Asking For Trouble

All of you line up immediately. I need a kick in my ass! I really do. Why else would I do stuff like this?

Let see. Lemme try and give you the gist. You must have an idea about how I can attract trouble like flowers do bees. What I try and venture into in the form of help usually ends up giving me sleepless nights and frequent headaches.

I have friends, whose houses I watch out for when they are not around. I am not talking about the keeping-an-eye-when-we are-out-on-a-short-vacation/trip thing. That really is nothing. I am talking about the I-am-going-away-for-many-years, take-complete-care-of-my-house-thing. Then I have to check and get the house cleaned as a tenant leaves, advertise and zero in on new tenants, etc. Again, no sweat. I can do it. Just requires me to make a few extra trips to the house. Which I am totally fine with.

I have two flats under my wings, belonging to two friends. I don't mind keeping an eye on them. So far, there have not been too many issues. Since I do not undertake any of the monetary transactions, my conscience is clear too.What gets my goat is when I am required to stand in the middle an handle the other stuff. Though I make it very clear that I am only facilitating the whole thing, I still get embroiled in other nonsense. I am no real-estate agent, but I almost feel like one. An unpaid one!

One friend totally realizes that what I do is selfless and trusts my judgment. But the other flat ran into some issues recently. The earlier tenant vacated. But they left the house in a filthy condition. It had to be painted. Then came the cleaning. I went back and forth several times. I put up the notice for vacancy, several people came to check out the flat, at all times of the day. Again back and forth, proclaiming the virtues of the apartment, society, blah, blah. Finally somebody showed keen interest and I put them across to the owners to discuss monetary stuff. Finally, we got a tenant. I heaved a sigh of relief.

About three weeks after he moved in, I get a call from the tenant saying that he had some problems due to which he had to move back to his hometown. I understood. I mean these thing happen, right? So I called my friends and informed them. Then this tenant just vanishes, key and all, way beyond the mentioned vacating time. All attempts to reach him were futile. I freaked, and had weird thoughts of a suicide or murder in the house etc. Why would somebody vanish like that? I padlocked the house and told the owners, to write him an email before I take any action. Finally he responded saying he was a bit ill. (What? Are we living in the stone ages? Could he not call?) In the meantime, tenant and owner exchanged a few heated mails, with the tenant threatening dire consequences if his deposit was not returned etc. When the tenant called me (Now why did that have to happen??) and asked me for money(??), I told him that I do not handle any of the monetary issues. My job was to only convey to the owners as to what money was required to be cut from the deposit. But he still continues to call me asking me for assurance. Yesterday I told him that the delay was because he was behaving like an ass! Go figure!

Now the new tenants, they are another bunch of clowns. I hate people who chase when the money is theirs, but avoid when they have to actually give. They moved in to the flat (yeah the same flat mentioned above. We are not done with it yet!) in the beginning of September. The deal is that the tenant has to pay two months deposit and a months rent check (made out to the owner) in advance before the keys are handed over. I insisted on a check, so they gave it to me and told me to hold on for a few days before I deposit it. I could feel steam coming outta my ears, I wanted to beat them up(Do any of u blame me?), but I agreed. With the owner asking me about the checks periodically, I have been following up (Why? Why??) with the tenant. Now today, she sends me an SMS asking me to deposit only 1 check. Now what do they expect me to tell the owners?

This whole thing is really rotten. This is not my job. A little help (which I so love doing) is turning out to be a total pain. I am thoroughly uncomfortable being taken for a ride like this. I am just gonna go ahead and deposit both the checks, and say, "Oooops!"