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  #1  
Old 01-07-2008, 10:10 PM
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Location: Blue Point, NY
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The definition of an ass______

The new tenants moved into the rental as of December 23, 2007. A couple with one child.........not married.

Over the weekend, I get four telephone calls.........one more antagonizing than the next........no hot water in the bathtub. Hot water is fine everywhere else, but the bathtub has only cold water. "Pipes must be messed up in the wall".

I've owned this house 15 years and there is definitely no problem with the pipes.

Stop over on Wednesday after Christmas and confirm that there is hot water from the tub..........but it runs out quickly if full demand is used for a bath. The tankless coil is marginal and cannot keep up with a heavy flow rate.

Fine, I'll check into changing the coil. Find out that the coil is $225. due to the cost of copper, now. It's simply a flange with about four feet of coiled copper tubing with fins on the OD for heat transfer. Must cost about $50. to make.........

So, I figure that I'll put in a separate hot water heater for about the same cost........electric.......and the tenants pay the electric. Tenants are fine with this............sounds like a better plan for them...........unlimited hot water.

So, I get my heater, get my parts and tools together, get some 10 gauge Romex and a 25 amp double pole breaker..........and I'm good to go.

Get there today at 2:30 p.m. and here is where I make my first critical mistake:

I tell the "wife" that I'll be installing the water heater and that the water will be off for several hours. However, I need a couple of hours to put some cement blocks down in the crawl space (4.5 ft. headroom) and drag the heater down into the space, unpack it and stand it up. Also started the lines from the water heater to the furnace without shutting the water off.

About 4:30 is when I actually shutoff the water.

It's a bit of a slow process due to the difficult working conditions in the crawl space and I want to install the heater in both parallel and in series with the tankless coil...........so, some thought and planning is involved and time disappears.

But, it's going fairly well. I'm about 80% done at 7:30 and the "husband" shows up from work.

"BRIAN"

"Hey Nick, how's it going"

"Not too good!!"

"Why's that?"

"I've got no water and there has been no water for FIVE HOURS"

"I shutoff the water at 4:30, Nick...........and I'm working as fast as humanly possible"

"Well, I've got a wife and child up there and THEY DON'T HAVE ANY WATER!!"

"Not much I can do about that, Nick..........I can only install a water heater so fast"

"I told you that I WOULD PUT THE WATER HEATER IN..........I DON'T NEED TO BE WITHOUT WATER!!"

"Well, giving me abuse for not working faster isn't going to get your heater installed any faster, Nick"

"Well, they give me grief...........and I'M GIVING YOU GRIEF".

"Fine, Nick........whatever you say.............."

I go back to work...........he leaves the crawl space.

I get the cold water back on at 8:00 and struggle with a hot water leak for another hour (sweated it four times until I gave up and took it apart).


Now...........the irony of the situation and the reason for the title of the thread is as follows:

He works as a plumber (apprentice) over at the beach..........earns a decent salary and is well regarded by his employer.

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  #2  
Old 01-07-2008, 10:29 PM
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Location: Wakefield, RI
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Damn, I wish I could swallow my anger like that. My likely response would have been something like "You are 30 seconds from my foot in your ass so back off" But then again I operate in a "tradesman" world and thats how people like that are dealt with. I'm even guessing he was seeing how far he could push you.

The other option was to simply let him install the heater! Likely he would want money off the rent and that may or may not be an option.

Sucks to have idiots like that to deal with. I see people like that every day. 90% of the work-a-day people are great. The other 10% are like him. Next time snap at him. I guarantee he gets it all the time as he deserves it.

RT
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  #3  
Old 01-07-2008, 10:41 PM
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Is this the place you'd been trying to rent for quite a while? Makes a difference in how much BS to put up with.
I just got back for a couple of weeks overseas and a tenant called to say her washing machine wasn't draining correctly and hadn't been working right since 12/26. When I went over to fix it today the rent check was on the table with $16.50 deducted for her laundry costs for the last 10 days. We had a little chat this evening to straighten things out. (The problem was half a broken button clogging the outlet pipe)
The kicker is that in Colorado it is the legal duty of the tenant to maintain the apartment.
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  #4  
Old 01-07-2008, 10:41 PM
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Location: Ottawa Lake, MI
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Be calm and collected...and raise the rent. CYA, renters have so much law on their side it is sickening, although it probably wouldn't be there if it weren't for bad landlords. Good luck.

Not that you are a bad landlord, just making a point.
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  #5  
Old 01-07-2008, 10:46 PM
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Location: Blue Point, NY
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Well, after operating this business for 25 years, I'm of the firm belief that no good will come from confronting a tenant. The best policy for problem tenants is to ignore them. State your case and leave the emotions out of the equation.

Many tenants are a couple of cards short of a full deck and arguing with them is fruitless.

I just come on here and rant about it..........
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  #6  
Old 01-07-2008, 10:47 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rwthomas1 View Post
Damn, I wish I could swallow my anger like that. My likely response would have been something like "You are 30 seconds from my foot in your ass so back off" But then again I operate in a "tradesman" world and thats how people like that are dealt with. I'm even guessing he was seeing how far he could push you.

The other option was to simply let him install the heater! Likely he would want money off the rent and that may or may not be an option.

Sucks to have idiots like that to deal with. I see people like that every day. 90% of the work-a-day people are great. The other 10% are like him. Next time snap at him. I guarantee he gets it all the time as he deserves it.

RT
Rob, you'd have flattened him.........there'd be five police cars outside the house right now...........

I very rarely let tenants do any work..........I'm usually sorry for it.
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  #7  
Old 01-07-2008, 10:48 PM
Medmech's Avatar
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Crystal Ball say ....it's going to be a long year.
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  #8  
Old 01-07-2008, 10:53 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Howitzer View Post
Crystal Ball say ....it's going to be a long year.
........let's hope not..........and, it's going to be 18 months...........not one year.
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  #9  
Old 01-07-2008, 10:56 PM
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Ooh. That would not have been a good situation for me to be in. First, I'd be cranky about being in the crawl space; then to be on the receiving end of a high-decibel dressing down by plumber-boy? I'd excuse myself, call my insurance agent to double the size of my liability umbrella, then come back and choke him out.
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  #10  
Old 01-07-2008, 10:57 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kerry View Post
Is this the place you'd been trying to rent for quite a while? Makes a difference in how much BS to put up with.
I just got back for a couple of weeks overseas and a tenant called to say her washing machine wasn't draining correctly and hadn't been working right since 12/26. When I went over to fix it today the rent check was on the table with $16.50 deducted for her laundry costs for the last 10 days. We had a little chat this evening to straighten things out. (The problem was half a broken button clogging the outlet pipe)
The kicker is that in Colorado it is the legal duty of the tenant to maintain the apartment.
Yep, I finally got what I thought were decent folks, just before Christmas. Figured a couple with a small child can't go too far wrong.

He's done some heavy work in cleaning up the yard..........so, we'll see..........he might just have had a bad day..........because the "wife" was calling him and complaining............
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  #11  
Old 01-07-2008, 11:00 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PaulC View Post
Ooh. That would not have been a good situation for me to be in. First, I'd be cranky about being in the crawl space; then to be on the receiving end of a high-decibel dressing down by plumber-boy? I'd excuse myself, call my insurance agent to double the size of my liability umbrella, then come back and choke him out.
Well, he's in his late '20s..........and I'm nearly double that.......so, with my very sore back (from the crawl space) and my tired body.........attempting to kick his ass probably isn't a wise idea.
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  #12  
Old 01-07-2008, 11:02 PM
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...which is the sensible perspective.
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  #13  
Old 01-07-2008, 11:02 PM
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You did well, Brian. I bet his wife pulled his chain good and probably exaggerated the situation to get sympathy. I would have said exactly the same things you did. No sense getting emotional, it never helps.

Tom W
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  #14  
Old 01-07-2008, 11:04 PM
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I hate renters, they waste a lot of our time and are a royal PITA to deal with. They want the world on a spam budget. Doing a rental is 80% of the work of selling a house, and you get paid about 1/10, or less.

Back when I first got into the business I wasted a ton of time with them. Now I only deal with renters in Milford, and I only show them 3-4 places. Since there usualy isn't much choice that covers all there options, if they can't decide, next.

The problem is they all are broke(hence renting) and want $800 a month rentals. You can't really get anything below $1k a month around here.

Its going to be a real learning experiance when I start owning them. My friendes going to buy a 2-3 family this year so I'll be very interested in how that works.
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  #15  
Old 01-07-2008, 11:06 PM
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He was probably having a nice day, until his "wife" came along and screwed it up.

You can have two women tell you the exact same thing, but only one of them will drive you over the edge. Maybe he's got the "wife" that posesses that special talent.

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