A year and a half ago me and Chris Stergis made a handshake man-to-man agreement to rent the space…read morebehind his building for me, my wife, and our dog to live in our camper for a fair monthly price. No contracts, simple handshake deal. The agreement was strictly for a 17 foot parking spot and a little corner of his warehouse. We were in desperate need of a spot because no one would rent to us due to our dog's breed, a Siberian husky, even though she is well trained. Renting here let us stay loyal to our dog, so it was a no brainer.
Day 1) We moved in. First thing Chris Stergis does is break our deal by turning that little corner space into a full blown garage. Then he makes a comment to me and my wife about not wanting to see us having fun rocking the camper through security cameras at night. Not a good sign, but we didn't care, we got to keep our dog.
Day 2) I had asked him clear as day to treat us like regular people, fair treatment, no special treatment. So Day 2 he shows up with 2 camping chairs and a massive tent. I asked if he bought them with the money we just gave him and he said yes, "I don't need the money." That hurt because we were broke, but we didn't care we got to keep our dog. Then he offered water and electricity, and I agreed for a fair price.
Day 3) More issues start. All we wanted was to be treated regular, not like his personal charity. He comes swinging offering laundry machines, microwave, refrigerator. I told him to stop, but he kept pushing. I stopped the laundry and microwave, but he pushed the fridge anyway, and now there's a fridge in the garage we never used. Things got real uncomfortable because he kept insisting on stuff outside the agreement.
Then the food invitations. Coming from poverty, I never reject food because I know what it's like to go days without it. But after these situations, I started rejecting them. Where I drew the line was when he got food for me, and I accepted it planning to give it to a homeless lady nearby, just for him to get mad at me. His words were something like "I got that for you," implying not for her. Then he started bringing our mail to us. At first I didn't mind, but when I asked him to stop, he wouldn't.
One day neighbors said good morning to me. I told him, and he got upset, telling me not to be friends with them because of something they did to him. I said no Chris, they haven't done anything to me so don't expect me to do that.
Months in, he told me that as long as I was living there, I didn't have to worry about getting kicked out until four years later when he planned to retire or sell.
Over many conversations I realized who he was. After a neighbor's home burned down, he criticized the single mother with kids, saying how can they possibly lose their house by not paying the bank. I told him Chris you don't know the situation, not everyone has your financial resources, you can't judge people like that. He also criticized his friend and tenant Wayne about needing to work ten more years to retire, saying to me "you know what that means, he got no money." He even said we deserved luxury and couldn't just be there all the time. I said Chris we are trying to save money, but he felt uncomfortable with us doing nothing besides work and walking our dog. Made me ask myself what in the hell I got myself into.
Three months in, he threatened us with eviction over a text I sent.
A month later he shows up with a lease contract asking me to sign after agreeing no contracts. I said no, and he left, but I knew he'd be back. He just kept piling on unnecessary situations, but we didn't care we got to keep our dog.
Then one day he mowed the lawn without thinking our vehicle was there and chipped our windshield with debris. I didn't say anything no big deal but he did it.
I did asked him for one thing I truly wanted and cared about: To always keep his own dog's bowl full of fresh water. I kept seeing Max with very little water over a year and asked him to fill it. He'd argue like it was a contest. One morning I reminded him nicely to fill Max's bowl and he mocked me. So I put up a review mentioning it. The day he printed it, he made a big commotion, screaming so everyone could hear giving the review more publicity than the website ever did, since it had zero views. He threw it in my face, shut off our electricity, denied us entry, and threatened eviction until I deleted it. So I deleted it.
We never failed a monthly payment until the last two months, and that was only because he wouldn't pick up the money, just drumming up an excuse by refusing to pick up the money. He still evicted us. Now we don't have a slight chance to rent an apartment due to the eviction on our record.
I'll leave it to people to decide what kind of person he is.
I could easily expand even more on how he harassed my wife when she had never been involved on anything.