We all know your game.
Buy houses on auction, split them up as much as possible for apartments, and once your band-aid bullcrap no longer passes inspection, you abandon it, play the time game with the city, and then ultimately walk away from it, and let it become a yet another public health hazard in one of our neighborhoods before ownership is transferred to the state.
You people don’t care because you’ve made your money off a property you would never let a friend or family member live in, and property liens unfortunately are not reported to the three primary tax credit companies. So, the slumlord walk away is a far too popular practice in the city of Wheeling.
Eventually, following years of continued rotting, the structure is demolished, and the taxpayer – not you – foots the bill … OR the place burns down because a squatter made a mistake OR someone deliberately sets fire to it like what allegedly happened on the South End of Wheeling Island this past week. The former house-turned-into-apartments on the corner of South Penn and Virginia streets is believed to be a total loss and now will sit. The last one on the south end sat burned out for three years.
But it doesn’t just happen on Wheeling Island. These days, because of the city’s drastic decline in population over the last few decades, slumlords have been like vultures when it comes to large, Victorian houses so they can divide them and overcharge their tenants.
Of course, the majority of rental properties in Wheeling are owned by honest folks who treat their renters with respect, and they maintain and improve the dwellings annually. The slumlords, though, bring them down because, as we all know, a few bad apples spoil the bunch.
Sincerely,
The Spoiled Bunch
