Housing slump blues

I had a visit yesterday in my office from a very nice couple with a problem. They've been caught in the housing market slump. They bought a new home almost two years ago, and haven't been able to sell their previous residence. It's a nice place in a great east Lincoln location--three bedrooms, finished walk out basement, covered deck, cathedral ceilings. The photo on the Lancaster County Assessor's site confirms their description, and it sure seems to be reasonably priced to me, at an asking price of $229,000.

But they've had no takers, and in order to make two house payments, they've need to rent the house. Here's where the problem comes in. The police have been called to the address on disturbances six times since December of 2006. Most recently, the Southeast Team was sent there at 1:34 AM on September 20th on a report of loud music. The responding officer could hear it from half a block away, and he found a minor carrying a beer walking down the driveway, as he walked up the same.

In response to the ongoing problems, Capt. Kim Koluch sent a letter to the property owners. She let them know of our concerns, and of the fact that they could be held responsible for repeated disturbances at their property, through Lincoln's Municipal Ordinance prohibiting maintaining a disorderly house. It was this warning letter that caused them to schedule a meeting with me.

They began by telling me that they feel these calls were merely the result of a single oversensitive neighbor. I let them know that the calls had come from at least four different telephone numbers, were made by people both male and female, with different last names and addresses, and were clearly not all from a single neighbor. They weren't aware of the officer's personal observations on September 20, so I just I read them Officer Aksamit's narrative report. I gave them a few other excerpts from previous calls:

"Party in a hot tub in backyard" (3:04 AM)
"Loud music and male voices in background" (2:23 AM)
"Lots of people, very loud" (12:09 AM)

...and so forth. It's obvious that the hard-partying lifestyle of the young renters is in conflict with that of the rest of the neighborhood. When you've got to get up at 5:15 AM to get your workout in before getting the kids off to daycare in time to make it to work by 7:30 AM, you really aren't particularly interested in listening to the exploits of the hot-tubbers, or their music.

I looked up the names the couple gave me of the three polite young people who couldn't possibly be causing such problems. They are age 21, 22, and 25. Between the three, they have been arrested or cited for the following alcohol-related offenses:

2 Maintaining a disorderly house
1 Open container of alcohol in motor vehicle
2 Driving under the influence of alcohol
4 Minor in possession of alcohol
5 Disturbing the peace

Each tenant contributed at least two to the total of 14. The disturbing the peace and maintaining a disorderly house arrests were at three separate addresses. In addition, it appears likely that a fourth person is actually a roomie (not on the lease, but he keeps giving us that address when he gets arrested, which is frequently.)

I'm sorry to tell this nice couple that it does not appear to be a grumpy neighbor who is the problem here, and that Capt. Koluch's warning letter should be heeded. I gave them a copy of our brochure for landlords and property managers on how to track police dispatches at your property, and how to do an effective background check on prospective tenants. My closing advice after talking with them for about an hour was a strongly worded letter of their own, along the lines of "FINAL WARNING."