My name is Verdell, and I am a 64 year old, disabled, retired teacher, who occasionally works as a substitute for the West Contra Costa Unified School District Richmond, CA. (WCCUSD) I work for the district to help subsidize my income, however, there is a cap on the amount of money I am allowed to make each year due to my disability. I have had a right knee replacement, and a left hip replacement. The knee replacement has not healed well and causes constant pain.
The Covid-19 pandemic caused many issues for me. I have a duplex with two units. I rented one unit to a male Section 8 recipient with a young daughter. The daughter had recently lost her mother and she therefore began living with her dad. They lived there several years but soon the daughter moved out because the father began letting other men move into the home and she did not feel safe. Also there was drug use going on. Eventually the people that moved into the apartment forced the Section 8 recipient out of his own home. I now had squatters that had to be evicted. They took the wires out of the heater and let the dog poop on the floor in the living room. There was no electricity or water in the unit. They were stealing electricity to run a generator, from the neighbors. I hired a lawyer to help me evict the squatters. I was able to get a payment plan from the lawyer. The process took 5 months and I did not receive ant rent for that unit for 5 months. The eviction took place March 3, 2024. The apartment was trashed and destroyed. The wood floor was damaged and buckled and many of the doors were burnt or kicked in. The rehabilitation of the unit took an additional 4 months and I had to move into the unit as I worked on it.
The second unit was rented to a mother and her daughter. Soon the husband moved in and their two sons. One of the sons had two daughters that moved in as well. The father assulted me because he did not want me in the unit to complete an inspection and that resulted in a restraining order against him. The father was rude and disrespectful to me during their stay. The father was running a car repair shop in the unit which resulted in the neighbors complaining of the traffic and the filth around the unit. The City of Richmond was also complaining of the multiple broken down car, unregistered car, and car parts all over the property. After many requests for the tenants to comply with the conditions of their lease, the neighbors began serving me with affidavits of complaints for the destruction of property in the neighborhood. I had to evict them as well with the assistance of the lawyer I hired. In court on January 12, 2024, the Judge gave them an additional 4 months to live rent free. They were to move out April 31, 2024. From November 1, 2023 until April 31, 2024 I did not receive any rent from that unit. The unit was completely destroyed and infested with roaches, even though I had a rodent control service which was not allowed to go into the unit to spray. The process was a nightmare.
Paying the mortgage and the bills for the duplex without receiving any rent, hiring a lawyer, and completely rehabilitating the property was difficult and costly. I completely exhausted my savings and spent all the money I made on my job. I was able to keep afloat through October 31, 2024, but after that I have fallen behind on my mortgage for November 2024. Since I will not be able to return to work until January 2025, I will not be able to make payment for the mortgage in December 2024 either. At that point I will be heading toward foreclosure because I will be unable to catch up.
I need help paying the mortgage and paying the lawyer fees. I seriously try to be self reliant. I do not like to ask for help. However, my back is against the wall and I am having a difficult time facing the future. Who would have thought that helping others with young children would end up with me losing my home. I am asking for $10,000 to help me catch up on my mortgage and to help me pay for the lawyer. Thank you for listening and reading this post. Thank you in advance for any assistance you are able to give.
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