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| 107 Glendora Avenue, Long Beach, California 90803 |
In January of 2022, my husband Dan and I thought about renting a room or studio apartment for a few months in Belmont Shore or Belmont Heights in Long Beach since my sister Lynnellen’s family and my brother Billy had made it clear we were no longer welcome to use my late father’s Naples condo. (That is another story…) I needed time to close up the life I had built for myself in Long Beach while taking care of my dad. I needed time to heal.
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| JO ANN happily enjoying life in Long Beach before her father’s death |
We stumbled on an advertisement using a Google search for a room for rent in an apartment in Belmont Shore that was only available for three months beginning on February 1, 2022.
When the person renting the room, Michelle Fisher, returned our inquiry call, we explained our situation and she explained her’s. Her mother had died on October 31, 2021 and she’d been her mother’s caretaker. She and her mother had lived at 107 Glendora together for about twenty years. She explained she wanted to rent the master bedroom in her duplex apartment out and that she usually rented that room out to one person. She also rented only for three months at a time. She told me she’d think about renting to us since we were a married couple and she usually rented rooms to one person not two. I told her we would not be there all the time so the arrangement might work and be comfortable for everyone. Three months sounded good to me since Dan and I were not quite sure how long we’d want to continue paying for a place in Long Beach.
Also, in the conversation, Michelle asked us what kind of jobs we both held. I explained Dan had recently retired and caring for my late father had been my most recent work, but I was essentially retired too. When I asked Michelle what kind of work she did she said that her work was renting out a room in the duplex. That response puzzled me. There seemed to be something “different” about Michelle.
After we got off the phone, Michelle didn’t think about renting to us for long since she called us back about 10 minutes later and told us she wished to rent to us. She also told us that even though the advertisement stated that internet and cable television were included, that that was no longer the case. We decided that using our phone and cellular data and mobile hotspot would work since we’d not be at the duplex full time.
A day or so later, I receive a phone call from Michelle’s sister, Ranelle Storer. Ranelle gave me details about Michelle and explained that Michelle was mentally and developmentally disabled with a disorder called Neurofibromatosis. (Later her sister used the old term “mentally retarded” when talking about her sister.) Michelle was born with a disorder that made her act like a person who is about 14 or 15 years old for life. We learned that despite her disability, Michelle was determined to make it on her own in Long Beach in her late mother’s beach apartment. We also learned that Michelle had three children and even some grandchildren and had been a victim of an abusive relationship. Ranelle explained she took care of all of Michelle’s affairs from a distance from her home in northern Idaho and we’d be dealing with her more than Michelle regarding the business related to the rental.
Ranelle said that we just seemed like a perfect fit for Michelle and looked forward to Michelle meeting with Dan. Ranelle also told us that Michelle was not the owner of the duplex, but a renter, so we would be subletting the room and would have use of the entire apartment available to us minus Michelle’s room.
We learned the actual owner was Aldo Zanier. He owned the upstairs 107 Glendora and his ex-wife owned the downstairs 109 Glendora. He knew about and approved of Michelle subletting the room and even reduced the monthly rent from the advertised $1500 a month to $1300 plus shared utilities.
A few days later, my husband Dan met with Michelle in person and saw the apartment. Michelle really wanted to rent to us he could tell. I asked to see the garage and was disappointed that it was full of stuff, but I still liked the apartment from the FaceTime phone call I made with Dan.
Dan signed a lease that day and gave Michelle the $500 deposit via check. We were told $250 was non-refundable but the other $250, a cleaning deposit, would be returned at the end of the lease agreement.
On January 31, I sent $1300 to Ranelle via Venmo and on February 1, I sent another amount to pay for the garage. We had agreed on an additional $60 a month for the garage (since it was full of Michelle’s late mother’s stuff instead of the original stated amount of $150), but the amount of us making an extra key for the duplex and the amount for the garage lock ($22.01) was deducted from that $60 so we paid $37.99 for the month of February for the garage rental.
When we did arrive in early February, I arrived at the apartment alone since my husband Dan was ill and stayed at his mother’s house for a day or two. Michelle helped me bring in my things and I remember her giving me a welcome hug. She really was happy that I’d arrived.
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| This was the way our bed looked when we arrived |
Once I got settled, I discovered the room and the duplex in general was not all that clean and the bathroom shower had little pieces of broken soap on the shower floor and shower tile was stained and needed cleaning. The drain cover kept falling off and was filled with “who knows what.” (All the time I stayed at the duplex, I decided to wear flip flops when I showered since that made me think the shower was dirty.)
Michelle asked me if the duplex was clean enough for me, but I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, so I just told her all was fine. I went to bed crying though wondering why in the world I sublet a place sight unseen. This was certainly not like any of the tidy and perfect and clean Airbnb vacation rentals I’d rented in the past. Michelle’s mother’s belongings filled up one of the closets in our room and there was miscellaneous stuff all over the duplex that needed to be gone through and discarded.
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| Jo Ann happily back in Long Beach (107 Glendora is only a block and a half from the beach) |
I made the most of what I considered a mistake. The next morning, I took a scooter ride down to the beach with my dog Duchess. The scene I saw before me was wonderful!
In the next couple of days though, I bought some cleaning supplies and cleaned all the drawers in our room and in the bathroom and lined them. I cleaned the top of all the furniture and washed our bedding. Dan also did quite a bit of cleaning when he arrived. With Michelle’s permission, I brought in Denice from The Help Cleaning Services to do a deep cleaning of our room and paid Denice with our own funds. That cleaning cost us $180.
Getting that room cleaned really helped me breathe better. Raynelle explained that a beach apartment just attracted a lot of dust. I figured Michelle, since her sister said her maturity was like a teen, did not understand what I expected as far as cleanliness goes so I just spent our money to make our accommodations comfortable for us by paying for that deep and thorough cleaning.
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| Dan enjoying the duplex on the couch with our dog Duchess |
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| Part of the large old fashioned bathroom |
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| I purchased this new bath mat - the original one when I arrived was torn and worn |
The duplex reminded me of a San Francisco flat. There was a huge set of stairs going up to the front door. When one entered there was a large living room with a window seat and large couch. There was a fireplace, but only for decorative purposes. Boxes were piled next to the fireplace. To the right of the living room was a cluttered dining area and a kitchen and a dusty laundry-pantry room. The bedroom wing was to the left. Michelle’s bedroom was in the center of the duplex, then there was a large bathroom with old fashioned greenish tile with a stained tub (which was not used), a shower, and a vanity and toilet. Our room was the master bedroom which had a sliding door that led to a deck that also could be accessed from the laundry room pantry area. The deck was not all that clean (Dan and I cleaned it up in February.)
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| Duchess loved sleeping with Michelle! |
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| Michelle really enjoyed Duchess’s company! |
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| Duchess and Michelle - Buddies! |
As we settled in and cleaned the duplex and got to know Michelle I wondered if we should consider staying longer than the three months, but when Michelle told us that after May 1 when our lease ended that she would rent out her room and sleep on the couch, I told her at first that we’d probably not stay since there was only one bathroom.
The time we stayed at 107 Glendora in February was actually very pleasant. We enjoyed getting to know Michelle too. She was quite tidy like me so all seemed okay. We noticed that sometimes she was short with us, but Ranelle explained that behavior was related to her disability.
Below are a couple videos I took of the way we set things up in the duplex.
Dan helped Michelle move a lot of stuff from the garage into the alley so it could be picked up by a Long Beach trash company. He also helped her with a donation pick up. Dan and his brother Mike fixed the toilet. We took out the trash every day and Dan put the trash and recycle containers out in the alley before trash pick up on Tuesdays. We asked the neighbors below for permission to use their trash container just before trash day if the 107 Glendora trash container got filled up.
We liked the location and we liked the duplex and we liked Michelle. It didn’t seem like she was mentally disabled and she was very sweet. We began to think about staying past May 1st even though we knew the duplex would not be all that comfortable after Michelle rented out the smaller bedroom. I told Michelle I thought I’d be back in April, but Dan might be back sooner.
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| Some of our things and some of Michelle’s things in the living room |
During our February and early March stay, we moved many belongings into the duplex. We had our friends Rosie and her brother Michael over for a meal and were delighted that Michelle joined us for the meal. Michelle told Michael that she’d have a room to rent after May 1st if he was interested. She made it clear that the room was not available until then.
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| We really liked the way we set up our bedroom! |
We got Michelle’s television working and watched the Winter Olympics and shared pizza with Michelle. It was fun to see her get more comfortable around us and learn about her and her family. Michelle told us how nice the duplex looked. I put my loving touches all over the apartment.
One weekend a family friend of Michelle’s and Ranelle’s named Nico stayed in the duplex and slept on the couch. At first I felt funny having another person there, but he made Michelle so happy that I decided his stay was worth it and hoped he’d be back. Nico snored, but the front couch was far enough from our room that we didn’t hear his snores from our room in the back.
Michelle and I had a lot in common since I had recently lost my dad and she’d lost her mom Xina Renata. Her mother had died of cancer. She told us details of her mom’s last days. When I cried out of the blue when I missed my dad, Michelle consoled me. It helped to talk to one another about what we’d been through. I really felt we’d made a good friend.
I enjoyed also talking to Michelle’s sister Ranelle on the phone and getting to know her. I invited Michelle to do things with us and take her shopping, but she never accepted our offers until one day when I invited Michelle to bike ride with me on the beach bike path. We had fun together on that bike ride!
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| Bike riding with Michelle |
I sent Michelle a birthday card in early March and sent both her and her sister a thinking of you type card on the day of their mom’s celebration of life, March 5, which was also their mother’s birthday. We learned that there had been some strife with extended family regarding their mother’s death. We sympathized with the pain Michelle and Ranelle were going through.
As the end of March came near, Dan told Michelle we wanted to extend our lease, but when her sister Ranelle told me via text that the garage would go up from $60 to $150, we decided it was time to move on, so we gave more than a month’s notice.
I decided I’d take one more trip to Long Beach in April to say my last good-byes and was all packed and ready to go when I learned from my husband Dan that Michelle had already rented out her room and was sleeping on the couch on the evening of April 1. When I called Michelle to find out why she had rented the room out before the May 1 promised date, she said she tried to warn us, but we’d never been consulted or warned.
I was really upset. I had counted on not having to share a bathroom with a stranger during the month of April, but there had obviously been a misunderstanding. I decided I would not return to Long Beach and asked Michelle’s sister Ranelle if they’d possibly consider refunding some of the April rent if Dan vacated early. We had a discussion that went back and forth via text. Ranelle brought up some good points: Rent had been reduced from $1500 to $1300, our dog had enjoyed the duplex and enjoyed also sleeping with Michelle and there had been no extra charge for the dog, we’d been allowed to stay even though we were a couple, we’d been welcome to put our personal things in other spaces besides our room, we were welcome to have family visit if needed, etc. It seemed that our discussion was not resolving me being so upset and sad, so I finally told Ranelle I’d move on and that Dan would stay until April 30. I was broken hearted though. My time of closure of my Long Beach life abruptly ended because I did not want to share a bathroom with a total stranger.
Despite my sadness and disappointment, all went fine for the month of April: Dan rented a cargo van and took many of our personal things that were in the duplex and in the duplex garage back to Colorado and I met him there and together we put things away. Dan returned to Long Beach and stayed in the duplex but spent most of his time with his mother, brother, and sister. Dan was there for his mother’s 98th birthday on April 20th!
Dan vacated as planned on April 30 late at night.
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| We covered the broken down chair below with our comforter |
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| This was the condition of the chair when we arrived in the duplex in February 2022 - our dog was accused of chewing up this chair and that is a false accusation |
On Sunday, May 1, I received a text from Ranelle saying we damaged the two antique broken down chairs that were in our bedroom. Let me state this: Those two chairs, upon arrival, were in horrible condition and in an unacceptable condition and should not have been put inside our room. They were torn, broken, ripped when we arrived and made the room look like we had been put in a slum. I asked Michelle about removing the chairs or putting them somewhere else in the apartment or getting rid of the chairs altogether, but she said there was no room for them anywhere else and they had to stay in the room. They meant something to Michelle since they meant something to her late mother. She gave me some fabric to put on one of the chairs and we put our own comforter on the other one. I am still very upset that we were accused (our dog was actually accused) of damaging the chairs. Neither we nor our dog damaged those horrible broken down chairs.
We were given a choice: They would keep the $250 security deposit or we would get the chairs repaired. At first it was just getting one chair repaired and then it was two!
I finally called Raynelle and we agreed they keep the security deposit and we all just move on. I definitely did not want to have to pay more money. Earlier that afternoon, from a noisy parking lot in Colorado where I could not hear the phone well, I tried to discuss the situation with Michelle and Ranelle, but Michelle hung up on me and said “Have a nice life.” I am glad that I was able to discuss this with Ranelle over the phone later that evening.
Some things to note:
1) The original advertisement said nothing about sharing the garage. We would not have been interested in renting at all without having the entire garage to ourselves.
2) The original advertisement said nothing about both rooms being rented out with the tenant-landlord sleeping on the couch. We would have never considered renting if we’d been told that another tenant would move into the second bedroom of the duplex.
3) Michelle had very little money and needs all the money associated with a sublet. We did not damage the chairs and I’m thinking any excuse to keep the security deposit was essential.
4) Dan and I met the tenants below, Courtney and Hulio, several times. They were very nice to us, but we were told that they had been very rude to Michelle.
5) We paid the rent in full before the first of each month and paid our portion of the utilities as soon as asked and paid for the garage on the first of the month. We were good tenants.
6) We kept the duplex clean and respected anything Michelle wished or asked of us.
7) The person who moved in on March 30, Sam, only stayed about a week due to an issue with the tenants below. Apparently, they didn’t want Sam drinking beer in the front lawn area although that was a shared space and there had been some sort of verbal conflict over that. Sam vacating made things more comfortable for Dan for part of April, but another tenant, Francis, moved into Michelle’s room around April 13. It would have been nice if it could have been just Dan and Michelle for the rest of April since the original agreement had been no one else in the duplex apartment until after our lease ended on April 30. It was obvious Michelle needed the money and Michelle’s sister Ranelle confirmed that with a phone call apologizing for the situation.
8) Michelle was not vaccinated and we were not informed of that until after we’d signed the lease and were about to move in. In my opinion, we should have been given that information as soon as we inquired about the sublet.
In conclusion: 107 Glendora Avenue, Long Beach, California 90803 and subletting from Michelle Fisher may not be a good choice if you are looking for a rental even if the beach is only a block and a half away and it is in beautiful Belmont Shore….
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