Unbelievable

So, before the collapse of the subprime market (affectionally known in our office as "OMG I WILL GO ON A SHOOTING RAMPAGE IF ANOTHER DEAL FALLS THROUGH BECAUSE THESE PEOPLE CAN'T GET FINANCING") we were doing a lot of deals with credit injured buyers. We had approximately 5 deals pending at the time of the collapse. They have all fallen through. Except for one. The buyers are holding on by their fingernails trying to get this deal done.

Background: We rented a home in El Mirage to this one couple last year. They were very nice but ultimately it was always something. Truck broke down. Job fell through. Check is coming next week. Blah blah blah. The bottom line was, they never paid rent on time when they paid at all. Of course, we evicted them last November. Then sent them to collections for $1500. Wash hands, move on.

Mid last year we started working with a company that specialized in working with the subprime market. In December we sent them a house that needed a bunch of repairs, they took some buyers out, the buyers could see past the necessary repairs and decided they wanted it. They needed to get into something asap because they were living in a hotel, so we had this massive week of repairs on the property trying to get it livable so these people could move in. They moved in at the end of December and they were supposed to close by mid January. Fast forward 3 months and they still haven't been able to get the deal done and now all the subprime lenders have closed their doors, making it well nigh unto impossible for them to perform. I sat in on a call about these people 2 weeks ago and finally heard their names for the first time. Yup, same renters we had evicted in November, which we're sure we'll be able to laugh about someday. Small, small, evilly ironic world. We have all pledged to communicate more now.

Financially, this property is killing us. We put close to $15k into the property in repairs so they could move in. We have carried a $2375/mo mortgage payment PLUS their utilities for 3 months. Did I mention they haven't paid us a red cent in rent? Finally last week we told them to give us money, get the deal done, or get out. They promised they'd bring us $2000 on Wednesday. On Friday they showed up with $800 and swore they'd be back with the remaining $1200 on Monday. On Monday they showed up with $600 and promised they'd be back with the rest later in the day. They didn't show up. So, the fact of the matter is, they still owe us $600 (at least).

Today we got a final notice for the water bill on the property (we're having cash flow issues due to the aforementioned multiple deals falling through and paying their water bill wasn't real high on our list of priorities). The total came to just under $160 and was for the months of February and March (during their occupancy). So I called the husband and told him I was faxing over the bill and it was their responsibility to pay for it. His response?

"Unbelievable." And then he hung up on me.