Background

I bought this house years ago. I paid about double the going cost in the area because of all the upgrades that the previous owner (Erma Worth) and her husband had done. (And because I was stupid and didn’t know any better)

It was ideal for a single man that worked for minimum wage. It had a mother in law apartment in the back and an extra bedroom in the front that could be rented out. Since my mortgage was about $400 per month and utilities ran an additional $200 per month, I set the rear rent at $75/week and the bedroom at $50/week. For several years this allowed me to leave almost “mortgage free”.

The best one word description for the abode would be “quaint”. The front consisted of a living/dining room, a small kitchen, a small bathroom, and two ten foot by twelve foot bedrooms. All of the walls where sheathed in medium-dark paneling. A very thin brown carpet covered all the floors including the kitchen and bathroom. The windows were all single hung with aluminum frames. And a drop ceiling with acoustic tiles finished off the décor.

The rear had a small but complete kitchen, a living room, a tiny, shower only, bathroom, and another small bedroom. This was made of cinder block and all of the walls were painted white. I had the same dark brown carpet except in the kitchen where it had 70s style linoleum.

Included in the sale was a lot and a half of land, (small lots) a ten foot by ten foot aluminum shed, and a garage that looked like it was going to fall down with the next light breeze. Three palm trees in the front completed the Mediterranean look.

It took me all of about two weeks to figure out I had been lied to about the house. The “new” plumbing was leaking in the bathroom and when I looked at it to see what it was going to take to fix it, I found a pipe that was rusted through….This got me looking closer at the other “upgrades” that were done. Allot of them where either crappy fixes, or just plain old cover-ups. But it was a far step above the closet that I had been living in and as I was living practically free I had the money to fix them as they became a nuisance.

For a couple years the “fix as it becomes a problem” routine worked well and I was pretty much happy with my living situation. I had few parties but did have friends over almost every weekend to play board games. Although a lot less damaging than a party the weekly get-togethers did take a toll on the junk carpet and the cheap wall paneling. But nothing that I wasn’t willing to live with.

The beginning of discontent started after my long time friend Mark H. moved out of the rear apartment to be with his girlfriend. A guy that worked with me named Jeff moved in and became the number one rated pig in my short list of renters.