Renter Stories

[gavitron]

Perhaps I am the only one, but I really doubt it, that has some horror stories about renting out my rooms for the winter. Anyone have any good ones? How about the old 10 people in 2 rooms routine? Or the clouds of smoke pouring out the windows? The lesson I learned this winter is that nobody has any concept of energy conservation. Little do these people know, I would rather find out they have been smoking weed in the house and still be able to pay the gas bill, then to have a huge gas bill because the furnace runs none stop while the windows are all open trying to air the place out so their landlord doesn’t find out (which, for anyone reading this that might try such a thing, is a dead give away, your landlord isn’t an idiot, think about it, he’s getting all your money)

[lk]

You Picked a touchy subject. No respect is what these renters have. Try throwing a shaker with about 200 ******* hippies at it doing all sorts of things i will not metion and thinking that the landlord will not find out. Little did they know Landlord was there at 7am kicking there asses out them still up from what ever there were doing and having to pack in less than a half hour so they would not get there asses kicked. No Respect what so ever. they are all a bunch of losers that need to go home!!!!!!!!

[gavitron]

The unfortunate part of it all is that renting is obviously a big part of our local economy and some of us rely on these people to come to Fernie with their rent money. If we attracted nice, family orientated people it would be a win win situation. However, what our town offers is attractive to the kind of people we’re complaining about right now. Until I can find a less risky option, I’m just going to have to keep taking the good with the bad.
I recently spent some time in Texas, and almost every younger person I met down there, after filling them in as to where I was from, responded with “Sweet, I hear you guys have some unreal weed up there!” It has given me the impression that perhaps skiing and mountain biking might not be the only thing that attracts all these people to Fernie. I’m not a big fan of the drug scene, but it we go ahead and legalize marijuana, I might have to switch from real estate to agriculture!

[sparkes]

….

[gagbandit]

After too many similar incidents over the years I simply have stopped renting out rooms in my home. I could really use the income, but when I consider the financial risk of damage ( even taking into account a deposit ) I don’t view it as a good risk. This “weed town” reputation really does attract the wrong type of renters….and it’s so hard tell – at least for an old guy like me Wasn’t there a magazine article over the last few years that promoted the weed town stereotype ? I’ll sign up to send a letter to that editor if I knew the mag……

[flyingecko]

I think it was rolling stone..

[username]

You think smoking weed makes good renters bad? No! Bad renters are bad renters, not because weed makes them bad renters….. it’s because they are born as bad people. To think that weed makes people bad reminds me of how they thought about the subject in the U.S.A in the 1940’s. This is 2005, we now know better. If you are looking for someone to blame, blame yourself for overcharging rent. And choosing the wrong people to become your tenants. . Become a better judge of character and only allow good people to become renters. Fernie is just a sample of any small or large town in Canada. . . Canada loves pot. . and so do I. . I’m a hard working tax payer, not a bad renter or person. Legalize Pot Now! Over Grow The Government! !

[big mack]

Awww man, when I first moved to Fernie… I rented a place with a guy that I worked with. He couldn’t handle waiting for the snow and he bailed back to Quebec. I had to take what I got for roommates. Now, I like marijuana as much or more than anybody else, and I keep my house clean! I just can’t stand filth where I live.
So anyways I had this roommate, and he seemed responsible for the first month or so. After he knew he could just smoke up whenever he wanted, the cleanliness factor went to shit. He would bring over really young girls and get them high while I was gone to work ( he was a student) and I would come home to a complete mess and some paranoid under aged kid freaking out in my living room. Crazy. The guy would just sit there like some kind of mongoloid while I berated him. It was like he didn’t even hear me. Dishes everywhere!!!
So this went on for a couple of months. I do forestry work and in the spring he was supposed to leave while I went off to work in camps. He actually tried to sneak back into the place while I was gone and live there for free. I had my girlfriend moving in around then and he didn’t know. He got busted. He then whined about how he had no place to go, that I was the one who always made the mess and how he was such a good guy. He actually tried hitting on my now wife!!! Creep.
So here I am in the most remote camp like 20 hours into the wilderness, SCREAMING at this punk to get out of my house! Dude I looked like a freak to my co-workers, and I would have attacked him had I been there.
The last thing he said as I got off the phone having him agree to finally leave, classic flake ” The more you know, the less you care.” What the f**k is that supposed to mean?
I am still not ready to buy a house, I bought a fifth wheel trailer and truck to travel around in style and I suggest any one else out there in the transient mode to consider the same.
Gotta love Fernie though, can’t wait until I am “home” again.
Peace Fernites, jah in the highest…

[jessica]

Forget it

[griz-boy]

There is no problem with responsible renters it is the ones that don’t respect the other people living in the same house. Or just don’t respect the house. Renters are a crap shoot. You will never know how they will turn out. I have rented my whole life until buying my first home and I tell you I was a good renter from home maintenance to landscaping we did it all without having owned the home.

I also don’t rent to pay my mortgage, I use it as rental income, this is the same case with our friends.

So why feel offended if you are one of the good ones? There are alot of seasonal dirt bags out there that steal and cheat there way though life. And the better they are at stealing and cheating the better they disguise themselves to be responsible renters.

[snowangel]

i have to agree with grizboy….if you are in fact a responsible renter, jessica, then why the bitterness??? no reason to take offense if you are not one of these offensive characters. another point that i tend to agree with, grizboy, is the fact that i’m sure most homeowners don’t choose to enter into mortgages just to have renters pay their mortgage. i sure don’t! we’ve had renters before (mostly friends and all pretty good) but other friends of ours have their shares of horrific experiences and choose not to rent out again…because they CAN in fact pay their own mortgage, as do my husband and i. no renters, no fuss, and i have never deferred on my mortgage and never intend to. perhaps, jessica, you wrote this in a small fit of anger and that is why it is a completely irrational post. i think you lost sight of the initial subject which was terrible renters and not “seasonal staff” and “little guy” bashing…you clearly have an incredible complex. oh and FYI…i’ve lived in fernie my entire life and before the “little guys” and “seasonal staff” came in here with the tourism boom, this town sustained itself just nicely. fernie is not just about the damned ski hill.

[sparkes]

.

[jessica]

No “fit of anger” here, and I certainly do not have a complex.
I simply feel strongly about the community of Fernie, and hate to see the conflict between locals and seasonal residents, and wanted to say that not all seasonal renters are disrespectful.

I also didn’t mean that landlords cannot afford their mortgage, but that no one is forcing them to rent out their place. If renters are such a problem, sell the place.

I am not bitter about anything, and was just responding to the bitterness of the orginal post.

Oh, and FYI Snowangel, I never said there was nothing to Fernie but the “damn ski hill,” quit trying to insult me, there is no need for that to be part of this conversation.

[snowangel]

MMEEEOOOWWW!
noone’s trying to insult you, jessica. once again you take things completely out of context! check this out though:

jessica wrote:
“As a tourism student, I know the value of entry level workers, and a town like Fernie could not survive without the “little guys.”

first of all…i’m a “little guy” as well…i just happen to own a home.

a town like fernie couldn’t survive without seasonal workers?? the only reason we need seasonal workers is because of the ski hill! all i’m saying is that fernie can survive just fine without the ski hill. we did for 100 years prior. now we have expanded into tourism, and that’s awesome for us…but like sparkes said, fernie would survive if we had 10 more bad winters! sure, people like yourself would leave, but the rest of us would stick around to live, thrive, and marvel being lucky enought to live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. i like the hill…i really do…i love snowboarding…but there is more to this heavenly place than that.

ok now i’m going to quote you again from your original post:

jessica wrote:
“First of all, you obviously cannot afford your own mortgage, therefore you rely on these tenants.”

ok now check out what you wrote in your most recent post:
jessical wrote:
“I also didn’t mean that landlords cannot afford their mortgage, but that no one is forcing them to rent out their place.”

HUH????? that doesn’t begin to make sense. you contradict yourself.
no one with half a brain would enter into a mortgage and then rely on tennants to pay it off. you might want to just think about that before you start talking mortgages to the rest of us hard working homeowners that choose not to rent because of our experience with crappy tennants.

jessica wrote:
“If renters are such a problem, sell the place.”

why would one even entertain such a notion?? i’m not gonna sell my house because of problem renters…i’m just not going to rent!

i hope you don’t find that this post is insulting…really it’s not. i’m just trying to point out that your point of view is a little…skewed for lack of a better word. however, allow me to help. i think overall, what you’re trying to say is this:
to all homeowners: in order to avoid having bad tennants, don’t rent your place out! if you so choose to do so, for supplemental income, then you take the good with the bad.

now…doesn’t that sound a little better?? a little nicer?? a little more polite?? (ok ok gotta quote you just ONE more time!!!)

jessica wrote:
“Its time you stop bitching, and take the time to find a decent tenant. It is ignorant people like you that give Fernie’s seasonal staff a bad name.”

i have only found one person to be ignorant on this topic…no names mentioned.

MEEEOOOWWWWW!

[big mack]

Yes ma’am!
We were just talking about crappy renter stories, weren’t we? Just a little entertainment, eh?
Was it the “student ” part that jessica didn’t like?
If it was, you should know jessica, that the renter I was talking about actually owned an apartment in Calgary and this was part of the reason I thought he was OK.
Oh yeah, he was also in TOURISM! Funny that.

[sparkes]

.

[winnipegguy]

Hey everyone, i know this isn’t really on topic but i figured what a better place to ask. I am moving out to fernie in november until april and i am really trying to find a place now so i do not have to worry when i arrive there. I have heard a lot of stories about bad renters so hopefully this doesn’t make you guys mad that i am asking this but i am looking for a place to stay for those 6 months. I dont have pets and I can’t smoke due to asthma. I am not any kind of hippie or big party guy either I just finished my first year university and instead of jumping back into that i figured i’d take a year off and ski a little. I am a certified ski instructor and ski coach so im hoping on getting a job on the hill. If anyone has any ideas that would be great, i just don’t know where else to ask or find people to rent from. thanks again guys.

[gavitron]

Whoa….I shoulda been checking up on this topic.
My original intention with this topic was to have a laugh and share a little sympathy for fellow landlords who have had unfortunate situations with renters.
The advice “if you don’t like renters, stop renting” I find rather amusing. What if we all actually stopped renting? Where are all these people gonna live?
And I don’t recall saying that stoners are bad renters. However if they are renting a house where smoking drugs in the house is not allowed and they agreed to that in their rental agreement, then, in my opinion, that would make them a less than respecatable renter.
And as for using rent money to pay mortgages, I’m missing the part where that becomes a bad idea. Someone else buys your house for you? Thats just stupid! I would much rather pay for it myself. And as far as I know, people don’t get mortgages unless they have the means to pay them. You can’t walk into a bank and say “Hey, I have no money, but if you give me a mortgage, I’ll rent the place out for 20 years until its paid off” Get real, all these landlords can pay their mortgages. None of them rely on renting.
Also, who said anything about ALL renters being bad? I’m a great renter. As was posted previously, whats the problem with paying your rent on time, not wrecking stuff and abiding by any rules you agreed to when you decided to rent the place?
And whos “The Little Guy” Someone who doesn’t make much money? No fancy university degree? Whoever it is, Fernie is definetly not relying on him. People may be trying to take advantage of him, but by no means is he supporting this town.
What a funny place to post an ad looking for a place to rent.

[kingelk]

rent it , love it ,spend it , smoke it, but lets all just get it right
the rental biz is not as eazy as it sounds , but its not all bad
The best way to rent is under seasonal rental witch does protect the renter, check on your place every week( this is why you can charge more) because your putting in some hours and fixing things, and kicking bad shits out on the spot, life is good kinda like a box of choclets(ya know good and bad) but nothing is free and eazy so lets all just get a long , the best rental night mare is the chain saw story it,s had core but in the end it cost the snapper head renter,
jah love to all , keep the love in fernie and try to stay real with the ski bums, and you,ll get good renters, try drinking a beer with them or smoken a smoke , it s all about the level and about respect
cheers
irent

[canatedian]

I have been a Fernie Local for 25yrs off and on and when it came time to have to rent a place I would provide reputable references. Being Frank, if I may (Frank is not my actual name) when taking applicants for a rental situation lay out the guidelines right there. No more than 500 people at any time. Non smokers prefered. No pets (including chemical dependants) Don’t ever tell your tenant that it’s okay to have your morning Toke and Coffee while your partner must have their cigar and tea outside. Collect rent every month and try to check on the place then. Fernie is a small enough town that if you have concerns with the people taking vest in your dwelling, ask the neighbors. The Vote For Legalizing Marijuana Would Have Gone Into Us Stoners Favor If We All Didn’t Wake Up The Next Day and Say, “Didn’t We Forget To Do Something Yesterday.” Can’t we all just get abong? Politicians and the Homeless-Both begging for inadequate change.

[Author]

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