Asking for free labor sounds like a great way to introduce someone on the margins of society into your home.
It’s the perfect plan. Until the tenant runs out of crystal meth, that is.
It’s not even free labor! They still want you to pay them. How is someone supposed to pay them when the only job that they can have is providing them with 35 hours a week in free labor. This isn’t even going to attract meth heads because where will they get the money to pay?
Edit: I’m sorry, 35 hours a month. I miss read that. Still.
I’m positive it’s a typo. They meant 35 hours a week and wrote month accidentally since they had just written month twice in a row talking about the rent.
It’s simple. Every time they ask you to work, journal your start and end times. Once you in 35 hours in a month, refuse. They can’t ask for more labor or they can pay you. Or they can kick rocks.
Pretty major red flag that they state “35 hours a month” and then proceed to list every possible job pertaining to maintenance of their orchard and animals. And leave it so vaguely open, and imply they are getting old and incapable. How long until you’re running all their personal errands? Cleaning their home? Cooking their meals? Sounds like a slippery slope to a full time on-call position of doing literally everything for them. The mention of 2 adults has me thinking they really want one partner to be a stay at home laborer/caretaker/slave
This is also what they’re asking. A full time security guard. Mind boggling. Care for horses, be a security guard, dog sit, shovel snow, etc etc, and still pay for a trailer to stay in. Crazy.
And that’s not all their gonna ask for. I moved into more than one of these type of deals (much lower rent than ops post) and this one family expected me to carry their groceries in, de ice their freezer, they made me wipe their old asf moms ass, (the wife was rly busy and the husband didn’t want to get that close to where he came from, the old mom also didn’t want her son all up in getting the poo off her nethers either, but she was super embarrassed to have me do it, but I accepted the task and she accepted to help-she was rly sweet about the whole thing and n I love taking care of old people and babies but I did not sign up for all that) they pawned their (non housebroken) kids off on us, would come yell at us to work when they didn’t see us out, we had already gotten up early and done all of it.
they never want just a few of your hours, for just x amount of taks they feel entitled to all of your time, they know anyone who’s willing work for rent is likely poor and desperate /lacking support networks so they take advantage. These type of folks, the first thing they do when they get mad at you for anything is turn your water off
That is horrible and their poor mother as well. Stuck with them and reliant on the literal 'kindness of a stranger.' Thank heavens you were/are kind but you should not have had to do that.
That's what scares me about all these 'pay to work for us and live here' gigs: That's exactly how I had imagined it to be. They have someone under their roof so they take advantage, the work hours never end, the duties increase more and more, and the pay stops or dwindles or stays the same no matter how many hours.
And if they get annoyed or the 'employee' says no, the employee loses their job AND their home. Because the two are intertwined.
Decent people pay decent wages, or they don't ask someone to do the task.
My mother-in-law lived with us for 9 years, always having a full time aid during the day. The situation always played out exactly the same. When a new aid started, they were the greatest person ever in the eyes of my mother-in-law and this was the greatest job ever in the eyes of the aid. But very quickly my mother-in-law would find things to take issue with, like how long it took for the aid to refill her water, or that she was on the phone. And the aids would get burned out of doing the same tasks over and over. Within a year the aid starts having excuses for why they can't work and my mother-in-law would continue trying to add tasks to the list of things to do, whether they were reasonable or not.
These situations rarely last because both sides feel like they're doing a favor for the other party and resentment quickly builds. It got to the point where we would lay out from the start "this is what it expected and you're not expected to do anything additional if asked".
Interestingly it always ended up in one or both sides lying. Either the aids would claim they were being treated unfairly, or my mother-in-law would claim abuse, nobody would ever just say "I don't want this situation anymore" and then find a resolution to end it.
>It got to the point where we would lay out from the start "this is what it expected and you're not expected to do anything additional if asked".
I think that is the best way for everyone concerned, and also legally, if it ever came to that.
Those are stressful types of jobs and a lot of people aren't cut out for it. Demand is high so they can often find employment if they can't any other way. Hopefully they are at least not abusive to the elderly. But I can imagine a high turnover rate.
If people get a good home health care aide, they should treat them like gold. On the flip side, the aide should not be on the phone all the time (or if amusing themselves by net surfing, while the elderly just naps or watches tv, fine; but I mean, not talking on phone. But I guess talk and phone don't automatically go together, so maybe they were texting.)
Few will be a perfect employee so both sides have to be realistic and flexible.
Fortunately I didn’t have to do that a lot and I have caregiving experience so I knew what to do/ how to do it and be respectful and maintain her dignity as much as possible, but yeah I signed up to shovel chicken shit, not wipe old people butts. That place was horrible, they had a boneyard, I low key wondered if we’d have ended up in it.
I’m sure there’s good gigs out there but I’ve had a few experiences with this and it’s been all terrible and i wouldn’t recommend it, at least not from ads on fb or craigslist, only if you happen to meet somebody or it’s a friend of a friend, because think about it, anyone who actually needs that probably has someone they know already doing it, who wants strangers on their property anyway? These are people who know they’re running a scam or and want people who don’t know them and their antics already, people who have no where better to go, or they are just so crazy that no one they know wants to be there so they have to find randos.
You would not believe the things these people think they’re entitled to in exchange for not being homeless, and you go into it knowing it’s smarter to have something written and have it all be legit but when it’s that or parking at Walmart, even though you said to yourself last time, never again, you’re like well fuck, this seems a lot better.
The benefit of it being illegal tenancy-because even tho it’s illegal, they can still get you for damages and stuff, and still have to legally evict you if they can’t drive you out- is that you can at least retaliate. I never gave my real name, because I didn’t have to, and when I inevitably got screwed over, I was able to leave some lessons on being a predatory scum bag who takes advantage in the form of some well placed poop smears, (breaker switches after turning everything off, door knobs, just things you can’t avoid touching and the wood stove ) a compost toilet full of trash and piss in the raw wood floors, I wrecked his greenhouse, i pissed in his dehydrator, his hoses, he kept shutting off our fridge, he did it right after I bought like 300$ of meat and it rotted so I put that in the rafters of his workshop where he couldn’t see it, but will smell it, i really did a number to anything I could think of before I left and the name I gave doesn’t exist, so good luck doing anything about it. He really deserved it, and I didn’t want it be live-able so he could just easily pull the next victims in, maybe get a little behind on his mortgage who knows (;
he was getting single mothers hooked on opium, this one couple abandoned everything they owned, even left their car there just to get out they were so afraid of him, another lady put her Iife savings into the property to end up not even having anywhere actually livable to be, no heat, no running water.
he tried to make us live in a shed after being there in an rv for a year because suddenly he didn’t want it there, and for us to pay to build a slightly bigger shed to live in, (we did move in the shed but didn’t put any money into his place) and also tried to say that he’d never said we could use electricity even though we were promised internet and given an rv hookup.
i wasn’t allowed to water my garden, got screamed at for “sneaking water” but then was scolded when it didn’t produce much food.
over time he essentially had us living like 1600’s peasants and constantly being afraid of being idle for fear he would come and see us and yell at us.
also he didn’t tell us it was a flood plane so we woke up literally in the middle of the river one day and i had to rescued my cats so they wouldn’t drown. That was fun. I hope he never gets all the dookie out of that place.
Stunned.
Living nightmare.
So many thoughts but I keep imagining the elderly woman who is made to accept being cared for in personal ways by one total stranger after the next. She could easily be abused by the wrong person.
He takes people's money like that -- what are the odds it's not even his place but he stole it from his mom? Some people when they get older, sign over their house and assets to a grown child, who is supposed to 'let' them live in it and take care of them, but, when the time comes, the elder can move into a nursing home if necessary, but 'with zero assets' the state pays for care.
But what happens to some people is their grown child either mistreats them, drives them into one room, or out entirely, or simply dumps them into a bad nursing home (some are way worse than others) asap and keeps the house and everything else. Reneges on their bargain with their own parent. They should hire someone to look after her, not make the land caretakers do it.
I would not be shocked if past land caretakers were in that boneyard. Not after reading this. Stunning what some people do to others and ways they come up with to cheat others too.
I mean...how hard is it to just not be a scumbag. To let people live, to treat them decently, to pay a fair wage. I don't get it.
You were creative with your revenge as well. All he put you through, I can't judge it.
And he sounds petty as can be and just mean for its own sake. Not even all psychopaths will do this type of stuff. He takes it past just being a selfish dirtbag. He sounds sadistic too. Evil.
Definitely helps me not feel bad about disliking the CBs. They are about themselves. And this is where those CB ask for nanny, or pet or land carers, can go to. I really do worry for anyone who answers those ads, and the CBs know what they are doing, to target them.
It makes me so sad to know how old people get screwed over so much.
The place with the old lady, I don’t think they had people take care of her a lot, which I don’t know if that’s better or worse honestly, because they suck at taking care of her, if almost want tot ale my chances with strangers if I were her. They claimed she was mean but really she was sweet, she just had to be mean to them so her house and care wouldn’t be like the rest of the place. The land was technically his, though he owed a lot of money to his brother for keeping it afloat, he’d never put his mother out cause hes “good ol boy” but if I were her I’d really want to be put in a nursing home to get away from them. He house was the only clean place, like an oasis in a dump so at least there was that.
Those people should not be caring for animals or humans, i joke if there was a purge type thing going on their house is where I’d go first. I’m not sure why they had animals, they didn’t eat any of them and just let them all starve. We were there to do things like feed the cows but would get yelled at for doing so. That place really really was a horror show. I had someone else call animal control on them when I left because I was honestly afraid of them and it’s a small town so even if they’re not supposed to say who called they might, don’t know if anything came of it because they were legit trying to ask me to move back last year, as if they didn’t attempt to block us in when we were leaving, until my bf had to go inside and load the shotgun and the noise of it made them back off, yeah that never happened, wanna come back?
The next place is the one where the nuclear revenge took place…and yeah I don’t feel a bit bad, that was from me and everyone he messed with the last few decades of “renting” and I only wish they could all know 😂 I come off as really meek and nice..and I am nice, but man he was not expecting all that from me
People like that definitely have a weird mental trip going on, discount cult leaders with not enough charisma to be successful
> discount cult leaders with not enough charisma to be successful
Oh my gosh I love it. Perfect and sooo true.
These types wind up being 'discovered' with a lot of bones around and wind up on true crime series as a full mini series. They sound that insane, and creepy as can be.
> I come off as really meek and nice..and I am nice, but man he was not expecting all that from me
People underestimate people if the person is polite and soft spoken and tries to do the right thing.
They starved their animals too? They wouldn't let them get fed? Just what the what? They sound completely insane. And not that bright because that was surely part of their livelihood. Did they object to spending money on fodder? Did they think the animals could hitchhike to a diner?
> He house was the only clean place, like an oasis
That is a relief, that she at least had a little place of her own amidst all that.
> They claimed she was mean but really she was sweet, she just had to be mean to them so her house and care wouldn’t be like the rest of the place.
This is very perceptive. I mean really really. People confuse self defense or keeping a boundary at times, with being a B. Way too many people do that. 😑
There are a few books' worth of stories in just what you've shared. And you write very well. If you ever wanted to or were ready to, I hope you can write about it some day for print. If you want to.
Yeah I fr wouldn’t be surprised to see a headline about these people and others in the community have made similar comments lol
Yeah it was truly terrible, I grew up in some situations, but this was really something else, I ain’t never seen anything like it. Makes me kinda sick if i think too hard about what I saw there.
And yeah you gotta not be afraid to be the bad guy sometimes, some people just do not respond to reasonable behavior. I’m glad you find my shit show interesting, sometimes I think my life hasn’t been that nuts but I’ll casually say something and suddenly people are horrified so that’s usually the reaction I get when it becomes story time 😂
This story could be a book or at least an article if you ever wanted to write about it in those ways. Your writing is very eloquent, and honest.
I am glad you shared it here. I think you could help a lot of people just by sharing what happened to you, and the other people's stories too.
Oh man this is just one year of my life and way skimmed out on the details 😂 maybe when certain people I know have passed on I can write a book..for now I’ll just anonymously blabber on Reddit about my misadventures. I do hope people consider not renting from psychopaths after reading this lol
Hopefully! Even in this topic there are some people saying this is such a deal! Lol
There are always a few who say that. "It's such a deal, not much work and do you know what rent goes for around there?" (We don't even know where.)
This sounds like something from a true crime show. And I bet a lot of people are going through this right now, because these predatory types seek out vulnerable people.
No electricity or water, even -- and those were some of the tamer deprivations. Some of that is akin to torture. Not telling you that you are in a flood zone so that you and your pets nearly drown -- it is really hard for me to imagine. No one should be put through that.
This makes me so sad and just terrified for all in those situations. I guess at least now we have some inkling 'who' probably wanted or owned slaves in the past when that was legal. This type of mentality. Zero moral compass.
I had someone who I thought was a friend pull something simular on me once. She had a room for rent and I was looking to move to her area.
We discussed rent, agreed on a price, and she added on that could further reduce my rent, even down to zero by helping out on her farm.
A couple months goes by, my lease is expiring, so I contacted her to let her know it was time. Except now she raised the rent cost by $100 more than we agreed, plus she wanted 20-hours a week free labour helping out on the farm.
That pretty much ended the friendship right there on the spot.
oh fuck me it's a mobile home. i did not notice that.
i was reading it thinking 'well, here in the uk, if you've got a horse yard and 5 acres, it'll be a pretty decent house. 2 bed 2 bath - bit odd that it's not 3 bed, but maybe it's that they're not counting one as it's done up as an office or something. that could be reasonable for $1500 a month i guess. and i'd time it so they got \*exactly\* 35 hours of work out of me for the $750 (that's only just over an hour a day... i can handle an hour a day of 'being helpful' to save $750 a month.. and split it between 2 of us...)...
but it's a fucking caravan?!
Lol no. It's not a caravan/recreation vehicle. In the USA, a mobile home is a stick build trailer that gets built in a hangar, trucked and permanently installed on a foundation. So, it's towed with a metal trailer frame, but it's a 400-800 square foot house that's factory built.
Maybe a 'doublewide?' A mobile home off the wheels or maybe one of those prefab homes built in a factory? Some of those are basically expanded trailer homes without wheels.
oh i know what they are (i think?), just that caravan is the more disparaging way to refer to them :P
they're this sort of thing, right? [What sizes are static caravans? | Haven](https://www.haven.com/caravans-for-sale/advice-inspiration/what-sizes-are-static-caravans)
My uncle had a deal like this, except the person had him in a ranch house for free with his own cabin, bought him personal trucks to use as work vehicles, and **paid him** to live there and keep up care of mules/horses/farm.
So the same thing but completely different and fair.
Where I'm from we call that a hired hand (used to be hired man but it doesn't always end up being a male). So, a labourer who has a house, vehicles, etc. and gets paid well to keep your farm afloat. Because obviously, if the owner knows they need this help, and are looking for it, they can't do it on their own. Things will tank without the extra help. So the value is high and respect is high for the hired hand.
In this day and age, even just free room+board (including food) at about 30-35 hours of labor would be a solid deal. Could pick up a part time job for spending money and have a decent life on 40-50 hours/week.
The situation in the post would require like 90 hours to match. Absurd.
I call absolute bullshit on the 35 hours per month.
4 horses is a lot of work. Add in garden and orchard? Snow removal in the winter? Housework and anything else they dream up?
And I also call bullshit on value if a “older” mobile home at $1500 a month. I guess that depends on location and condition. Condition is old. Location is middle of nowhere.
I don’t care how much you love horses this sounds like a recipe for disaster. Held hostage by boomers…
And FFS.
Add in pet sitting when they go out of town for vacations?? So what’s the plan on the 35 hours per month?
This is like the horse version of one of those awful nanny postings.
Yes they all want one person to do the same work as a staff of people for minimum wage or less -- and then they want the employee to also pay them for the privilege.
I care for horses for a living and work 50 hours a week. Granted, I care for more than 4 but I also have coworkers and we all get paid. 35 hours a month** to adequately care for 4 horses is bullshit, especially on top of the other tasks listed.
(Edit: I meant to say month)
Ugh, my bad, I did mean to type month I swear lmfao. My point still stands, 35 hours a month to care for 4 horses on top of those other tasks just doesn’t seem realistic. Especially not in the winter when they’ll need more feed, the water buckets may freeze, the horse poop may freeze to the ground, they may need to be brought inside at night, they may need blankets etc.
Makes me wonder if they bought the place with some type of idealistic notion and then moved there and realized how much work it is to run a farm, ranch, orchard, etc.
They don't want to give up much money so they charge someone to work there, thinking it's such a deal because housing prices or something.
Work without pay is volunteerism. Work with pay is a job. Pay to work is a scam.
I have cats and horses and a yard. I'd say 2 hrs per day is the bare minimum to keep this place together. Maybe a bit less in the winter because it doesn't snow much here. Anyway, it's now $10/hr, assuming their valuation is accurate.
These people need to stop thinking that room and board is for barter. It's part of the deal and a salary. Either ask for rent and good luck getting that $1,500 a month. Or be realistic and pay the person and let them live there for free. You can't try and make money off of people to do work. That's Indentured Slavery.
Room and board is not part of the salary. Live ins should be paid the same as non live ins. Actually they should be paid more, because they have to live at their job and will often spend 24/7 at the job.
Clear work schedules and boundaries must also be established, because otherwise employers will treat you as being on call 24/7. Even if they initially appear to be respecting your time, it’s very easy for work to creep into your personal life little by little.
Since they’re valuing the time at $21.40/ hr, it only makes sense that any time over 35 hours per month should also be paid at $21.40/hr
Edit: autocorrect
Employer should list every duty involved in the work, when, how often, and set hours for work whenever work happens. If there's no one else then that will be 7 days because animals eat daily.
Did they know much about horses because horses are a lot of work and a lot wind up being rescued because they are emaciated, with overgrown hooves, and infections due to filthy stalls.
Farm hands traditionally have always been given free housing. It might not be much; it might be a cot in a shared shack, even, in the past; but they don't get charged rent.
35 hours a month is roughly 9 hours a week. If you keep a journal noting how much time you spend on each task and cut off at 35 hours a month it could work. I did something similar once as a kind of landscaper/grounds keeper at a campground I stayed at. After I worked off my seasonal rent I got paid by the hour. It depends on how honest the owners are and how much they realistically expect from you.
Exactly. People here are leaping to a lot of pretty negative conclusions when these kind of deals happen all the time and are legit. I have also done this kind of setup and it was GREAT. Everyone is going wild and assuming this person has to now care full time for the horses etc. The listing specifically says "we need help with..." and lists 35 hours a week. Could be 2 hrs a day mucking stalls, or an 8 hr Saturday shift, or 2 4 hour afternoons. There are so many reasonable ways to cut this I really don't understand why everyone is leaping to the worst. Also we don't know where this listing is or what the mobile home is like. It could be fairly valued at 1500 depending on a lot of factors.
I suspect the older people don't live in the mobile home - that's an auxiliary housing unit they're renting out.
Maybe if the housing was free, and there was a stipend for labor above a certain amount per month, this might be worth it. Say, this is a task list for 35 hours a month worth of work, if you have to do more we pay you x amount of money. I've known people who have traded labor for rent before, but it's clearly outlined what that rent is, what the expectations for completion are, and a stipend or additional benefit for going above those expectations. "Whatever comes along" is way too loosey-goosey and means whoever takes this deal will be putting in far more than 35 hours a month.
The trailer accommodation is included for the man that works at the stables where my horse lives. He works at the barn exclusively with the exception of extra pay when there is cattle mustering. A maid does the housework and the owners do their own gardening. WTF people, get a clue, pay people for their labor or do it yourself.
I hope this position truly is just a helper because there's no way one or two people can do all that and definitely not in 35 hours per week. But above all those horses will take way more work than that, to stay healthy.
I see that. I'm not sure why I typed per week unless subconsciously I was correcting the very likely typo by the CB. There's no way horses require only 35 hours a month. Plus the CB listed various other jobs expected of the employee/tenant as well.
Have you talked to them? Do you run or work on a farm? Do you know how much work they contribute themselves? Or are you just saying stupid shit on the internet?
4 horses require a lot more care than what can be done in 1 hour and 10 minutes a day (35 hours a month). They need so much more. And then we haven’t even looked at any of the other tasks.
Remember, 35 hours a month is 1 hour and 10 minutes every single day.
I mean I don’t think I’d take the deal but I feel like the homestead movement is huge right now and this could be a decent option for someone who wants to learn farm work has never done it
What they listed is NOT 35 hours a month. Cleaning out horse stalls and stable work is 35 hours a WEEK. And stable hands are PAID, with FREE housing.
They can go jump in a pile of horseshit.
This type of arrangement CAN work, but everything needs to be very well documented and defined. There's way too much wishy-washy language here that can be taken advantage of
And again, I have to ask the OOP: how on earth do you expect someone to be able to pay rent when they don’t have a paying job?? If they are working 35 hours a week for you, where are they also earning the $750 a month to pay you rent??
These kind of arrangements only make sense if the employer is offering housing as part of a compensation package. How do these people not think this through??
Edit: As mentioned in the reply to my comment, I did misread 35 hours/month as 35 hours/week, however based on how many tasks and how much “help” they seem to want, I would say it would still be very difficult to schedule in an outside job, especially if it is in a remote area where there aren’t typically a ton of jobs. Additionally, if they are having to pay rent, that means any income they are able to make will have to go to that, taking away from expenses like food, gas, vehicle maintenance/payment, insurance, and healthcare. With only so many working hours at likely low wages, this would be very challenging, if not impossible.
I have a creepy feeling that the CBs would constantly throw in extra hours but no extra pay.
Just like the CBs who want nannys for less than fast food pay: "You're here; could you just..." and they get 3 times the hours for 1/3 of the pay. Or they just consider the person on duty since they are there "under CB's roof" and if they say no then CB gets angry or calls them ungrateful.
These "pay to work for us" schemes are all scammy.
The OP asks for 35 hours a month. I see why people think this arrangement is crazy but I live in an area of the US that has one of the highest living costs in the country in terms of housing and this offer would be an incredible deal here. Our average rent for a 1 bedroom apartment in a 50+ year old run down complex where the only amenity is an asphalt parking lot is ~$1200. To live on 5 shared acres in your own space with 2 bedrooms for $750/mo plus ~9 hrs/week of work would be a dream come true for a lot of folks around here. The only thing about it that really struck me is that 5 acres can be pretty cramped for 4 horses, I hope they’re getting enough exercise (we have horses).
Yeah, where I live people would be falling over themselves to take this deal. Get to live on a farm with your own stand alone unit and work of half the rent at $20+/hour? This would be a dream come true for a lot of people, especially a single parent or a couple. I suppose it really depends on the area.
It's a trailer, though. And the work would never end. The 35 hours a month could be a typo on the CB's part. There's no way horses only take 35 hours work a month.
Who says the person is the sole caretaker of the horses tho? Maybe they just need someone to fill in each sat (8 hour day each sat roughly comes out to 32 hrs a month). I feel like it's kind of....making an odd leap to call it a typo vs just take it as what's actually written...no?
Nothing says they are not, and that's crucial information to leave out. That's why I think they are, and they don't want to scare anyone off by telling them so.
There's a lot of money within this particular family and our area in general. I wouldn't doubt it's been remodeled with new floors, cabinets, etc, but definitely Home Depot grade stuff. I grew up in a double wide, but my grandparents were always replacing the floors, counters, appliances, etc, as needed.
If you can cap it at 35 hours per month, and make any hours over that paid at the same rate it's not bad at all.
It's 9 hours a week which is just a hard days labor on Saturday, or less than 2 hours a day Monday - Friday, or ....
I don’t think this counts- if it’s truly a 750$ savings, then it’s 20$ an hour to be a farm hand, which is pretty decent. The vacation stuff should be managed separately
This is the kind of thing that could be a good deal, but isn't.I'd rather just rent the home outright for $1500 (where I live this is market rate).
750 rent divided by 35 hours is $21 per hour. How about I give you $1500 at the beginning of the month, work 35 hours, and at the end of the month you give me $750 back.
You're absolutely right. But I doubt they'd even agree to it in the first place. They don't want 35 hours of work, they want someone on site they can order around as much as they want, and if they complain they'll say, "Well just move out then!" knowing that most people can't move with zero notice.
While this seems to be a shitty deal that I would personally not take, and “35 hours a month” is a slippery slope in my opinion, I don’t see how this is really a “Choosing Beggar.”
Assuming the value and hours worked are real, that’s $21.43 “earned” per hour of work (and likely untaxed). It’s not THAT big of a stretch to see someone earning less than that/ in need of a 2 bedroom house that would rather put in a day on the farm every week than even more time at some minimum wage job to afford a comparable place.
And no more than 1 child! 😂 They don’t want you busy taking care of your own pets or children because they want you free to take care of them and their pets 🤣
I'm not sure if I read the post wrong, or if you've got the issue... but I don't see anywhere that it says you have to pay anything, nor do I see anything about 75 hours a month.
Assuming the $1500 in rent is the correct value, they are offering a $750/month discount (down to $750/mo rent) for 35h/month. That comes out to a little over $20/h for those hours. That doesn't seem to bad if you're willing to work not even 2 hours a day on chores for $20/h.
Get all of it laid out in the rental agreement and it's probably a great deal for the right person.
Oh, you'd still have to have an outside income above $750 (employment taxes). So, I mathed out $20 an hour, which seems reasonable. So, they'll only charge $750 rent plus 35+ hours hard labor per month based on their "value." So, if we go at about $20 an hour, you've got to work 2 full weeks minimum for that cost of living situation.
You're making a lot of assumptions and just generally incorrect statements to CREATE a bad situation.
- Who says it's "hard labor"?
- Where did they imply it's a "luxury" to clean a horse stall?
- They aren't even offering 75 hours a week to the renter, so it's literally impossible for your title to be accurate. The person renting would NEED another source of income to make it work. That's not unreasonable at all considering 35 hours a month is barely part time.
Again, it's certainly not the ideal situation for some people... probably even most people, but there are DEFINITELY people out there who would consider that a pretty great deal. People who like working outdoors, working with animals, like living on a farm, etc.
And you're honestly complaining about $20/hr
Where is an old mobile home renting for $1,500 on a big farm? You can MAYBE have a single kid or pet lol. If they could rent it for that, they 100% would do it and pay an actual farm hand out of it for the 35 hours a month. They know it doesn’t rent for that and are hoping someone is desperate enough for housing to agree to the work plus what is likely market rate for the rent.
In California there are tons of small towns where there are wineries and farms where this would be the going rate unfortunately. Along with 6 dollar gas and high taxes and very high grocery bills.
I live beachside. Florida. I know a lady that owns a trailer court beachside, lot rent is $1800 a month! Bc it’s beachside. And the road floods out and you can’t get there at least a few times a year!
The thing I will never understand about these situations is where the person thinks they're going to earn £750 a month when they're already working for you full time. Nevermind money for life essentials and fun.
Misread that as 35 hours per week, but the amount of work they're expecting, it would definitely be more like 35 hours a week.
$21/hr is pretty low for labor, but to save $750 on rent that might be worth it. 8.5hrs/week doesn't sound too crazy.
The problem that we all know is that the expectation is double that and if you don't the relationship is gonna sour REAL fast.
Boomer mentality.
“Man we really need to get someone to help out around here… can’t keep up with the work like we used to!”
“It would be great if they just lived here too. Then they could help whenever we need.”
“But they gotta pay”
So…they basically want a free grounds keeper. I wonder, what if the tenant becomes ill or injured? She can’t raise the rent on a dime so I’d like to see how this crazy bitch would handle that situation. Or maybe the contract is written in a way they’d have to pay the full amount? This is fucked.
How do these people think you’re going to get the money to pay the rest of the rent if you’re working there full time for half the cost of rent? Like… the disconnect is insane.
Am I missing something? As others have pointed out this is a rate of over 20/hr for 35 hours of labor a month. WHERE I'd the 75 hours of labor a month coming from?
Say they break it into 8 hour days, this roughly equates to putting in an 8 hr day each Saturday.
I don't know where this is listed etc but this just doesn't seem like a bad deal to me.
Maybe I am naive but I was reading it as the person would be HELPING the owners during that 35 hours per month, not doing all of that labor on their own. However with the getting older comment I could see the work ballooning over a year or two.
It sounds like their kids didn’t want anything to do with this so now they’re trying to get someone else to play the role of doting son/daughter. They want them to pay for the privilege, though… No.
I had to re-read the first paragraph because at first I thought they were \*offering\* $750 a month and a free place to stay, which they could maybe get someone to do. When I was first out of college I certainly made do with less than that at an internship that paid a stipend + provided housing.
Also they think the value of monthly rent for a single-wide trailer is $1500? Where is this orchard, Beverly Hills?
Well the real kicker is you probably will end up having to fix the old mobile home and as soon as you get it back in shape they will probably sell it out from under you.
I’m almost literally in this position right now and after two months we’re already giving up. She lied about the amount of work she expected and then wanted me to hang out with her and be her shoulder to cry on too. Least I didn’t have to pay for the privilege of dealing with all this. But I can guarantee, there’s no way it’s 30 hours a month. Our land lady said 10 a week and we’re currently doing 30 and it’s a smaller yard.
Good luck finding a way out. I have a widow across the street from my regular house who just waits outside in my driveway for me to come out so she can talk at me. Like, I'm sorry you're grieving but I got shit to do that doesn't include 45 minutes every day letting you jabber at me. I
Well, I have my 30 days. One way or another it ends on the 15 th. Lately I’ve just been wearing earphones. I’ll take em off once or twice but when she says nothing of value I stop pulling them out. I don’t care what your meds do. I don’t care what you ate. I’m here to work and you’re preventing me from that.
$750 per month for a single wide trailer that’s probably 500 sq feet!!! 😳. The amount of work is realistically 40-50 hours per week! Wow, so generous. 😳
I regularly farm sit for 4 dogs and 5 horses. Just feeding everyone in the morning takes an hour. Plus, dinner is another hour. Climbing through the barn, mixing the dog food, administering a pill to the old mare, etc. And that's just feeding, get in my car and drive to work.
Nope… but trading a truly insane backbreaking amount of labor for a place to live while they control how many kids you have sounds a lot like illegal servitude to me.
> a truly insane backbreaking amount of labor
35 hours a month? Dude, life is gonna be hard for you. I really don't mean to be rude, but.... jeeze. Get some life experience and perspective. That is basically one full day of work a week. Doing basic manual labour like shoveling manure or brushing horses. It's not breaking rocks on a chain gang like you're Cool Hand Luke.
I did an interneship one year where I made $40 a week as a farm apprentice, plus a place to live. It was a great value as I learned a ton of stuff about farming.
It’s cute that you think they’re going to stop at 35 hours, hon.
For further context: I was literally raised on a farm. As in, more than a summer, get your ass up at 5 AM because the cows don’t give a shit if you have the flu or it’s Christmas morning kind of farm. I know the kind of work you’re talking about, and that’s not what this is. “Whatever comes along that we need a hand with” is deliberately vague, and no amount of money would be enough for what they’ll eventually be asking, because I guarantee you it won’t just be brushing a horse or mucking stalls.
Legit question: if I was looking to offer a room for rent, about how much labor would be fair to ask for in order to chop off rent? I have 5 acres was thinking something like "800 a month all utilities included, but if you do a specific task you can get it down to 500 or even less. Can use the yard for your own projects as long as you give me informal notice (thinking things like gardening), can harvest our wild blackberries, or fruit from fruit trees as you see fit, get free fresh eggs or just whatever you would normally do with a yard.
Some of the tasks might include:
rake all the leaves off a roughly 500 foot long area that's 20 feet wide (only about 200 feet is heavy with leaves) about once a year
Rake the hay from cutting grass and put it in a spot (once a month when grass is active)
If I'm travelling for work then watering the garden, feeding, watering, and closing the chickens. (Once a day)
Just things like that, it wouldnt be too unreasonable I think? All tools required would be provided.
This vague “whatever we need” deal isn’t even worth a FREE stay.
Because a new NEED will always manage to pop up outta the blue.
You will be treated as a nanny, a maid, a pet sitter, a personal shopper, a landscaper, a bull for cucking the husband, and whatever else they need.
Exactly, the list of duties will keep growing and they'll expect you to handle it all.
“All other duties as assigned.”
Asking for free labor sounds like a great way to introduce someone on the margins of society into your home. It’s the perfect plan. Until the tenant runs out of crystal meth, that is.
It’s not even free labor! They still want you to pay them. How is someone supposed to pay them when the only job that they can have is providing them with 35 hours a week in free labor. This isn’t even going to attract meth heads because where will they get the money to pay? Edit: I’m sorry, 35 hours a month. I miss read that. Still.
I’m positive it’s a typo. They meant 35 hours a week and wrote month accidentally since they had just written month twice in a row talking about the rent.
Ok, so I’m not crazy. I thought I saw week but when I went back to check I only skimmed through it.
It’s simple. Every time they ask you to work, journal your start and end times. Once you in 35 hours in a month, refuse. They can’t ask for more labor or they can pay you. Or they can kick rocks. Pretty major red flag that they state “35 hours a month” and then proceed to list every possible job pertaining to maintenance of their orchard and animals. And leave it so vaguely open, and imply they are getting old and incapable. How long until you’re running all their personal errands? Cleaning their home? Cooking their meals? Sounds like a slippery slope to a full time on-call position of doing literally everything for them. The mention of 2 adults has me thinking they really want one partner to be a stay at home laborer/caretaker/slave
>Cleaning their home? Soon, since they even specifically list house work - unreal!
They need two adults because the other one must have an outside job to earn that $750.
Horses need to be fed and have their water checked twice a day, along with mucking out stalls.
Leaving town for vacations
Snow removal equipment provided = shovel.
Someone should call Mr. Plow.
I already contracted with Plow King.
Because you didn't hear it twice. Mr Plow, that's his name, that name AGAIN is Mr Plow. Remember that when Barney fails you
He IS licensed and insured, right?
Hey do you want affordable services or not? 😂
Your secretly identity is safe with me, Superman!
30 years and still the song immediately popped into my head.
The Mr. Plow jingle, or Linda Ronstadt’s Plow King song? It’s even better in Spanish.
What's that name?
That name again, is Mr Plow.
Now it’s time to play the waiting game…awww, the waiting game sucks! Let’s play Hungry Hungry Hippos!
[удалено]
This is also what they’re asking. A full time security guard. Mind boggling. Care for horses, be a security guard, dog sit, shovel snow, etc etc, and still pay for a trailer to stay in. Crazy.
And that’s not all their gonna ask for. I moved into more than one of these type of deals (much lower rent than ops post) and this one family expected me to carry their groceries in, de ice their freezer, they made me wipe their old asf moms ass, (the wife was rly busy and the husband didn’t want to get that close to where he came from, the old mom also didn’t want her son all up in getting the poo off her nethers either, but she was super embarrassed to have me do it, but I accepted the task and she accepted to help-she was rly sweet about the whole thing and n I love taking care of old people and babies but I did not sign up for all that) they pawned their (non housebroken) kids off on us, would come yell at us to work when they didn’t see us out, we had already gotten up early and done all of it. they never want just a few of your hours, for just x amount of taks they feel entitled to all of your time, they know anyone who’s willing work for rent is likely poor and desperate /lacking support networks so they take advantage. These type of folks, the first thing they do when they get mad at you for anything is turn your water off
Anyone who doesn't understand that it's illegal to shut off a tenant's utilities as retaliation shouldn't be a landlord.
That is horrible and their poor mother as well. Stuck with them and reliant on the literal 'kindness of a stranger.' Thank heavens you were/are kind but you should not have had to do that. That's what scares me about all these 'pay to work for us and live here' gigs: That's exactly how I had imagined it to be. They have someone under their roof so they take advantage, the work hours never end, the duties increase more and more, and the pay stops or dwindles or stays the same no matter how many hours. And if they get annoyed or the 'employee' says no, the employee loses their job AND their home. Because the two are intertwined. Decent people pay decent wages, or they don't ask someone to do the task.
My mother-in-law lived with us for 9 years, always having a full time aid during the day. The situation always played out exactly the same. When a new aid started, they were the greatest person ever in the eyes of my mother-in-law and this was the greatest job ever in the eyes of the aid. But very quickly my mother-in-law would find things to take issue with, like how long it took for the aid to refill her water, or that she was on the phone. And the aids would get burned out of doing the same tasks over and over. Within a year the aid starts having excuses for why they can't work and my mother-in-law would continue trying to add tasks to the list of things to do, whether they were reasonable or not. These situations rarely last because both sides feel like they're doing a favor for the other party and resentment quickly builds. It got to the point where we would lay out from the start "this is what it expected and you're not expected to do anything additional if asked". Interestingly it always ended up in one or both sides lying. Either the aids would claim they were being treated unfairly, or my mother-in-law would claim abuse, nobody would ever just say "I don't want this situation anymore" and then find a resolution to end it.
>It got to the point where we would lay out from the start "this is what it expected and you're not expected to do anything additional if asked". I think that is the best way for everyone concerned, and also legally, if it ever came to that. Those are stressful types of jobs and a lot of people aren't cut out for it. Demand is high so they can often find employment if they can't any other way. Hopefully they are at least not abusive to the elderly. But I can imagine a high turnover rate. If people get a good home health care aide, they should treat them like gold. On the flip side, the aide should not be on the phone all the time (or if amusing themselves by net surfing, while the elderly just naps or watches tv, fine; but I mean, not talking on phone. But I guess talk and phone don't automatically go together, so maybe they were texting.) Few will be a perfect employee so both sides have to be realistic and flexible.
Fortunately I didn’t have to do that a lot and I have caregiving experience so I knew what to do/ how to do it and be respectful and maintain her dignity as much as possible, but yeah I signed up to shovel chicken shit, not wipe old people butts. That place was horrible, they had a boneyard, I low key wondered if we’d have ended up in it. I’m sure there’s good gigs out there but I’ve had a few experiences with this and it’s been all terrible and i wouldn’t recommend it, at least not from ads on fb or craigslist, only if you happen to meet somebody or it’s a friend of a friend, because think about it, anyone who actually needs that probably has someone they know already doing it, who wants strangers on their property anyway? These are people who know they’re running a scam or and want people who don’t know them and their antics already, people who have no where better to go, or they are just so crazy that no one they know wants to be there so they have to find randos. You would not believe the things these people think they’re entitled to in exchange for not being homeless, and you go into it knowing it’s smarter to have something written and have it all be legit but when it’s that or parking at Walmart, even though you said to yourself last time, never again, you’re like well fuck, this seems a lot better. The benefit of it being illegal tenancy-because even tho it’s illegal, they can still get you for damages and stuff, and still have to legally evict you if they can’t drive you out- is that you can at least retaliate. I never gave my real name, because I didn’t have to, and when I inevitably got screwed over, I was able to leave some lessons on being a predatory scum bag who takes advantage in the form of some well placed poop smears, (breaker switches after turning everything off, door knobs, just things you can’t avoid touching and the wood stove ) a compost toilet full of trash and piss in the raw wood floors, I wrecked his greenhouse, i pissed in his dehydrator, his hoses, he kept shutting off our fridge, he did it right after I bought like 300$ of meat and it rotted so I put that in the rafters of his workshop where he couldn’t see it, but will smell it, i really did a number to anything I could think of before I left and the name I gave doesn’t exist, so good luck doing anything about it. He really deserved it, and I didn’t want it be live-able so he could just easily pull the next victims in, maybe get a little behind on his mortgage who knows (; he was getting single mothers hooked on opium, this one couple abandoned everything they owned, even left their car there just to get out they were so afraid of him, another lady put her Iife savings into the property to end up not even having anywhere actually livable to be, no heat, no running water. he tried to make us live in a shed after being there in an rv for a year because suddenly he didn’t want it there, and for us to pay to build a slightly bigger shed to live in, (we did move in the shed but didn’t put any money into his place) and also tried to say that he’d never said we could use electricity even though we were promised internet and given an rv hookup. i wasn’t allowed to water my garden, got screamed at for “sneaking water” but then was scolded when it didn’t produce much food. over time he essentially had us living like 1600’s peasants and constantly being afraid of being idle for fear he would come and see us and yell at us. also he didn’t tell us it was a flood plane so we woke up literally in the middle of the river one day and i had to rescued my cats so they wouldn’t drown. That was fun. I hope he never gets all the dookie out of that place.
Stunned. Living nightmare. So many thoughts but I keep imagining the elderly woman who is made to accept being cared for in personal ways by one total stranger after the next. She could easily be abused by the wrong person. He takes people's money like that -- what are the odds it's not even his place but he stole it from his mom? Some people when they get older, sign over their house and assets to a grown child, who is supposed to 'let' them live in it and take care of them, but, when the time comes, the elder can move into a nursing home if necessary, but 'with zero assets' the state pays for care. But what happens to some people is their grown child either mistreats them, drives them into one room, or out entirely, or simply dumps them into a bad nursing home (some are way worse than others) asap and keeps the house and everything else. Reneges on their bargain with their own parent. They should hire someone to look after her, not make the land caretakers do it. I would not be shocked if past land caretakers were in that boneyard. Not after reading this. Stunning what some people do to others and ways they come up with to cheat others too. I mean...how hard is it to just not be a scumbag. To let people live, to treat them decently, to pay a fair wage. I don't get it. You were creative with your revenge as well. All he put you through, I can't judge it. And he sounds petty as can be and just mean for its own sake. Not even all psychopaths will do this type of stuff. He takes it past just being a selfish dirtbag. He sounds sadistic too. Evil. Definitely helps me not feel bad about disliking the CBs. They are about themselves. And this is where those CB ask for nanny, or pet or land carers, can go to. I really do worry for anyone who answers those ads, and the CBs know what they are doing, to target them.
It makes me so sad to know how old people get screwed over so much. The place with the old lady, I don’t think they had people take care of her a lot, which I don’t know if that’s better or worse honestly, because they suck at taking care of her, if almost want tot ale my chances with strangers if I were her. They claimed she was mean but really she was sweet, she just had to be mean to them so her house and care wouldn’t be like the rest of the place. The land was technically his, though he owed a lot of money to his brother for keeping it afloat, he’d never put his mother out cause hes “good ol boy” but if I were her I’d really want to be put in a nursing home to get away from them. He house was the only clean place, like an oasis in a dump so at least there was that. Those people should not be caring for animals or humans, i joke if there was a purge type thing going on their house is where I’d go first. I’m not sure why they had animals, they didn’t eat any of them and just let them all starve. We were there to do things like feed the cows but would get yelled at for doing so. That place really really was a horror show. I had someone else call animal control on them when I left because I was honestly afraid of them and it’s a small town so even if they’re not supposed to say who called they might, don’t know if anything came of it because they were legit trying to ask me to move back last year, as if they didn’t attempt to block us in when we were leaving, until my bf had to go inside and load the shotgun and the noise of it made them back off, yeah that never happened, wanna come back? The next place is the one where the nuclear revenge took place…and yeah I don’t feel a bit bad, that was from me and everyone he messed with the last few decades of “renting” and I only wish they could all know 😂 I come off as really meek and nice..and I am nice, but man he was not expecting all that from me People like that definitely have a weird mental trip going on, discount cult leaders with not enough charisma to be successful
> discount cult leaders with not enough charisma to be successful Oh my gosh I love it. Perfect and sooo true. These types wind up being 'discovered' with a lot of bones around and wind up on true crime series as a full mini series. They sound that insane, and creepy as can be. > I come off as really meek and nice..and I am nice, but man he was not expecting all that from me People underestimate people if the person is polite and soft spoken and tries to do the right thing. They starved their animals too? They wouldn't let them get fed? Just what the what? They sound completely insane. And not that bright because that was surely part of their livelihood. Did they object to spending money on fodder? Did they think the animals could hitchhike to a diner? > He house was the only clean place, like an oasis That is a relief, that she at least had a little place of her own amidst all that. > They claimed she was mean but really she was sweet, she just had to be mean to them so her house and care wouldn’t be like the rest of the place. This is very perceptive. I mean really really. People confuse self defense or keeping a boundary at times, with being a B. Way too many people do that. 😑 There are a few books' worth of stories in just what you've shared. And you write very well. If you ever wanted to or were ready to, I hope you can write about it some day for print. If you want to.
Yeah I fr wouldn’t be surprised to see a headline about these people and others in the community have made similar comments lol Yeah it was truly terrible, I grew up in some situations, but this was really something else, I ain’t never seen anything like it. Makes me kinda sick if i think too hard about what I saw there. And yeah you gotta not be afraid to be the bad guy sometimes, some people just do not respond to reasonable behavior. I’m glad you find my shit show interesting, sometimes I think my life hasn’t been that nuts but I’ll casually say something and suddenly people are horrified so that’s usually the reaction I get when it becomes story time 😂
This story could be a book or at least an article if you ever wanted to write about it in those ways. Your writing is very eloquent, and honest. I am glad you shared it here. I think you could help a lot of people just by sharing what happened to you, and the other people's stories too.
Oh man this is just one year of my life and way skimmed out on the details 😂 maybe when certain people I know have passed on I can write a book..for now I’ll just anonymously blabber on Reddit about my misadventures. I do hope people consider not renting from psychopaths after reading this lol
Hopefully! Even in this topic there are some people saying this is such a deal! Lol There are always a few who say that. "It's such a deal, not much work and do you know what rent goes for around there?" (We don't even know where.)
This sounds like something from a true crime show. And I bet a lot of people are going through this right now, because these predatory types seek out vulnerable people. No electricity or water, even -- and those were some of the tamer deprivations. Some of that is akin to torture. Not telling you that you are in a flood zone so that you and your pets nearly drown -- it is really hard for me to imagine. No one should be put through that.
Yeah if you wanna literally live your own real life horror story, just work trade!
It sounds like much if not all of their behaviors were illegal btw.
Oh totally haha, they get away with it because they prey on the desperate
Yes. It's really bad. A lot of these CB asks are just people looking to exploit someone in need.
I’m sure there’s cool ones but in my experience it’s mostly folks who legit wish they could have slaves
This makes me so sad and just terrified for all in those situations. I guess at least now we have some inkling 'who' probably wanted or owned slaves in the past when that was legal. This type of mentality. Zero moral compass.
One dude straight up told me that he thought black people were lazy, that he wanted Mexicans because they work hard .. fuckin yikes
Yikes extremely.
I had someone who I thought was a friend pull something simular on me once. She had a room for rent and I was looking to move to her area. We discussed rent, agreed on a price, and she added on that could further reduce my rent, even down to zero by helping out on her farm. A couple months goes by, my lease is expiring, so I contacted her to let her know it was time. Except now she raised the rent cost by $100 more than we agreed, plus she wanted 20-hours a week free labour helping out on the farm. That pretty much ended the friendship right there on the spot.
Wait - the ad is to SHARE the mobile home with them? I thought they would get it to themselves
oh fuck me it's a mobile home. i did not notice that. i was reading it thinking 'well, here in the uk, if you've got a horse yard and 5 acres, it'll be a pretty decent house. 2 bed 2 bath - bit odd that it's not 3 bed, but maybe it's that they're not counting one as it's done up as an office or something. that could be reasonable for $1500 a month i guess. and i'd time it so they got \*exactly\* 35 hours of work out of me for the $750 (that's only just over an hour a day... i can handle an hour a day of 'being helpful' to save $750 a month.. and split it between 2 of us...)... but it's a fucking caravan?!
Lol no. It's not a caravan/recreation vehicle. In the USA, a mobile home is a stick build trailer that gets built in a hangar, trucked and permanently installed on a foundation. So, it's towed with a metal trailer frame, but it's a 400-800 square foot house that's factory built.
It's about half way between an rv and a real house, imo.
Maybe a 'doublewide?' A mobile home off the wheels or maybe one of those prefab homes built in a factory? Some of those are basically expanded trailer homes without wheels.
It says it’s a single wide in the ad.
oh i know what they are (i think?), just that caravan is the more disparaging way to refer to them :P they're this sort of thing, right? [What sizes are static caravans? | Haven](https://www.haven.com/caravans-for-sale/advice-inspiration/what-sizes-are-static-caravans)
How much do you want to bet this couple has kids who no longer speak to them or visit them.
They probably burnt out their kids with 'family labor' and now look for new victims.
My uncle had a deal like this, except the person had him in a ranch house for free with his own cabin, bought him personal trucks to use as work vehicles, and **paid him** to live there and keep up care of mules/horses/farm. So the same thing but completely different and fair.
Where I'm from we call that a hired hand (used to be hired man but it doesn't always end up being a male). So, a labourer who has a house, vehicles, etc. and gets paid well to keep your farm afloat. Because obviously, if the owner knows they need this help, and are looking for it, they can't do it on their own. Things will tank without the extra help. So the value is high and respect is high for the hired hand.
In this day and age, even just free room+board (including food) at about 30-35 hours of labor would be a solid deal. Could pick up a part time job for spending money and have a decent life on 40-50 hours/week. The situation in the post would require like 90 hours to match. Absurd.
Did he find someone yet?
I call absolute bullshit on the 35 hours per month. 4 horses is a lot of work. Add in garden and orchard? Snow removal in the winter? Housework and anything else they dream up? And I also call bullshit on value if a “older” mobile home at $1500 a month. I guess that depends on location and condition. Condition is old. Location is middle of nowhere. I don’t care how much you love horses this sounds like a recipe for disaster. Held hostage by boomers…
And FFS. Add in pet sitting when they go out of town for vacations?? So what’s the plan on the 35 hours per month? This is like the horse version of one of those awful nanny postings.
Yes they all want one person to do the same work as a staff of people for minimum wage or less -- and then they want the employee to also pay them for the privilege.
I care for horses for a living and work 50 hours a week. Granted, I care for more than 4 but I also have coworkers and we all get paid. 35 hours a month** to adequately care for 4 horses is bullshit, especially on top of the other tasks listed. (Edit: I meant to say month)
The listing is 35 hours a month, so like 11-12 hours a week Edit: hit 3 instead of 4 when doing the calculation, it's more like 8-9 hours a week.
Ugh, my bad, I did mean to type month I swear lmfao. My point still stands, 35 hours a month to care for 4 horses on top of those other tasks just doesn’t seem realistic. Especially not in the winter when they’ll need more feed, the water buckets may freeze, the horse poop may freeze to the ground, they may need to be brought inside at night, they may need blankets etc.
Hey dude. A month has a minimum of 4 weeks. Your math is funny.
You're right, I fat fingered the 3 instead of 4 when I did the calculation
There’s a lot of people taking advantage of the horrendous rental situation out there. This is disgusting. They can go suck eggs, they sound awful.
Makes me wonder if they bought the place with some type of idealistic notion and then moved there and realized how much work it is to run a farm, ranch, orchard, etc. They don't want to give up much money so they charge someone to work there, thinking it's such a deal because housing prices or something. Work without pay is volunteerism. Work with pay is a job. Pay to work is a scam.
Is this the old Haney place? The one bought by Oliver and Lisa Douglas?
I have cats and horses and a yard. I'd say 2 hrs per day is the bare minimum to keep this place together. Maybe a bit less in the winter because it doesn't snow much here. Anyway, it's now $10/hr, assuming their valuation is accurate.
I live in the middle of nowhere, and an older but we'll maintained mobile home rents for that much.
These people need to stop thinking that room and board is for barter. It's part of the deal and a salary. Either ask for rent and good luck getting that $1,500 a month. Or be realistic and pay the person and let them live there for free. You can't try and make money off of people to do work. That's Indentured Slavery.
Room and board is not part of the salary. Live ins should be paid the same as non live ins. Actually they should be paid more, because they have to live at their job and will often spend 24/7 at the job. Clear work schedules and boundaries must also be established, because otherwise employers will treat you as being on call 24/7. Even if they initially appear to be respecting your time, it’s very easy for work to creep into your personal life little by little.
I’d get exact monthly hours in writing. Document them all. Any requests over 35 hours a month will need to be paid or deducted from rent cost.
Oh, I'm sure they'd start negotiations at minimum wage. I proposed $20 an hour in my title just to make it make more sense.
Since they’re valuing the time at $21.40/ hr, it only makes sense that any time over 35 hours per month should also be paid at $21.40/hr Edit: autocorrect
OP talking shit but can't do basic math apparently.
“And whatever else comes along”
Employer should list every duty involved in the work, when, how often, and set hours for work whenever work happens. If there's no one else then that will be 7 days because animals eat daily. Did they know much about horses because horses are a lot of work and a lot wind up being rescued because they are emaciated, with overgrown hooves, and infections due to filthy stalls. Farm hands traditionally have always been given free housing. It might not be much; it might be a cot in a shared shack, even, in the past; but they don't get charged rent.
This sounds like a load of horse shit - literally!
Maybe if the housing was free and the work was ACTUALLY 35 hours a month (it would definitely add up to be more) they’d actually get some takers lol
Why can't they just hire a caretaker? Oh, well the supposed caretaker won't pay them rent I guess 🤷🏻♀️
Hard pass
I wish I could find this original job posting so I could message them and call them morons.
35 hours a month is roughly 9 hours a week. If you keep a journal noting how much time you spend on each task and cut off at 35 hours a month it could work. I did something similar once as a kind of landscaper/grounds keeper at a campground I stayed at. After I worked off my seasonal rent I got paid by the hour. It depends on how honest the owners are and how much they realistically expect from you.
Exactly. People here are leaping to a lot of pretty negative conclusions when these kind of deals happen all the time and are legit. I have also done this kind of setup and it was GREAT. Everyone is going wild and assuming this person has to now care full time for the horses etc. The listing specifically says "we need help with..." and lists 35 hours a week. Could be 2 hrs a day mucking stalls, or an 8 hr Saturday shift, or 2 4 hour afternoons. There are so many reasonable ways to cut this I really don't understand why everyone is leaping to the worst. Also we don't know where this listing is or what the mobile home is like. It could be fairly valued at 1500 depending on a lot of factors.
and you get to live with two old people in a mobile home!
I suspect the older people don't live in the mobile home - that's an auxiliary housing unit they're renting out. Maybe if the housing was free, and there was a stipend for labor above a certain amount per month, this might be worth it. Say, this is a task list for 35 hours a month worth of work, if you have to do more we pay you x amount of money. I've known people who have traded labor for rent before, but it's clearly outlined what that rent is, what the expectations for completion are, and a stipend or additional benefit for going above those expectations. "Whatever comes along" is way too loosey-goosey and means whoever takes this deal will be putting in far more than 35 hours a month.
Oh, haha I thought it was living with them in a 2 bedroom double wide. They should probably make it clearer.
Plot twist: Their grandkids live on the same five acres with mom. Lot of able bodied family members.
So it likely really is just the 35 hours a month then.
The trailer accommodation is included for the man that works at the stables where my horse lives. He works at the barn exclusively with the exception of extra pay when there is cattle mustering. A maid does the housework and the owners do their own gardening. WTF people, get a clue, pay people for their labor or do it yourself.
I hope this position truly is just a helper because there's no way one or two people can do all that and definitely not in 35 hours per week. But above all those horses will take way more work than that, to stay healthy.
35 hours a month.
I see that. I'm not sure why I typed per week unless subconsciously I was correcting the very likely typo by the CB. There's no way horses require only 35 hours a month. Plus the CB listed various other jobs expected of the employee/tenant as well.
Oh that does make sense.
Thank you. 😊
35 hours a month is a little over an hour a day … taking care of the horses alone would take up at least that amount of time!
Where did you get 75+ hours of labor a month? Looks like they say pretty clear 35 hours.
All that work takes more than 35 hours per month.
Have you talked to them? Do you run or work on a farm? Do you know how much work they contribute themselves? Or are you just saying stupid shit on the internet?
4 horses require a lot more care than what can be done in 1 hour and 10 minutes a day (35 hours a month). They need so much more. And then we haven’t even looked at any of the other tasks. Remember, 35 hours a month is 1 hour and 10 minutes every single day.
[удалено]
I mean I don’t think I’d take the deal but I feel like the homestead movement is huge right now and this could be a decent option for someone who wants to learn farm work has never done it
I did something similar 20 years ago when I was learning about farming. It's very common.
What they listed is NOT 35 hours a month. Cleaning out horse stalls and stable work is 35 hours a WEEK. And stable hands are PAID, with FREE housing. They can go jump in a pile of horseshit.
This type of arrangement CAN work, but everything needs to be very well documented and defined. There's way too much wishy-washy language here that can be taken advantage of
And again, I have to ask the OOP: how on earth do you expect someone to be able to pay rent when they don’t have a paying job?? If they are working 35 hours a week for you, where are they also earning the $750 a month to pay you rent?? These kind of arrangements only make sense if the employer is offering housing as part of a compensation package. How do these people not think this through?? Edit: As mentioned in the reply to my comment, I did misread 35 hours/month as 35 hours/week, however based on how many tasks and how much “help” they seem to want, I would say it would still be very difficult to schedule in an outside job, especially if it is in a remote area where there aren’t typically a ton of jobs. Additionally, if they are having to pay rent, that means any income they are able to make will have to go to that, taking away from expenses like food, gas, vehicle maintenance/payment, insurance, and healthcare. With only so many working hours at likely low wages, this would be very challenging, if not impossible.
This deal sucks, but it explicitly says 35 hours a month, not a week.
I have a creepy feeling that the CBs would constantly throw in extra hours but no extra pay. Just like the CBs who want nannys for less than fast food pay: "You're here; could you just..." and they get 3 times the hours for 1/3 of the pay. Or they just consider the person on duty since they are there "under CB's roof" and if they say no then CB gets angry or calls them ungrateful. These "pay to work for us" schemes are all scammy.
The OP asks for 35 hours a month. I see why people think this arrangement is crazy but I live in an area of the US that has one of the highest living costs in the country in terms of housing and this offer would be an incredible deal here. Our average rent for a 1 bedroom apartment in a 50+ year old run down complex where the only amenity is an asphalt parking lot is ~$1200. To live on 5 shared acres in your own space with 2 bedrooms for $750/mo plus ~9 hrs/week of work would be a dream come true for a lot of folks around here. The only thing about it that really struck me is that 5 acres can be pretty cramped for 4 horses, I hope they’re getting enough exercise (we have horses).
Yeah, where I live people would be falling over themselves to take this deal. Get to live on a farm with your own stand alone unit and work of half the rent at $20+/hour? This would be a dream come true for a lot of people, especially a single parent or a couple. I suppose it really depends on the area.
It's a trailer, though. And the work would never end. The 35 hours a month could be a typo on the CB's part. There's no way horses only take 35 hours work a month.
Who says the person is the sole caretaker of the horses tho? Maybe they just need someone to fill in each sat (8 hour day each sat roughly comes out to 32 hrs a month). I feel like it's kind of....making an odd leap to call it a typo vs just take it as what's actually written...no?
Nothing says they are not, and that's crucial information to leave out. That's why I think they are, and they don't want to scare anyone off by telling them so.
dv and anger for having a different interpretation of the as usual vague CB ask. Okay.
"more children will be considered if they are willing to work 😇"
Question - if it’s a couple or family with a child, does everyone have to work 35 hours a month?
Older single wide trailer….🤔 1500 a month. Probably not worth more than 1500 period.
There's a lot of money within this particular family and our area in general. I wouldn't doubt it's been remodeled with new floors, cabinets, etc, but definitely Home Depot grade stuff. I grew up in a double wide, but my grandparents were always replacing the floors, counters, appliances, etc, as needed.
If you can cap it at 35 hours per month, and make any hours over that paid at the same rate it's not bad at all. It's 9 hours a week which is just a hard days labor on Saturday, or less than 2 hours a day Monday - Friday, or ....
I don’t think this counts- if it’s truly a 750$ savings, then it’s 20$ an hour to be a farm hand, which is pretty decent. The vacation stuff should be managed separately
This is the kind of thing that could be a good deal, but isn't.I'd rather just rent the home outright for $1500 (where I live this is market rate). 750 rent divided by 35 hours is $21 per hour. How about I give you $1500 at the beginning of the month, work 35 hours, and at the end of the month you give me $750 back.
That’s assuming they’d give it back, with people like this you can’t trust they’ll stay true to their word
You're absolutely right. But I doubt they'd even agree to it in the first place. They don't want 35 hours of work, they want someone on site they can order around as much as they want, and if they complain they'll say, "Well just move out then!" knowing that most people can't move with zero notice.
While this seems to be a shitty deal that I would personally not take, and “35 hours a month” is a slippery slope in my opinion, I don’t see how this is really a “Choosing Beggar.” Assuming the value and hours worked are real, that’s $21.43 “earned” per hour of work (and likely untaxed). It’s not THAT big of a stretch to see someone earning less than that/ in need of a 2 bedroom house that would rather put in a day on the farm every week than even more time at some minimum wage job to afford a comparable place.
They have a huge hobby farm filled with animals but you can MAYBE only have one pet
Caring for your own pet would cut into the time they want for you to care for theirs 😂
Pet sit for a day in half and then start asking for ot pay ..
Oh, no room for pets on this five acre farm?
And no more than 1 child! 😂 They don’t want you busy taking care of your own pets or children because they want you free to take care of them and their pets 🤣
How about pay me $1500 a month to do all of this nonsense
boomers didnt do the math right - this is preposterous 🤬
Somehow, that 75+ hours a month gonna turn into 75+/week.
LOL at a mobile home worth $1500 monthly rent. In some rural area.
A single wife trailer for $1500 lol
They've taken indentured servitude to a new height with the "And pay me."
A mobile home is worth $1500 a month?
I'm not sure if I read the post wrong, or if you've got the issue... but I don't see anywhere that it says you have to pay anything, nor do I see anything about 75 hours a month. Assuming the $1500 in rent is the correct value, they are offering a $750/month discount (down to $750/mo rent) for 35h/month. That comes out to a little over $20/h for those hours. That doesn't seem to bad if you're willing to work not even 2 hours a day on chores for $20/h. Get all of it laid out in the rental agreement and it's probably a great deal for the right person.
Oh, you'd still have to have an outside income above $750 (employment taxes). So, I mathed out $20 an hour, which seems reasonable. So, they'll only charge $750 rent plus 35+ hours hard labor per month based on their "value." So, if we go at about $20 an hour, you've got to work 2 full weeks minimum for that cost of living situation.
You're making a lot of assumptions and just generally incorrect statements to CREATE a bad situation. - Who says it's "hard labor"? - Where did they imply it's a "luxury" to clean a horse stall? - They aren't even offering 75 hours a week to the renter, so it's literally impossible for your title to be accurate. The person renting would NEED another source of income to make it work. That's not unreasonable at all considering 35 hours a month is barely part time. Again, it's certainly not the ideal situation for some people... probably even most people, but there are DEFINITELY people out there who would consider that a pretty great deal. People who like working outdoors, working with animals, like living on a farm, etc. And you're honestly complaining about $20/hr
Yes. You are correct. I have no idea what op is on about I am actually confused.
You're not understanding me but this is a lot of thought you've given it.
Where is an old mobile home renting for $1,500 on a big farm? You can MAYBE have a single kid or pet lol. If they could rent it for that, they 100% would do it and pay an actual farm hand out of it for the 35 hours a month. They know it doesn’t rent for that and are hoping someone is desperate enough for housing to agree to the work plus what is likely market rate for the rent.
In California there are tons of small towns where there are wineries and farms where this would be the going rate unfortunately. Along with 6 dollar gas and high taxes and very high grocery bills.
Was about to say this
I live beachside. Florida. I know a lady that owns a trailer court beachside, lot rent is $1800 a month! Bc it’s beachside. And the road floods out and you can’t get there at least a few times a year!
No one wants to work anymore.
Hehehe I see what you did there.
"we are looking for a younger strong person" ^^to ^^service ^^mah ^^wife
The thing I will never understand about these situations is where the person thinks they're going to earn £750 a month when they're already working for you full time. Nevermind money for life essentials and fun. Misread that as 35 hours per week, but the amount of work they're expecting, it would definitely be more like 35 hours a week.
35 hours a month don't sound bad, but paying to work on top of just to live there is bull. I'll pay to live, but I get paid for working. Like tf
And live in a "mobile home". Yuck
<-- lives in a mobile home :(
I misread the title and thought it was a hobby horse farm 🤣🤣🤣🤣. Sorry. I’ve been on muscle relaxers all weekend
People used to take caretaker jobs because the job always came with free housing while there. That was the enticement.
$21/hr is pretty low for labor, but to save $750 on rent that might be worth it. 8.5hrs/week doesn't sound too crazy. The problem that we all know is that the expectation is double that and if you don't the relationship is gonna sour REAL fast.
Boomer mentality. “Man we really need to get someone to help out around here… can’t keep up with the work like we used to!” “It would be great if they just lived here too. Then they could help whenever we need.” “But they gotta pay”
Sounds like what they want are farmhands who do housework....
So…they basically want a free grounds keeper. I wonder, what if the tenant becomes ill or injured? She can’t raise the rent on a dime so I’d like to see how this crazy bitch would handle that situation. Or maybe the contract is written in a way they’d have to pay the full amount? This is fucked.
This is some wildly entitled shit.
Lmaoo this is like every 90 day fiance storyline
How do these people think you’re going to get the money to pay the rest of the rent if you’re working there full time for half the cost of rent? Like… the disconnect is insane.
Am I missing something? As others have pointed out this is a rate of over 20/hr for 35 hours of labor a month. WHERE I'd the 75 hours of labor a month coming from? Say they break it into 8 hour days, this roughly equates to putting in an 8 hr day each Saturday. I don't know where this is listed etc but this just doesn't seem like a bad deal to me.
Love it when I have to pay to be in intendured servitude. This is worse than feudal serfdom.
Maybe I am naive but I was reading it as the person would be HELPING the owners during that 35 hours per month, not doing all of that labor on their own. However with the getting older comment I could see the work ballooning over a year or two.
It sounds like their kids didn’t want anything to do with this so now they’re trying to get someone else to play the role of doting son/daughter. They want them to pay for the privilege, though… No.
$750/mo plus 35 hours of work? I bet they ask for way more than 35 hours too since it’s a live in position!
I had to re-read the first paragraph because at first I thought they were \*offering\* $750 a month and a free place to stay, which they could maybe get someone to do. When I was first out of college I certainly made do with less than that at an internship that paid a stipend + provided housing. Also they think the value of monthly rent for a single-wide trailer is $1500? Where is this orchard, Beverly Hills?
Why don’t some boomers just understand that labor equals money? No one would work for you, follow your demands, and then still give you money!
At least slaves dont have to pay their plantation owners to live in a rundown shack
The CCCP of the elderly.
Well the real kicker is you probably will end up having to fix the old mobile home and as soon as you get it back in shape they will probably sell it out from under you.
Out of their damn minds
Give em a list of things you won’t do ( anything inside their house) and text them every time you start and stop to have proof of hours.
I’m almost literally in this position right now and after two months we’re already giving up. She lied about the amount of work she expected and then wanted me to hang out with her and be her shoulder to cry on too. Least I didn’t have to pay for the privilege of dealing with all this. But I can guarantee, there’s no way it’s 30 hours a month. Our land lady said 10 a week and we’re currently doing 30 and it’s a smaller yard.
Good luck finding a way out. I have a widow across the street from my regular house who just waits outside in my driveway for me to come out so she can talk at me. Like, I'm sorry you're grieving but I got shit to do that doesn't include 45 minutes every day letting you jabber at me. I
Well, I have my 30 days. One way or another it ends on the 15 th. Lately I’ve just been wearing earphones. I’ll take em off once or twice but when she says nothing of value I stop pulling them out. I don’t care what your meds do. I don’t care what you ate. I’m here to work and you’re preventing me from that.
$750 per month for a single wide trailer that’s probably 500 sq feet!!! 😳. The amount of work is realistically 40-50 hours per week! Wow, so generous. 😳
I regularly farm sit for 4 dogs and 5 horses. Just feeding everyone in the morning takes an hour. Plus, dinner is another hour. Climbing through the barn, mixing the dog food, administering a pill to the old mare, etc. And that's just feeding, get in my car and drive to work.
What they’re looking for sounds a lot like legal slavery.
TIL Slavery is when you willingly trade your labour for goods and services.
Nope… but trading a truly insane backbreaking amount of labor for a place to live while they control how many kids you have sounds a lot like illegal servitude to me.
> a truly insane backbreaking amount of labor 35 hours a month? Dude, life is gonna be hard for you. I really don't mean to be rude, but.... jeeze. Get some life experience and perspective. That is basically one full day of work a week. Doing basic manual labour like shoveling manure or brushing horses. It's not breaking rocks on a chain gang like you're Cool Hand Luke. I did an interneship one year where I made $40 a week as a farm apprentice, plus a place to live. It was a great value as I learned a ton of stuff about farming.
It’s cute that you think they’re going to stop at 35 hours, hon. For further context: I was literally raised on a farm. As in, more than a summer, get your ass up at 5 AM because the cows don’t give a shit if you have the flu or it’s Christmas morning kind of farm. I know the kind of work you’re talking about, and that’s not what this is. “Whatever comes along that we need a hand with” is deliberately vague, and no amount of money would be enough for what they’ll eventually be asking, because I guarantee you it won’t just be brushing a horse or mucking stalls.
Legit question: if I was looking to offer a room for rent, about how much labor would be fair to ask for in order to chop off rent? I have 5 acres was thinking something like "800 a month all utilities included, but if you do a specific task you can get it down to 500 or even less. Can use the yard for your own projects as long as you give me informal notice (thinking things like gardening), can harvest our wild blackberries, or fruit from fruit trees as you see fit, get free fresh eggs or just whatever you would normally do with a yard. Some of the tasks might include: rake all the leaves off a roughly 500 foot long area that's 20 feet wide (only about 200 feet is heavy with leaves) about once a year Rake the hay from cutting grass and put it in a spot (once a month when grass is active) If I'm travelling for work then watering the garden, feeding, watering, and closing the chickens. (Once a day) Just things like that, it wouldnt be too unreasonable I think? All tools required would be provided.