English
Although it has always been said that it is not advisable to do business with family or friends, I decided to give my ex-husband (since we divorced, we have been very good friends) and his brother a chance because they needed a warehouse to store their work materials (they work in construction) and a tenant had just vacated that space.
As the owner of the property, I have the ethics of not entering any space that is rented because that space is being used by that person and I trust that they will keep it in the same optimal conditions in which I delivered it, especially if they are friends.
At the beginning everything went very well. They paid the rental fee on time, they didn't make much noise. Everything was fine. Four months went by like that. Then they started paying after the due date, we even made a deal: I had to fix my kitchen floor because the ceramic tile was broken. The cost they were giving me to repair was the equivalent of one month's rent. I accepted and they did the job. It was horrible and they were making me sick for a while, telling me that they had no work and that as soon as they had, they would fix my floor because it was under warranty. That was 10 months ago.
Soon they started making excuses that they had no money. I can understand it to a certain extent because it is no secret that the economy has been shrinking a lot in recent times. What I don't understand is that if you have economic problems that prevent you from honoring your commitments, take your stuff and take it home, because when someone rents a space, it's usually because they need the money, not for company. And in my case, they were clear that the money is needed in my house, because I am the sole provider for my son.
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So if we are conscious and adults, the ideal is to think that if you have not paid for the place you rented for two months, give it away and allow the owner of the place to rent it to someone with the capacity to pay.
The thing is that after almost four months of non-payment, I asked them to leave because I was accumulating debts because of them. I have never owed money to anyone and I already owed three months of my son's school fees.
They agreed and in less than a week, they vacated it and handed it over to me. Rather, I wasn't there and they left the key in a place for me to pick it up.
When I went to see my place, I almost fainted. They had left it in the worst condition in which a space can be left.
Although it has always been said that it is not advisable to do business with family or friends, I decided to give my ex-husband (since we divorced, we have been very good friends) and his brother a chance because they needed a warehouse to store their work materials (they work in construction) and a tenant had just vacated that space.
So if we are conscious and adults, the ideal is to think that if you have not paid for the place you rented for two months, give it away and allow the owner of the place to rent it to someone with the capacity to pay.
The thing is that after almost four months of non-payment, I asked them to leave because I was accumulating debts because of them. I have never owed money to anyone and I already owed three months of my son's school fees.
They agreed and in less than a week, they vacated it and handed it over to me. Rather, I wasn't there and they left the key in a place for me to pick it up.
When I went to see my place, I almost fainted. They had left it in the worst condition in which a space can be left.
They are predators, definitely. Within a year, they looted my space, which it should be noted, that was the terrace where mom had a hammock, a TV and where she spent most of her time because this terrace overlooks the main garden and she would open the doors and the breeze that hit there was delicious.
Once mom passed away, I continued to keep that space intact until an aunt suggested I rent it. I declined but given the current economic situation and since a couple of years ago, I needed that extra income and agreed to rent it out.
Back to the subject, I called my ex (his name is Daniel) and asked him what had happened, why they had left me that space in such a bad condition and he told me: "Excuse me Ali, I'm sorry, you're right. I could fix it for you, but I don't have any money." 😠
I told him I would put up the money but since he wasn't working, be the one to fix it. He agreed. It was my turn to go into debt again, because I didn't have that money, but I had to fix it so I could rent.
Daniel told me to buy an acid that is special for this type of floor, because it removes stains and makes it shine.
I bought it and he followed the seller's instructions. You had to pour the acid and scrub with a wire bristle brush.
He had to scrub really hard because the floor had huge cement sticks and I don't know what else.
It started to change the look as soon as you put the product on it. You just had to wait for it to dry. The next day, I almost had a heart attack when I saw the final result:
As the saying goes. "The remedy was worse than the disease". The acid "special for this type of floor, which would take out the ugly and leave it shiny", completely removed the color. An excessively abrasive product.
Then I started to think that I should change the whole floor, but where would I get the money if I am owing even the way I walk?
Then I started looking on the Internet and saw a paint that is special for tennis courts, pavement or high traffic floors. I found out where it was sold in my city and went to buy it. Two gallons (used a full gallon and a little bit of the second gallon).
Already the floor was taking on a better appearance. I think I could start to breathe easier now. Daniel applied two coats of paint to the entire space to get better results. The paint is quite thick and covers well.
Now all that remained was to repair the steps that had been broken, as well as the hole that had been made in the wall. For this, cement, glue and washed sand were used. A mixture was made and the broken step was leveled. The wall had to be pecked and so it was done. Then the mixture was put on it, it was smoothed and we had to wait for it to dry. But since Daniel is not a mason, he did his best. It wasn't pretty, but it was better than before.
I then bought red floor wax and mopped it several times and then polished it. I want it to be well sealed and protected.
As for the cracks in the floor (caused by these people) it can not be repaired at the moment unless I put another floor and then I will have to wait to raise the money.
The good thing is that it is now ready to be rented for dry goods storage. They were really hard days, with a lot of stress and even more because of the debts I acquired, but now it is ready and this experience is part of the learning process, as much as the black clouds are part of the landscape.
Tomorrow I will have to paint the doors and finalize details such as putting a pot with a nice bush, clean the bad energies with a vanilla incense stick and that's it.
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Español
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A pesar de que siempre se ha dicho que no es recomendable hacer negocios con la familia o con los amigos, yo decidí darle una oportunidad a mi exesposo (desde que nos divorciamos, hemos sido muy buenos amigos) y a su hermano porque necesitaban un depósito para guardar sus materiales de trabajo (trabajan en el área de la construcción) y un inquilino acababa de desocupar ese espacio.
Como propietaria que soy del inmueble, tengo la ética de no entrar a ningún espacio que esté arrendado porque ese espacio lo está usando esa persona y yo confío en que lo conservarán en las mismas óptimas condiciones en las que yo lo entregué. más aún tratándose de amigos.
Al principio todo muy bien. Pagaban puntualmente el canon del arriendo, no hacían mucho ruido. Todo bien. Así pasaron cuatro meses. Luego comenzaron a pagar después de la fecha, incluso hicimos un trato: yo tenía que arreglar el piso de mi cocina porque la cerámica estaba rota. El costo que ellos me estaban dando por reparar, era el equivalente a un mes de alquiler. Yo acepté e hicieron el trabajo. Quedó horrible y ellos me estuvieron mareando por un tiempo, diciéndome que no tenían trabajo y que apenas tuviesen, arreglarían mi piso porque estaba en garantía. De eso hace ya 10 meses.
Pronto comenzaron las excusas de que no tenían dinero. Yo hasta cierto punto lo puedo entender porque no es un secreto para nadie que la economía ha mermado mucho en los últimos tiempos. Lo que no entiendo es que si tienes problemas económicos que te impiden honrar tus compromisos, coge tus cosas y te las llevas a tu casa, porque cuando alguien alquila un espacio, generalmente es porque necesita el dinero, no para tener compañía. Y en mi caso, ellos estaban claros que el dinero se necesita en mi casa, porque yo soy la única proveedora para mi hijo.
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Entonces si somos conscientes y adultos, lo ideal es pensar que si llevas ya dos meses sin pagar el lugar que arrendaste, entrégalo y permite que el dueño del local, pueda alquilarlo a alguien con capacidad de pago.
El caso es que después de casi cuatro meses que no pagaban, les pedí que se fueran porque a mí se me estaban acumulando las deudas por su culpa. Jamás he debido dinero a nadie y ya debía tres meses del colegio de mi hijo.
Ellos accedieron y en menos de una semana, lo desocuparon y me lo entregaron. Mejor dicho, yo no estaba y me dejaron la llave en un lugar para que yo la recogiese.
Cuando yo fui a ver mi local, casi me desmayo. Me lo habían dejado en las peores condiciones en las que se puede dejar un espacio.
Son unos depredadores, definitivamente. En un año me desvalijaron mi espacio, que cabe destacar, esa era la terraza donde mamá tenía una hamaca, un televisor y donde pasaba la mayor parte de su tiempo porque esta terraza da al jardín principal y ella abría las puertas y la brisa que pegaba allí era deliciosa.
Una vez que mamá falleció, seguí manteniendo ese espacio intacto hasta que una tía me sugirió alquilarlo. Yo me negué pero dada la situación económica actual y desde hace un par de años, necesitaba ese ingreso extra y accedí a alquilarlo.
Volviendo al tema, llamé a mi ex (se llama Daniel) y le pregunté qué había pasado, que por qué me habían dejado ese espacio en tan pésimas condiciones y me dijo: "Discúlpame Ali, lo siento, Tienes razón. Te lo podría arreglar, pero no tengo dinero." 😠
Le dije que yo pondría el dinero pero que ya que él no estaba trabajando, fuese quien lo arreglase. Aceptó. Me tocaba endeudarme de nuevo, porque no contaba con ese dinero, pero debía arreglarlo para poder alquilar.
Daniel me dijo que comprara un ácido que es especial para este tipo de piso, porque le quita las manchas y le saca brillo.
Lo compré y él siguió las instrucciones del vendedor. Había que verter el ácido y restregar con un cepillo de cerdas de alambre.
Había que frotar muy duro porque el tenía unos pegotes enormes de cemento y no sé qué otras cosas más.
Comenzaba a cambiar el aspecto apenas le echó el producto. Solo había que esperar a que se secara. Al día siguiente, casi me infarto al ver el resultado final:
Como dice el refrán. "Peor fue el remedio, que la enfermedad". El ácido "especial para este tipo de pisos, que le sacaría lo feo y lo dejaría brillante", le quitó por completo el color. Un producto excesivamente abrasivo.
Luego me puse a pensar que debía cambiar todo el piso, pero ¿de dónde sacaba el dinero si estoy debiendo hasta mi manera de caminar?
Entonces me puse a buscar por Internet y vi una pintura que es especial para canchas de tenis, pavimento o pisos de alto tráfico. Averigüé dónde la vendían en mi ciudad y fui a comprarla. Dos galones (se usó uno completo y un poquito del segundo galón).
Ya el piso iba adquiriendo un mejor aspecto. Creo que ahora sí podría comenzar a respirar más tranquila. Daniel le colocó dos capas de pintura a todo el espacio para obtener mejores resultados. La pintura es bastante espesa y cubre bien.
Ahora solo quedaba reparar los escalones que rompieron, así como el hueco que le habían hecho a la pared. Para esto se usó cemento, pego y arena lavada. Se hizo una mezcla y se niveló el escalón que estaba roto. La pared había que picotearla y así se hizo. Luego se le colocó la mezcla, se frisó y había que esperar a secar. Pero como Daniel no es albañil, hizo su mejor esfuerzo. No quedó bonito, pero quedó mejor que antes.
Luego compré cera roja para pisos y le pasé varias veces con el trapeador y posteriormente la pulidora. Quiero que quede bien sellado y protegido.
En cuanto a las grietas del piso (causada por ellos) no se puede reparar por los momentos a menos que coloque otro piso y pues me tocará esperar a reunir el dinero.
Lo bueno es que ya está en condiciones de ser ofrecido en alquiler para depósito de mercancía seca. Realmente fueron días fuertes, de mucho estrés y más aún por las deudas que adquirí, pero ya está listo y esta experiencia es parte del aprendizaje, tanto como las nubes negras forman parte del paisaje.
Mañana me tocará pintar las puertas y ultimar detalles como poner un matero con una mata bonita, limpiar las malas energías con un palito de incienso de vainilla y listo.