What is the craziest situation you've been in on site?

We've all gone through some bizarre things on site - what is your favorite story?

I have many stories, but here are three issues I am dealing with right now:

1. The upstairs neighbor has a prostitute coming in. She provided me with a time-line documenting sex 7 times in one day. Now the neighbor is a 70yr old man who has survived prostate cancer. She has even called the police on him.

2. The upstairs neighbor is running a brothel. She claims people come in at all hours of the night and are having relations in every room of the apartment. According to her the set up beds in the kitchen, hallway, and bathroom.

3. The upstairs neighbor is walking around in cowboy boots. Since beating on the ceiling with her broom didn't work, she went up and knocked on the neighbors door with a HAMMER! Denting the metal fire door!

All three of these claims have been investigated and no violations have been found.

And I thought I would have a nice quiet life here at a seniors community!!!

Too Many to list:

1. Byron the Pimp-Our maintenance lead got a call once to fix an A/C some 10 years ago and walked into a very interesting situation. Byron had the gold glasses etc....

2. The Temp who was being tested as a leasing agent with full time expectations according to the agency telling me he was not interested due to his extreme passion for being a waiter at The Rib Crib...

3. The onslaught on apartmentratings.com by two people posting numerous times to literally bring down the communities percentage and them telling us how they did it and what to give them to stop it...P.S. When we called apartmentratings.com regarding this they never returned our calls forcing us to buy their access level as a site.

So many, but here are a few highlights over my 15+ years in property management.

Sad, but true story. A male resident distressed over a pending divorce, drank pesticide and then lit himself on fire, just after knocking on the door of the apartment, so his estranged wife could watch. He died.

A male pilot from a major airline and former Air Force Academy graduate (boy next door type) was arrested for trying to kill his "girlfriends" husband. They found receipts for an ax, plastic bags in his apartment. Never heard the outcome of the case though. Left the property before it all played out.

A memmber of the DEA tried to harass me into cooperating with him. He had come into the office to get info on a resident, but did not have a warrant. He didn't like my answer that we required a warrant or supoena to get info. Apparently he waited until I left that day to get my license plate number and got my address, well, he thought it was my address, but I had moved. The next day he said he was very attempted to wake me up at 3:00 in the morning and bring me in for questioning and asked me again if I could show him the resident's file. I just laughed and told him that he had an old address and would have been wasting his time. I told him my job was not worth it, I could be fired for not protecting the privacy of our residents. Our legal department ended up writing a letter to his supervisor about the incident. Don't know if he got in trouble or not. He never did get the info he wanted, because he never produced a warrant.

Wow, these are some crazy situations!

A few times, I noticed someone out at the crosswalk just walking one street, pushing the button to change the light, crossing again, round and round. She didn't look anything like a prostitute and only did this only the last week of the month just before rent was due. I was shocked but I have to have respect for someone who will do whatever it takes to pay her rent.

I've had two suicides. One made the news, the other was a single mom- in front of her children.

The affair. One year during unit inspections, I walked in on someone who didn't hear me knock or call out. The woman in bed with the resident was not the mans wife. The man and his wife still live here and have since had a child. I wish I could tell her what a slime-ball her husband is...

The "boy next door" had a stockpile of automatic weapons and some large reptiles. One of the cages was empty... fortunately he found the 8ft snake in his dishwasher before it escaped the apartment.

One former resident used to call the emergency maintenance pager daily. Because she accidentally left her towel in the sauna, locked herself out, forgot to pick up her daughter from school, lost something somewhere in the building, etc. When she called me away from dinner with my daughter on mothers day (I hadn't seen my daughter in two years,) I finally told her I would not respond to non-emergency calls to the emergency pager. Then they stepped it up and started vandalizing the office and my car. They ripped the bulletin board & literature racks off my office door, threw the forms by the door all over the halls, broke off the windshield wipers on my car, keyed scratches in the paint, drained the oil out (and put the cap back on so we wouldn't know until it ran dry.) We evicted them for repeated housekeeping issues. Ironically, they left the place spotless and they got their deposit back. The police couldn't do anything about the vandalism, because we couldn't prove it was them, even though someone they bragged about it to called me and told me it was them.

The hoarder. We've all had one. This one was sitting on a million bucks but lived in poverty. His apartment was stacked floor to ceiling with car models from the 50s-80s, in the original unopened boxes. Thousands of them.

Just today I received a very nice, gracious letter from the person we just evicted. (huh???) I still haven't figured out how to respond. If they were responsible and mature before today, they wouldn't have been evicted!

My biggest surprise was the shrine to Osama Bin Laden. It was a very decorated table, lace, candles, water offerings, pictures lined with flowers. This was in the apartment of the sweetest, nicest 90 year old couple. I was very sad when they had to move to a nursing home.

I love my job. :laugh:

We had a resident that was past due on her rent and so late that we reached the day of the eviction. When we opened the door, flies we're everywhere and her dead, rotting body lay on the couch. Her bodily fluids were dripping onto the carpet and maggots were exiting her nose and mouth--just to give you an idea of the stage of her decomposition; the stench was horrible! What's sad is she had committed suicide by overdosing on prescription medication and no one made contact with her during this time. Very sad story but crazy indeed!

Wow!!

I have had some similar issues...

I had someone go crazy. Literally. They believed their apartment was sacred and I was the devil. The resident was throwing things off their balcony (2nd floor) screaming "dirty!!!" The resident and I had a great relationship prior so I was so taken back by how they talked to me. I still believe the resident was possessed. I was wearing black that day and the resident told me "Michelle! You should be ashamed of yourself - you devil in black" oh man! The resident slammed the door and reappeared. We called the police because clearly they needed help. The resident took off all of their clothes and told the police to pray. SCARY!!!

Two suicide attempts months apart... neighbors - for different reasons. One was on my birthday. My regional was at my office and I left early to go home and rest... She called me not 20 minutes later and said "you have a death on property" - fortunately their family alerted the police and found them in time. The person was blue but survived. THANK GOD.

Hoarder who had every sort of insect you can think of. We were walking units for a new takeover site and walked in to this one... best part was the hoarder worked for the health department. :S

Someone who worked for a government agency and had access to a very private list that they shouldn't have... when they didn't show up to work - their employer got nervous and asked us to check on them. We found them dead in the middle of the floor. Rotting for days... They thought it may have been a homicide since they saw the document they shouldn't have... in the end we found out it wasn't a homicide but that we all had to be washed down due to it being some airborne illness that killed her! Can someone say HAZMAT!

Fire at 11 pm... No sleep until 5 am and back up at 7 am. OY!

The cheater - resident scandals. I have seen it all!

I love my job!! :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

Okay I have to add one more:

One day we were watching as the building across the street from us was being constructed. A truck was delivering drywall via crane to the second floor. Suddenly the building does a kinda wave and starts caving in. The 1st of many 911 calls came from our office. Within minutes our neighborhood was flooded with emergency personel, police, etc. In the begining it was thought that 13 people were trapped inside. My community became base camp. There were HUNDREDS of emergency personel from many different localities. My residents provided food for those working the scene, we provided vacant apartments for them to shower and catch a few minutes rest. There were 2 choppers in our parking lot. I ended up not leaving my community until 6am the following day. It turned out there was only one person inside the buidling and unfortunately he did not make it. This has to be by far the most unusual thing that has happened to me. It was just amazing to see all of those people working together. They brought in sound detectors, and would sound this horn every few minutes. My community is basically on a train track, and trains were stopped for fear the vibration would bring down more of the building. When the news both local and national first broadcasted the incident they mistakenly gave the name of my community. We were bombarded with calls from terrified family. Also as we did not know what actually caused the building to fall there were concerns about my 4 story building as well.
Boy I just got anxiety just by reapeating the story!

So, readers, what's your favorite crazy story posted so far? Mine is the collapsed building! What a scary thing to go through. Especially with the misinforming news reports!

Hey Brent,

I was not the manager, but I was there to mentor the new manager until the management was comfortable with the current manager's performance to go it alone. Well, I did not even get past day one with the manager as they quit. The reason was it was rent day and a tenant came in (male) and said I do not have the rent, but will have it in the middle of the month. The manager said OK, but you know there will be a late fee which we will have to deduct for being late? Tenant pulled out a 38 special and pointed it at her. The color drained right out of her face. So, there was something about him, that let me know this guy used to be in the military and so talked him down and he left. The new manager sat there for a minute and I said well, that got the blood moving on a first day huh? She said well, I have a child at home and this is my last day and she said sorry, I quit. So, I called the head office that contracted me and informed them what was happening and they asked me to hold down the fort until they could get their regional there. The regional came with another person in toe and made the mistake of talking over the incident with me in front of the new person and when we turned our attention to the new person they were gone as well. So, I was there for a week before they got someone else and it was a former military man and to my understanding he is still there and has the respect of his staff and the residents.

Wow!!!

I thought my first week was bad.

I had a resident hang a wire hanger from a fire sprinkler in their apartment. When they removed the hanger they broke the fire sprinkler and flooded all three floors of apartments... Naturally they were on the top floor.

What a learning experience!

I can't imagine pulling a gun over late fees... Wow!

I have been in a lot of dangerous and interesting situations on properties, but I would have to say the craziest situation on site was at a property in Indiana. The Maintenance Supervisor had been there for 25 years and the other two techs 10 years or more. Let's just say they knew each other very well. I was walking vacants the first week I was there and went into one that had been vacant for about a year (yes, a year!) I looked in a closet and noticed a rifle ... and an open box of ammo.) Hummm? I eventually made my way to where the group was working to turn yet another vacant. I pulled them into a conversation about guns, hunting, etc. and the MS grinned and said, "Yeah, we like to shoot the muskrats in the creek from the window of Apt X. We do it all the time! Our record is 3 in one day.) Let's suffice it to say that I knew instantly what the problems were at THAT property! The worst thing was that the MS and techs told me that the Corporate Maintenance Directors all knew they shot from the apartment windows! Huh???? Oh well ... at least no one was skinning the muskrats and grilling them for lunch at the Shop. At least, I hope not.

Is muskrat good eating? :lol:

Shooting muskrats?! :ohmy: Someone has too much time on their hands! And why was the unit vacant for a YEAR? Mine rarely last a week.

You know what we need Brent? A Chat room! :cheer:

PS- I don't think I know what a muskrat is. LOL

We've considered a chat room, Rose, but with a site as large as this, it can slow the site down significantly. May be time to reconsider the option, though!

I am happy to say I that while I personally don't know what muskrats taste like, I can tell you what they are. Yikes - good eating - do not ever want to know! Anyway, Rose, they are large furry rodents with long tails that live near ponds and marshes.

And, to answer why the unit was vacant for a bit more than a year ... well, suffice it to say that maintenance guys hunting the property probably took up valuable turn time. Generally, by the time I arrive on site at a troubled property, it is to discover all these little quirks and resolve the issues - including management, leasing, and maintenance issues. (I do love this part of my job!!!!)

Resident came into an office at a property I managed in Virginia Beach and requested we bring in a priest. We asked why and he stated the apartment was possessed by spirits. We asked why he said that and he stated they had been having feelings of someone following them in the apartment and the other night all the pictures in the hall were taken down and stacked on the toilet seat in the bathroom. He proceeded to tell us the week before that one of his daughters dolls made its way out of her bedroom on its own and when he came down the hallway it was standing in front of the front door.

Of course we wondered if drugs or alcohol was involved, and asked if someone could be pulling a prank on him. He of course got upset and threatened to take us to court because we were not handling his request for assistance. After he left I asked the manager if there were any issues with his apartment and she stated they were late on their rent and she was sending the documentation to the attorney for eviction. My recommendation, do nothing and let him explain to the judge about the ghosts. Never ceases to amaze me in this business what will come up.

Today I had to call the police on one of my favorite residents. A very good kid I have known for 4 years. Today is his birthday and he made a very bad choice. Now he has a criminal record for drug use. I know I made the right decision, and I hope someday he realizes this too, but right now I'm just so sad.

I believe this situation is as sadder as it is crazy. I took over an assignment as a portfolio operation manager in North Las Vegas. The portfolio was extremely distress, to the point the HUD office in D.C, Categorize it as their worst asset nationally. The property was drug and gang infested, to the point my first week there, I was welcomed with a dead body on my front door. However, that experience is not what I am talking about. The experience was about child. I helped established a few non-profit organization to assist in improving the lifestyle of our residents and overall community. One of my organizations which provided tutoring afterschool realized that they haven’t seen a particular kid that usually is on time and extremely involved in the program, so they came to me with concerns and to see if they can visit the unit. Because of the danger of the community and area, I decided to escort them with my security to the kids unit, and what we found was sad and horrible. We knocked and knocked on the door, and no one answered. So with my unit key, I opened the door to complete a health-check, and what I found was a unit with no furniture, just a piled of dirty closed in the living room, a guy extremely drugged in a corner. We called out for the kid, who came down with no shirt, shorts three times too big for him and only held up with a rope around the waist and no shoes. We asked him why he hadn’t come to the center for afterschool, and his response was he didn’t know what day it was because he was home sick, and he has no clothes to go out. The guy in the corner threw him a shirt he had by him, which also was three times to big and bloody! Needless to say, we took the kid with us to the center and immediately called child services, but the sad thing is, more and more often I found similar situation at this site. It took me about 2 and half years to really reach everyone at this community and the local government, to finally get the help they needed.

The sad thing is we look at our TV’s and see the needs in other countries, and send all the money oversees to assist in the world need, when in fact we have places similar if not worst right here in the US. You would be surprise to find them even in large cities like Las Vegas and Washington DC.