We had to evict our first tenant this weekend.
In July, she was fired from her job for insubordination. As it was a dismissal, not a layoff, she did not qualify for unemployment insurance. The only job she found in that time was very much part time; every other weekend. I believe she tried desperately to come up with extra funds by selling arts and crafts on Etsy, but it was not enough. September rent was thirty days late, and October rent became due yesterday. She had neither the money for either month's rent, nor her share of utilities. We gave her 48 hours to vacate the premises before we filed for notice of eviction at the county level.
When we first bought our house in 2010, we were able to make the mortgage payment but did not have much room for "extras" - e.g. savings. When I started graduate school again in 2011, we made the decision to avoid taking out a loan larger than $20,000 to cover it. That meant saving as much as we could. We had one room mate move in with us when we bought the house, a good friend who only needed a place to crash for her senior year in college, and then suddenly we had another friend who desperately needed to move out of her fraternity for her senior year in vet school (too many dogs barking made it impossible for her to study.) With two room mates filling our spare bedrooms, we found ourselves with two thirds of our mortgage covered. That meant an extra $400 in savings, and later on, for my tuition payments.
Room mates came and went. Both our seniors graduated and moved on. Another friend needed a place to stay for just one semester before graduating. For the most part, both rooms have been occupied by someone steadily. Our rent rate, at $200, is far lower than most single bedrooms in a multi-bedroom home, making it one of the cheapest places to stay in town (and within the 1/4 income going to housing rule, even at minimum wage.)
Our current room mates were different cases. One of them was a very old ex-girlfriend of a friend who we stayed in touch with even after their nasty breakup almost a decade ago. She wanted to move back out of her parent's house and try to start her life anew.
The other was the current semi-girlfriend of someone who is now an ex-friend. (If there was ever a situation where "It's complicated" as a Facebook status applied, that was them. None of our business, frankly.) She wanted to move to our town to be closer to him, and to try attending school and having a better shot at finding a decent job.
Things went well until we had a falling out with the second room mate's boyfriend over a substantial unpaid loan. The situation with him escalated quickly; a lawsuit was involved. He was forbidden from our property once it became clear he was determined to turn everyone in our social circle against us. It cost us about a dozen friendships overall and made things really awkward with the room mate, who was still semi-dating him.
After that incident, she lost her job when she had an argument with a supervisor. She wasn't making a lot of money, but it should have been more than enough to cover rent, food, and utilities, and put some aside as a rainy day fund. She worked there for three months, and at full time for minimum wage, that should have been around $1000 a month after taxes.
When she lost her job, she had enough to cover August rent, and that was it. We suspect some of that extra cash may have gone to her (now probably ex) boyfriend, who was unable to pay her back when she needed it.
September rent came due. And now October. She couldn't pay it. Due to renter's laws in our county we cannot accept partial payment without putting ourselves at liability.
This has been one of the hardest things we've ever had to do - to watch as we turn someone out of our home. But we need that rental income. My tuition at business school spiked up to $6,000 a semester (and this is at a state institution!) and my part time job, even with my husband's job, is not enough to cover that without some assistance.
We've been holed up in the bedroom for the last few days, because we want to be out of her way as she packs, and because the whole situation is so gut-wrenchingly painful. My husband cried when he realized he was going to have to kick her out. But this is business. The sooner she has packed up and left, the sooner we can have the carpets cleaned, repaint the room, and try to find another renter.
Another person the safety net has failed. Another Millenial who is having to return home, tail between legs, admitting defeat to her parents.
And we're not helping the situation. It feels like shit being the villain in this story.
Edit: I will be offline for an hour or so while I drive to class (three counties over.. my gas bill is another huge school expense). Thank you for your replies so far.