We rent out our "old house" as we call it; the house my husband and my mother-in-law bought when he first moved to town. It is where I first met my future husband. It is where we had our rehearsal dinner before our wedding. It is the first house we subsequently bought together, from MIL. It is where we first brought my son home to when we started his foster/adopt process.
We moved three years ago, because even though it is a decent, solid house, it's right smack on a corner with quite a bit of traffic whizzing by, it has no yard, and it's not in what you'd call the most family-friendly neighborhood.
We rent it because houses just don't sell around here. Real estate boom? Not in Steubenville.
Two years ago the neighbors to our right of our current house had to move out because that house was being sold, and the then-owner of that house wanted to get the guys a good deal, so he negotiated for them to rent our "old house." Which was fine with us as we were looking for renters anyway. But we never did get them to sign a lease.
They supposedly wanted to stay for four years, but they were all from New Orleans, and that was before Katrina hit. They all decided to leave in June.
Well, I don't really know how many people actually lived there at one point during the two years it was rented by the one responsible, polite, friendly face we actually dealt with. I'm thinking it was something like 20. And they all left hundreds, probably thousands of dollars, worth of stuff behind. Computers, designer clothes, televisions, bedding, kitchen stuff, books, personal documents and pictures, furniture, gadgets, boots -- you name it.
Students, they were. I think they needed to take a class on responsibility and conservatism.
I no longer have the slightest compunction about what we ask for rent, which is about the same as what someone in a house much less sound and pretty also pays. I used to feel sorry for poor students, assuming they barely had two pennies to rub together. Or at least it seemed that way with some of our people who didn't seem to have money when rent was due.
Personally, I worked hard every summer so that I could go to college the next year. I did get scholarships and money from the VA due do my father's disabled veteran status. But I also worked. Of course, my tuition and board wasn't a five-digit figure every year. (I recall that for my first semester of college, when I went to the State University and lived at home, my expenses were all of $600. Mind you, that was in 1985.)
Anyway, if these folks can collectively leave behind what amounted to an entire garage packed with stuff, somebody is not hurting for money. I don't begrudge people their wealth, but I am not enamored with people tossing perfectly usable things away as garbage.
We have brought home so far at least 4 heaping minivan loads of stuff that I have cleaned out, sorted, and mostly donated to the local Catholic resale shop to generate some income to aid the poor. At least I do feel good that this is good quality stuff that is going to be able to bring in a decent dollar amount for Samaritan House. And I also know that probably at the end of every semester, there will be more to collect from the University dorms and rental properties.
But I do hope our next renters will abide by their lease and not leave it all over our old house.
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