at "yard sales" for quick cash.

Or scrapyards. This particular crime (mainly, thieves stealing it from houses/businesses that are *currently in use*) has become more and more popular lately.

[RetailWorkhorse]

I think they're pulling the copper because copper has gone up market-wise so much in the last couple of years or so. Our pennies would be pulled and melted down if it wasn't for the fact it's illegal (would also piss me off because I'm looking for certain pennies, Bossman managed to get a brand new slug in one of our rolls and I'm so friggin' jealous!).

[Heksubah]

Hah! As someone who works in title insurance, this makes me laugh. Why? Because I know that when you sell a home if you have any sort of HOA liens then the title insurance will require it be paid off on the commitment as a requirement to receive insurance to the ownership of the land. Any liens against the land typically will have the same treatment.

[XCashier]

I ripped up the heart pine flooring and installed it in another house; idiots in House 1 didn't know what a wonderful thing they had so instead of destroying it for the cheap-ass blonde pine they wanted, I put the red-tinted heart pine in another house with different decor. Ditto the Hickory flooring. Idiot wanted to PAINT that one. Ugh.

Some people don't know a good thing when they've got it. Painting beautiful hardwood floor, the philistines!