Landlord's R Us

Dear Landlord,

Today I started the task of trying to bring back to life a dying lawn, by tilling it( which by the way readers according to sparkpeople.com burns 729 calories for 2 hours worth of raking, but I digress) . I was about 1/4 of the way through when I ask myself what the hell am I doing this for? I might be moving in June. Then it hits me.... OHH ya because even though the grass was on it's way to dying when I moved in last summer , you guys might "consider " it to be neglect of the lease on our part for care of lawn and I do not get back my security deposit.

This gets me thinking about the next tenants. You guys rent out the house with pride showing how well you maintain the property. UMM no you sit in your air conditioned office , handing out keys to people so they can go see the houses. Then I was told the kitchen floor with all its burns was going to be replaced. OK 11 months down still not done. It took me 10 months to get the bent screen door replaced . It took three days to get a new oven coil in when mine somehow shattered, You won't hire an exterminator to check about a mouse problem , because according to you I can not prove it came from outside the home. (Yes readers I do have a mouse I have seen him and his evidence he leaves behind.) And even though I read my lease and it says if it is a health problem you will handle it , because I can not find a "hole " to show where he may have entered the house from outside (but if you inspected around the home you will see gaps where the morter to the bricks is completely gone) it is my problem.

Ok so I will handle my little mouse and fire ant hills I have springing up all around my house (which dear reader if ants are a problem in your area as they are in Texas here's a non toxic green tip for you. Mix together a mixture of old fashioned , not instant. grits and sugar. Spread around and on top of the anthill during the day when they are not out and about. Give it about a week and you will see where they have taken it in and fed it to the colony, including the Queen, and they will be gone. When they eat the grits and then drink water the grits expand and kill them. It works. Again I digress) . But I am here to tell you just because we are military it doesn't mean we are rich. The military ( and military wives back me up on this) gives us a housing allowance yes. And according to them it should cover all rent and utilities. Ya back in 92 when my 15 year old son was born and I was a rental agent in an apartment complex and a 3 bedroom apt rented for $850 maybe. Can anyone tell me where you can rent a house fot that price? ANY ONE? ANYONE? BUELLER? SO we are paying out of pocket sometimes even for rent , depending on where you rent. You guys are making post housing and the rental companies there (GMH..shudder) seem like the Atlantis hotel in the Bahamas. If I move on post I lose all of Hubbys BAH for rent , but guess what ? Only when I go I over my alloted usage for water and electric do I have to pay for utilities and its usually cheaper so I get more money in my pocket a month.
In closing dear Landlord who seems to have gotten his real estate licence at Landlords r US , I will now seriously consider moving on post and getting as far away from here as I can. I know you don't care this is a military town and people are always looking to rent. But this is one tentant who has had enough.
Crumbling in Killeen ,
The Wernstrums

( Dear reader if you have made it this far let me explain why we are not on post right now or homeowners. When we moved from our previous duty station we did a self move. Post housing would not even put us on the list for a house till we cleared our last duty station housing and they got a letter saying we didn't demolish the place. Well we knew the wait the list could take years but they wouldn't give us a time frame. So we had to rent a house because we couldn't very well show up with a U haul and not have anywhere to put it for an extended period of time. And no one in a military town likes to rent month to month. That's how they make money off you. You have to sign a lease and if you get offered post housing and you move out you forfeit your deposits. The down side to that if you turn down the housing you are offered you go back to the bottom of the list see the catch?
Now why aren't we home owners. It's not feasible right now moving every 3 years and we aren't even sure where we want to retire. Back east we know for sure so why buy a house in Texas if you have no plans on moving back? Equity? Well not if you are renting out your house and they destroy the place. I have seen how bad military families can be. Trust me I am sick of living in stark white walls . But its a trade off. )