Well having been a property manager many years ago, I lived in an older building in Hollywood. The building changed hands several times while I lived there. It was finally bought by someone for renovation.
I used to have to patrol the halls at night with my German Shepherd due to a couple of tenants that would open the security doors and leave them open. When we were finally able to get them out I had to clean their old apartment. It was a two bedroom and these two grown men lived with their 84 year old mother.
What I found:
170 bottles of bootleg corn wiskey. (Made a great drain cleaner pouring it down the drain, really cleaned out the pipes!)
One wall in the living room had mold growing on it, and they had set their beds up in the living room. You could see where they never vacumned the carpet the dust was so thick. The carpet had rotted so that when I vacumned it came up in strips.
The kitchen and stove were so thick in grease and grime, I thought the wall color was yellow, instead of the lovely pastel green it actually was once I got through scrubbing.
The back bedroom was filed with trash and junk, up to the window sills, underneath all that was a couch, love seat, and chair and ottoman. I did manage to get a real nice set of metric and regular cresecent wrenches while cleaning up the trash.
The bathroom and shower stall and tub, were so disgusting. The walls were paneled halfway up with imported Italian Marble. All I can say I was glad I was wearing gloves when I washed those down.
ANd then there was the crazy lady on the top floor who dumpster dove and was constantly bringing stuff home. She had three cats and a dog, which she did take good care of her animals, but the cat smell was overwhelming from her apartment.
I have lived in my current house going on 5 years. I have slowly landscaped the front, uncovered and reset the brick walkway in the backyard, and am slowly cleaning, plastering, and restoring the inside of the house as well. I have a really great landlord. He and his wife know that I will take care of the property, that I pay my rent, and minor repairs I handle myself. I only call them if it is something that is beyond my capabilities or a major problem. They even reduced my rent this year, and my landlady loves chickens. She comes by just to see them, especially if I tell her I have some new fluff butts.
Of course this house is 109 years old, and needs major work done to it, but I do what I can.
