The Perks and Perils of Housing

We have been programmed to believe that home ownership is one of the ultimate goals of success.  However, many of us have either been there and done that or we don’t want to be socially and culturally pushed into purchasing a home when we are not ready or wanting to be tied to a house or land maintenance.  

Some of us want freedom from the stress of ownership.  We rent for the convenience of maintenance service, freedom to travel, the amenities, safety and socialization.  

What happens when we discover that the apartment we agree to rent is a defected or deficient product?  What happens when maintenance doesn’t respond timely or respond at all when our heat or air conditioning doesn’t work?  What happens when fees get added that are not clearly defined in our lease?  What happens when management raises rent or retaliates in some way because we insist that what has broken down or stopped working needs to be repaired?  What happens when we are continuously ignored?  What happens when retaliation results in false accusations and eviction proceedings?  

My attorney said, “Carla, you know the Golden Rule, ‘He who has the Gold has the Power’.”  It is true that most laws in most states support the landlord or property owner.  We are often at the beneficence or maleficence of the one who owns the building and the land.

Post the Pandemic, corporations purchased houses and apartment complexes in masses.  They hired Property Management Companies to manage their property and staff.  The Property Management Companies are the middle guy that can make or break your apartment living life.  They can truly be the perk or the peril of apartment living.

The best way for me to go through the pros, the benefits, and the perils, the complexities, is to share what I have learned from 2016 to today.  It was in 2016 that I finally made the decision to downsize, sell my old house that was built in 1920, and to pass the torch.  It was the fifth house that I had renovated.  

Seventeen years later I was done with renovation and wanted less space to clean and someone else to take care of the maintenance.  I had an estate sale, sold my house and entered the life of a tenant.  I had been a homeowner and landlord of rentals but had not been a tenant since 1976.  It was an interesting exchange of perks and perils.

It was perfect for the first four years.  Certainly, there were some aggravations, such as parking and maintenance issues, but overall, I felt bliss.  I could sit on the balcony and look at the lake during the day and watch the sky at night.  I could walk out of my door to walk for miles, swim laps in the pool and work out in the weight room with no driving required.  I could be around friends when I wanted and be alone when I wanted.  Best of all was being able to save some money.  

Then my neighbors, who were same age women friends, started moving into the two-bedroom apartments and the new neighbors were very young, some trust babies, party people.  The entire section became like a fraternity row.  The dent in the side of my car, as well as three other cars, from a drunk driver in the parking lot was the final straw.

The manager told me that a two-bedroom was becoming available and would be completely renovated.  Bliss was mine again until the post Pandemic excessive rent hikes began.  The first increase was $50.00, at lease renewal time, then $150.00, then $200.00-$300.00.  Five years later there was a total of a $600.00 or more increase.  Twenty tenants, including me, moved at the $200.00-$300.00 increase.  

The search for a new apartment was excruciating.  I finally decided to move to the apartment complex across the street which was lower in rent cost.  I had met the manager, talked to the head of maintenance numerous times when I walked, and a renovated and allegedly updated apartment was going to be available at the end of my lease.  

My closest friend was living where I would be moving.  I researched the Property Management Company and although there were mixed reviews, they were a relatively stable company with some perks, and they managed numerous apartment complexes in the Chattanooga area.  This was promising.

Once again, the decluttering, downsizing and packing began.  The move went well with the assistance of my incredibly helpful son, and I was relocated with a lower rent, nice view, same area where I walked and filled with hope.  The hope was dented when the air conditioner went out on move-in day which was on a weekend.  

It was a hot unpacking and setting up a new apartment experience.  I did not know how to contact emergency maintenance or how to put in a work order with this complex, but I am not sure that would have mattered.  

Monday the head of maintenance came, got the air conditioner running which only lasted until that evening.  This went on and on for approximately two months before maintenance changed the thermostat.  This worked until cold weather began. 

Since the move into what was supposed to be an updated, renovated apartment, I have lived through three major construction projects.  The sliding glass door to the balcony had to be replaced due to age and damage and the fifty-five-year-old HVAC had to be replaced due to becoming a dead soldier.  During the replacement of the HVAC system, significant electrical problems were discovered.   Extensive electrical repair had to be done on the same day the new HVAC was installed.

Three IBEW trained and licensed electricians were immediately called in to do repairs.  They arrived in the speed of first responders.  I have learned to listen to contractors and subcontractors talk amongst each other and I have learned to ask questions.  My renovation alarms go off when the talk goes to nervous whispering and activated movement in an “Oh, S***!” moment. 

The HVAC system had died ten days before it was finally removed, and the huge nest of mysterious electrical wires was discovered.  The temperatures had been in the twenties during those ten long, cold days before the HVAC company was contacted and scheduled to do the replacement.    

In the recovery world there is a saying, Principles before Personalities.  In property management and maintenance, it is often Personalities and Prosperity before Property & People Protection.  The dogma is to do the minimal to get by in order to cut costs.  After all, revenue is first and foremost.  

Owners have bought up properties in the same way they would purchase stocks.  Pride of Ownership may not exist, post Pandemic, like it might have by local, private owners before the Pandemic.  The housing world is in a new world with the primary goal of revenue and not necessarily customer and community satisfaction.

The Property Management Companies exist at the pleasure of the owners which is to make money.  The apartment staff is at the mercy of the Property Management Company.  

The residents often hope for the best with the basic unwritten rule of not complaining or making demands.  This includes not submitting maintenance request for fear of having their rent increased.  This cultural norm is bass ackwards because of the problems that can develop and the decrease in community satisfaction and renter retention.

What tenants or renters experience in this new world of real estate is being under the control of he who has the gold.  We become legally trapped in a contract for 12-15 months while our dollars are feathering the wealth of others.  Meanwhile, the tenant is often ignored until the rent is due. 

Admittedly, I did not do well in the landlord business because I am a Social Worker through and through.  My caring factor came before padding my pockets.  I cared about the person or family who was renting my property.  They were not a thing that just provided me income, they were people that mattered as much as I mattered.  

Did I get burned?  Yes, I had some bad experiences with a few renters.  All in all, the people that lived in the houses that I owned were good people.  They appreciated that I respected and regarded them in the same way I would want to be regarded.  The old Golden Rule was and is something I believe.  “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  This means that we treat others as we want to be treated.  

Generally speaking, I love apartment life.  I have close friends and friendly contacts that are invaluable.  I am able to go for long, safe walks where I currently live.  My sanity walks help me manage stress and the arthritis that creeps in with getting older.  I feel safe and I actually like the apartment staff most of time.  

I do not want to return to home ownership with the upkeep and isolation that can come with living alone in a house.  The perks, in my case, outnumber the perils.

However, the perils do exist.  I am negotiating one of those due to the ten, cold days of having no heat (an essential service) in twenty-degree weather.  But there are many more perils that I have experienced with clients over the years.  

In Tennessee, tenants have the right to a habitable living environment, privacy, quiet enjoyment, and protection from discrimination, along with the right to a prompt return of their security deposit.  This is the law in most states.  The sad thing is that most tenants are too afraid to do what is necessary to protect themselves.

Part II will cover:

• Know how to contact and make reports to your local, state and federal organizations for help when needed.  There are many resources.  

• Become familiar with the Landlord and Tenant state and federal laws.

• Become familiar with how to contact the city and county Council Person and the State Representative for your area.

• Have a copy of your lease available at all times and become familiar with it.  If needed, contact an attorney for review and interpretation.  Legal Aide can be a good resource for those with limited income.

• Document all conversations, requests, phone calls regarding maintenance requests, reports to staff regarding health and safety issues, disturbance of the peace, etc.

Apartment Living can be a wonderful, safe experience when tenants, the staff and the Property Management Companies work together.  The owners can be happy when customers are happy.  

The renter does not serve the Property Management Company or the Owner.  The renter is the revenue.

More to Be Revealed.

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