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BEEKEEPER: SHOULD WE CHARGE THEM RENT?

By
Real Estate Technology with Rentec Direct

cute bees                            

During my property management years I had a tenant call with a work order request. She believed she had honey dripping out of her walls.  The first question that popped into my head (and yours too!) “What are you smokin’?” or “How many drinks have you had?”.   Trying to maintain my professional composure I thought I better remain quiet for awhile and just listen.  She said she noticed that there was some sticky substance oozing out of the walls and she tasted it!  Yes, that is right she tasted it and it was honey!  Lucky for her it wasn’t toxic!

After listening to her story and not knowing what else to do I decided to contact my reliable Pest Control Vendor.   When I called to inform him of this sticky situation I forewarned him this lady could be crazy and if he needed to protect himself use his BEST insecticide spray and run!!!!

Well, the tenant was right!  It was honey dripping out of the walls.  Come to find out the bees have built their colony in between the exterior and interior walls.  If you know about bees, when you go to remove them, you have to remove all bees (dead or alive) hives and honey and leave no prisoners behind.  The walls have to be scrapped clean.  If you leave even the smell of honey behind it will attract other bees to move in.   (http://www.wikihow.com/Remove-Unwanted-Bees).  

Now... I had to contact the owner.  Oh great!!  What is this owner going to think?  She is going to wonder if I was a little buzzed and not the bees!  Thank goodness she lived in the area because she had to go taste the honey herself before she would believe me.  After resigning to the fact that this was a big project with a big price tag she approved with ONE condition:

 JAR OF HONEY FOR MONEY

 

 

 honey

                                         

 

I documented all of this in our property management software that had the feature to manage/track work orders. I was able to mark this one "complete" now onto the next sweet adventure.....

 

 

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Kathryn

Rentec Direct Property Management Software

 

 

 

 









John & Irma Nelson
San Antonio Real Estate Broker/Agent with Get It Sold Realty - San Antonio, TX
San Antonio Real Estate Agents - San Antonio Homes
Charge those bees some rent!!! Or at least get a few jars of honey out of the deal. I love honey. Bring in the bees...
Oct 10, 2012 08:29 AM
Janell Kittleson
Rentec Direct - Grants Pass, OR
Rentec Direct

You're kidding me?!  That's awesome!  Well, for a beekeeper, it is!  Local beekeeper associations have members who will come in and remove the bees for NO CHARGE and they do not use any pesticides (which is a good thing for our dwindling bees populations) and they are happy to do it, to boot!  http://www.orsba.org/htdocs/home.php  and I'm sure they could put anyone in touch with the local organization in their area.

Oct 10, 2012 08:41 AM
Ralph Janisch ABR CRS Broker
Janisch & Co. - Conroe, TX
Selling Northwest Houston to good people like you!
Yeah I would have wanted the honey too! I love fresh local honey. Too bad that it's so expensive to fix the problem.
Oct 10, 2012 11:24 AM
Wallace S. Gibson, CPM
Gibson Management Group, Ltd. - Charlottesville, VA
LandlordWhisperer

This is actually not so UNcommon....a property management bud in OK had the same thing happen with the honey dripping from a light fixture in the living room.  

She documented the situation with photos, notified the owner's insurance company and SHE, the INSURANCE agent and the OWNER came up with the solution within 24 hours...tenant stay in a motel for 3 days and the situation was taken care of with only $500 out of owner's pocket.

Oct 10, 2012 08:32 PM