Nathan Jones and Sara Jones, Auburn WA and Enumclaw WA Dear Nathan and Sara This page is a record of that damage that you did to our house in Auburn Washington during the time you rented it between 2003 and 2008. You left us with between $5,000 and $10,000 in damages, documented below. Please do the right thing and make arrangements to fix what you broke. We rented our house to you in good faith, at about $300 per month under market value, with the understanding that you would take good care of it. This $300 per month for 5 years put about $18,000 in your pocket in saved rent. Here is the current information I have for you: Nathan and Sara Jones, 1748 Garfield #E, Enumclaw WA 98022, telephone: 253-951-9512. Sara Jones Profile: http://www.classmates.com/directory/public/memberprofile/list.htm?regId=554501921 Please let me know if anything on this page is incorrect and I will fix it. Here is our contact information Mark & Cheryl Hovind Email: Mark@DanceGig.com Telephone: 253-333-0633
Our Home in 2003 How we left it.
Here is the house we rented to Nathan and Sara Jones, the daughter and her husband of our long-time neighbors across the street. Rent was $900 per month. The house when we left it was clean, inside and out, and pretty much everything worked. We knew we were renting it for much less than the market value (about $1,200 to $1,400 a month), and took the loss because their parents lived across the street and we were pretty sure they would take very good care of the place. All tolled, we lost at least $300 a month for 5 years ... a total of $18,000 or more ... just for the peace of mind knowing they would take care of our place. We left yard tools to help them out.
Here is a shot of the upstairs carpet before and after, now with a total of 8 iron burns right in the middle and along the south side. several burns are hidden off to the right of the picture. Other landlords tell us we should file criminal charged for this damage.
Here, hidden in the garage by stacking them so the damage would not show, are the upstairs closet doors. All are damaged, one really badly. The rails that hold them in the closet are also damaged. All three will have to be replaced - purchased, painted and installed at $65 each = $195 plus tax plus labor.
Here is our hot tub before and after we turned over the house. The top is ruined, both hinges are broken and the pump is now ruined - we found crayons inside the tub and suspect they got into the pump. Plus, the ladder is missing. Total cost to fix: $400 for the top, $200 for the hinge, $80 for the ladder plus installation. Plus, we had two service calls (about $250) to repair the workings of the tub. Total repair costs: about $1,000.
Here is our garage, before and after. North garage door. The bottom two panels are bent and need to be replaced. South garage door. The bottom panel is bent and needs to be replaced. Bottom panels (we need two) cost $123 each and intermediate panels are $112 ... total $358 plus labor. A whole new door costs $300 so we will probably buy a new door and use the panels from the other two doors to make one good one. To have this repaired professionally would have cost about $850.
In the back yard, apparently there was a fire. It looks like the fire was intentional. It burned the tree and now many limbs are missing, and you can see the burn marks on the tree trunk.
Our lawnmower that we left for the tenants is now trash. We took it in for repair and were told that someone reamed on the drive handle so hard it broke the mechanism, shown below right. To repair was estimated at $115 and we decided to scrap the mower and buy a new one.
Front door is damaged. The screen is torn and needs to be replaced. The window on the front door (shown below right) has been reinstalled incorrectly, damaging both sides. It needs to be replaced or it will scrap and wear every time the window is opened. The problem is, a replacement window is not available - we need a whole new door. Estimated cost to replace: $350
The front blinds are damaged. Two are missing, two are damaged, and the rest are very dirty. Two of the swivels are broken ... maybe more.The rod to open and close the blinds is missing. Blinds and screens are missing throughout the house. We had all the screens repaired for $85 but the skylight screen could not be fixed - a new one is required - it is bent and it's a custom screen with a cut-out for the handle. Replacement blinds needed: 8 at $30 = $240 plus installation. Total $325 plus labor.
Electrical damages. An upstairs outlet has been burned and may have latent defects. This needs to be replaced and any damage to the wiring inside the wall needs to be corrected. Three heaters upstairs are damaged and need to be replaced at $40 each = $120 plus labor.
Upstairs, a storage door is missing. This must be custom built to match the other doors on the second floor.
A worn out sofa was left upstairs. We have already removed it and set it in the driveway, tarped to prevent rain damage. Our tenants were asked on 7-6 to remove this, along with other stuff like two batteries that were left in the garage.
The shower knobs are missing the front cover plates.
Here's a shot behind the refrigerator. It was not cleaned and the wall was not painted in full. Plus, with the walls in the kitchen and living room being painted a dark color, they need to be primed again and repainted white.
The new utility sink in the garage has been damaged and the wood base now has water damage. The drainer (below) has something on it, paint maybe, that will be tough to remove. The faucets (below right) were not even wiped down.
The dishwasher has been damaged for the water feeding the top part. This may or may not be an easy fix. 7-11 update. Called Sears parts center, found the part for $43.97. location Also need the screw-in cap for the jet dry. On the phone with Sears for 45 minutes, part found in Kent, will go pick up. Picked up the top part to feed water, drove 15 miles rt, waited in line about 30 minutes ... ttl 1 hour. They did not have the screw-in cap separately, it only comes with the entire dispenser unit for $47 and must be ordered. Then it took about 30 minutes to install the new part and remove a crayon that was jammed in the pump.
The fan in the living room is missing a bolt for one of the blades. The fix is simple: remove one bolt, drive to the hardware store, find another bolt, drive home and reinstall the bolt. All this adds up.
None of the cabinets or drawers were wiped down. Cheryl spent about 12 hours cleaning the kitchen, bathroom and living room. Imagine how she felt after just doing this to the house we rented in Vegas.
The icemaker does not work, the drip tray is damaged. We still don't know why it does not work. Update 7-14. We had a plumber come over and he fixed it. The electrical connection inside had been pulled out. The tray is still cracked.
There are many problems yet to be documented. This is a work in progress, and we will add them here as we go along. The first floor carpet (we paid $38 per yard) now needs replacement. The stains are just too great. The electrical outlet in the back bedroom does not work - and it's a dedicated circuit. The garage heater is missing the control knob. Other knobs are also missing in various places. Blinds are missing and broken just about everywhere. The shower door is broken and finding replacement parts could be impossible - it might need to be replaced. The master bedroom closet door is jammed. The hall closet door is sprung. The door from the kitchen to the garage is sprung. The master bedroom door is cracked at the lock. The stairwell door is broken. The kitchen sink drain is damaged from something and needs to be replaced. One of the posts holding up the patio cover was broken off top and bottom and needs to be replaced. Toilet is leaking at the base. You replaced it with the cheapest toilet on the market! We replaced it again for about $500 in parts plus $200 installation. Bathroom sink has a small chip and two cracks. Damage to upstairs walls Missing post on the back patio Large storage is gouged and cracked doorbell is missing lawnmower is broken. 7-16 took for repair, found out that the top cover is broken, the main drive is broken (he said someone really reamed on this to break it), bolt is missing in the handle, overall it was very dirty. cable now has new holes in the house upstairs window screw in base, probably to limit opening the window. Rose bushes and a couple trees in the back yard are now damaged, dead or gone. There's more, yet to be found.
Thinking out loud: Making repairs is not just about the cost of the part - it requires shopping, trips to the hardware store, getting quotes and labor to install or repair. Will they take care of ALL of these costs? Remodeling and repair typically takes 2 dollars of labor for every 1 dollar in material. For example, a $5 outlet replacement will cost $15 to replace.  Our first order estimate is that damages will total somewhere between $5,000 and $10,000 ... but we have not discovered all of the damages yet. Our former tenants were asked to comment and respond to the issues presented here and they did not - instead they claimed that they were filing a no contact order against us. We're hoping for a good solution. We have no intention of gouging them - we just want them to own up ... if you broke it, you fix it. Update 7-12: Our former tenants have not responded to our emails of phone calls about the damage. Instead, they called the police, claiming that we were harassing them. Imagine that, all we want is for them to pay for the damages they caused, and now they are claiming harassment. This page was last updated on 08/21/2011 10:36 AM