SlumLords: How to Deal with Them

I had always heard stories of landlords in Raleigh who would never fix up their properties and overcharged students in rent.  I believed some of the stories to be true but for the most part thought that everyone was just over exaggerating. After moving into my house I know believe all the crazy stories of landlords because I am currently dealing with one. I now consider my landlord to be a slumlord. The house is not up to code and trying to have him fix anything in the house is nearly impossible. However you can’t change the landlord so you just have to learn how to deal with him. After six months dealing with my landlord I have gathered a list of tips to use when dealing with them.

1.  Try to call your landlord and reason with them: Most of the time they will be unreasonable. But on the slight chance you catch them on a good day they might agree to fix something in your house.

2. When in doubt call your parents: In general this is a good life lesson to learn. If your landlord will not listen to you, than most likely he will listen to your parents.

3. Try to fix as much on your own: If you give your landlord a to do list of things in the house that need to be fixed expect at least half of the list to not be completed. Place priority items that need to be fixed at the top of the list. The other items that your landlord does not fix try to complete on your own. If you work together with your roommates fixing up a house can actually be fun.

4. If there is a gas leak or any immediate danger do not call your landlord call the utility company: I quickly learned this when I began to smell gas in my house. I called my landlord who dismissed the issue. Gas leaks can be serious so I instead went on to call the gas company. It happened to be that there was a gas leak in my house that could have been dangerous if it was not handled in a timely manner.

8. Another man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

Twenty Dollars

I always see pins on Pinterest of people who claim to have redone a piece of furniture for only ten dollars. Well seeing as I was on a budget I set out a plan to do the same thing. Since I was now an estate sale master , I found an estate sale for the upcoming weekend and decided to attend. I was running low on my loan amount and only had around twenty dollars to spend so I did not expect to take much home with me. After the bidding began I noticed the auctioneer trying to sell an old desk and vanity for a dollar each. Both of those items were pieces of furniture that I needed.  I had never seen an item go for so low and immediately gave my bid for a dollar for each piece. I barrowed my friends truck and picked up my new pieces of furniture. I was very proud of my new purchases. As I dropped the furniture off I began looking up ideas for how to redue pieces of furniture. The task suddenly seemed a lot larger than I expected. The furniture needed to sanded, primed twice, and then painted. Seeing as I had a full day of myself I quickly began. I went to a local hardwear store (always buy local it is typically cheaper and supports the community) and bought sandpaper for 4 dollars and the paint and primer for 15 dollars. I had some old brushes at home that I was going to use the paint everything. I began to sand the furniture. When sanding make sure to sand with force to take off and previous stains on the wood. After sanding I began priming the furniture. Most pieces of furniture will take at least two coats of prime. I let the primer dry and began painting the furniture. The furniture I required two coats of paint. I was very proud of my finished product. I wanted to give the vanity a more country sheek look similar to something I had scene in pottery barn so I used the extra sandpaper to rough the edges and side up which made the furniture look worn.  I spent approximately twenty dollars for a desk and vanity. Contrary to popular belief the furniture made on Pinterest is possible with time and patience. Give yourself at least two full days to complete the task.