Did I do something wrong? More lessons learned the hard way.

I have not written a blog post in almost 3yrs.  That's right,I've been taking it easy for the last couple of years and have had nothing to write.  Ha, ha.  I guess the real reason is that I don't have an agenda for writing.  I have no book to sell, jokes to tell, or people to impress.  I just thought maybe I could write today to document an unfortunate event that happened. Where's the talk to text feature on this computer?  My fingers are already cramping.
Anyways, about a month ago I had a rental property that I could not reach the tenant anymore. I left him several messages and notes at the property. He even left a pitbull dog with no food that I had to contact Animal Control about. So what do I do? I decided to follow the law and post a notice of abandonment the 10th of the month and proceeded to wait. Still nothing from my tenant. The water and lights are now off from him not paying them. So yesterday, as the law allows in an abandonment situation, I finally went over and cleaned out the apartment and changed the locks. Junk couches, papers, food, and clothes all went into the trash. By the way the trashmen picked it all up yesterday.

     This morning as I was getting ready to go to the zoo with my family guess who called me? Willie. Why hello Willie, where have you been? He had all sorts of excuses but no good reason why the rent wasn't paid and he hadn't communicated with me. How do you think he took it when I told him that all his stuff had been removed and was gone forever with the trashmen. A few beeps, hateful words, and loud yelling, he hung up on me. Of course, this is my fault and how could I do such a thing but, oh no, I've done it now.
     Some people if you cross them will hire attorney. Most hood people however, won't do that unless they're going to sue you for millions. I figured Willie may take matters into his own hands and try to teach me a lesson--- he sure did.

      When I sent my maintenance man over there 30 minutes later, he had already 3 smashed windows and left. I then quickly called the police and proceed to ruin my patient wife's family-day plans. I was going to have to go over there to assess the problem and to try to protect the property from further damage. That's what I always try to do. I am a steward in the eyes of God and a property manager by day.  So I went over there and met the police lady, who was a waste of time by the way since the police don't care about small things like this. I talked to some neighbors and they confirmed that it was Willie. He had made me pay his way.
     So what could I have done better? How could I have managed this to a better outcome? The easy answer would be never to have rented to a person like this in the first place--But I did, and so I've been asking myself the question what could I have done differently. I think what I will do in the future is to still clean out the apartment to prepare it for re-rent, but I will keep any papers and anything of some value to the tenant and hold it as collateral to maybe get cooperation and forgiveness for me having to do my job. I know in a perfect world, maybe I could have kept the stuff in the apartment indefinitely with no communication from my tenant, but I had to move on and today I paid the price. The truth is, if all that happens from Willie is the broken windows and the drama then it was worth it. Do you honestly think a tenant like this would be a great one for the long run or that it would have ended badly another month down the road?
    Now I have to do another awol-tenant cleanout tomorrow at a different apartment.  Hopefully I do a better job. I don't want to get fired--or do I?   Josh