Harrison followed Daniella’s truck to a street not far from where she currently lived. Hopefully, she’d find a rental she liked. But, with a severe shortage of accommodation in Sapphire Bay, finding anything would be difficult.
From what he’d seen of the rental market, there were two types of houses. The first was in pristine condition. They might have been family or vacation homes that were no longer needed. Instead of renting them to short-term tenants, the owners wanted the security of renting them to someone for the long term. Those types of houses were full of everything Daniella might want, but the rent would be high.
The next were the houses no one wanted to live in if they had a choice. They were the homes that’d been left to deteriorate by landlords who didn’t care about the condition of the house; all they wanted was the money from their tenants.
Hopefully, this house wasn’t one of them.
As they pulled up to the address, the realtor, a brisk woman named Ellen, greeted them with an iPad and a rehearsed smile.
The house was a quaint two-story building with peeling paint and an overgrown garden. It had character, but it also had an air of neglect that couldn’t be ignored. Harrison glanced at Daniella to see what she thought of the house. Her disappointed sigh was all he needed to hear.
Not to be deterred, Ellen led them up the creaking porch steps, speaking with an enthusiasm that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “We usually inspect a property before we place it with our agency, but this one is in such a good location that we took the listing sight unseen.”
Daniella glanced at Harrison. “I’m glad you came. I’ve got a feeling I’ll need your expertise.”
Harrison didn’t want to break the news to her, but this house looked like it’d need a lot more than a coat of paint to make it livable. “Just watch where you step. Some of the wooden floorboards on the veranda are rotten.”
Daniella looked at the splintered wood under her feet and grimaced.
Ellen waved a manicured hand in the air. “As you can see, the property has a lot of potential.”
Harrison caught the edge of skepticism in Daniella’s polite nod. The door swung open with a groan, revealing a dimly lit entryway. The musty smell of disuse wafted toward them, and Harrison could almost see Daniella’s hopes disappear in a puff of dust.
She brushed a cobweb off the doorframe. “Are people allowed to rent properties like this to tenants?”
Ellen pursed her lips. “Our company has high expectations when it comes to presenting a property to potential clients. A family trust owns this home, so they might not be aware of its condition. I’ll call the owners next week and make sure they tidy it up before anyone moves in.”
Harrison’s eyebrows rose. It’d take a tractor, four dumpsters, and twenty gallons of paint totidy the house up—and that was only if the work was cosmetic. If there were any structural issues, no one should be going anywhere near the property.
“This is a little better,” Daniella murmured as they made their way into the living room.
It was spacious, but the wallpaper was faded and peeling at the corners. Ellen chirped about the natural light, though the view was blocked by overgrown shrubs outside the windows.
“This could all be fixed up,” Harrison said quietly to Daniella, trying to sound hopeful. She gave him a weak smile, her eyes taking in the room with a critical eye.
They moved on to the kitchen, where the linoleum floor had stains and scuff marks from years of use. The appliances were outdated, but the cabinets looked okay. Ellen pointed out the “vintage charm” of the kitchen, but all Harrison could see was a lot of hard work.
Daniella opened the oven door and scrunched up her nose. “I don’t think this has been cleaned in decades.”
“I’ll add it to my list,” Ellen said after peering into the oven.
With an efficiency that didn’t surprise Harrison, she added another three or four items to the list she was creating.
“At least it has... character,” Daniella said diplomatically.
Harrison hoped she was joking.
Upstairs, the bedrooms echoed the rest of the house’s story. Potential dimmed by disrepair. In the primary bedroom, the closet door hung off its hinges, and the window frame showed signs of rot.
Harrison watched Daniella’s expression closely, trying to gauge her thoughts. “It’s a bit of a fixer-upper,” he said, trying to inject some optimism into the situation.
“A bit,” Daniella agreed, though her voice lacked conviction.
Ellen was quick to interject. “With some TLC, this house could be transformed into a real gem!”
They continued the tour in silence. The bathroom’s chipped tiles and the leaky faucet over the tub added to the growing list of reasons why anyone would be mad to rent this property.
Harrison could sense Daniella’s disappointment growing with every flaw they uncovered.
