Things That Go Bump In The Night
A Day In the Life...
Have you ever had a resident who was such a pain you couldn’t wait for their lease to expire so that you could give them notice to vacate? Here’s a wild tale submitted by a leasing pro in Houston that goes along with this “spooky” time of year. In it, you’ll see how one troublesome resident created so many headaches for the management team, they finally decided to let him out of his lease and allow the guy be someone else’s problem!
Things That Go Bump in the Night
Years ago I was hired to do a lease-up on a new property that had just come out of construction. I’d rented a downstairs unit to a nice man who seemed like he’d be an ideal resident. It wasn’t long before my team and I realized this was not going to be the case.
This guy complained about everything from the moment he moved in. We bent over backwards to make him happy, but to no avail. Then things took a strange turn. He started coming into the leasing office complaining that the vacant apartment, located directly above him was haunted by angry spirits.
According to him, there were ghosts making a bunch of racket and he couldn’t get any sleep. He said that during the night he would hear sounds like moaning, breaking glass and scraping noises.
Spirits Afoot Upstairs
The resident said he’d done research on the land our community had been built upon and learned that it was the site of an old Indian burial ground. He believed the noises upstairs meant the spirits were unhappy that their final resting place had been disturbed.
Needless to say, having one of your residents ranting loudly about their apartment being haunted within earshot of your prospects can put a damper on your closing ratio!
Of course, we did several inspections of the upstairs unit and never found anything unusual. One day, the manager even took the unhappy man inside the vacant apartment so he could see for himself there was no evidence of any ghosts or ghouls.
Unfortunately, there was no unconvincing the guy and his complaints became even stranger and occurred more frequently. He demanded we bring in a priest or hire an exorcist to remove the spirits. We learned he’d begun knocking on his neighbors’ doors describing his “ghostly encounters” which led to even more calls to our office. To be honest, we weren’t sure if he was mentally unstable or just needed an excuse to break his lease.
Eventually we’d had enough! The decision was made to let him out of his lease. Once the guy had moved out, I quickly leased his apartment and the one above it.
Interestingly enough, after the man was gone, we never had another report of any encounters between our residents and the spirit realm.
From the book I Have a Complex, But I'm Managing It!, stories from property managers compiled by Monica E. Simmons.
Monica E. Simmons, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for JDC Enterprises, LLC, has worked in the multi-family industry in several different capacities since 1987. She is a published author whose books include; I Have A Complex, But I’m Managing It!, It Happened in The Hill Country and 30-Love.
Contact her at: Monica@TheVendorGuide.com
