The Eviction Process; aka HELL

I need to vent! I have tried really hard over the past year to "keep" my real estate investments going. Seriously, I own two houses, both are rented. ONE is rented to a LOSER. Big time. She has never paid her rent on time, usually about 2 weeks late and always after I have called her several times. FOUR of her checks have bounced. Which causes all kinds of chaos in my own account. She paid her rent super-late in February and then her check bounced. That's the last time I received any money from her, actually January was the last time I received any money from her that was valid. At this point she owes me about $1200 bucks. So, I called her and called her. No answer. No return phone calls. I filed eviction paperwork. This costs $70 bucks. She had 7 days to respond to get a hearing. She responded that it was "all just a misunderstanding, I intend to pay past due rent ASAP". Now it is March, and rent is due, again. Her tab is up over $2400 plus court fees. Keep in mind the mortgage is still due, as is my rent. I am not happy about paying for two households although it is apparent that this what I do in March. Last year I got divorced in March and had to pay for both houses from December through April as my loser x husband wouldnt and since his name wasnt on anything he didnt really have to. I digress. We had a court date for 4pm on a Tuesday. An hour before the court date the tenant from hell CALLS ME and leaves me a message that she wont be in court and that she called the court to let them know. WHAT? It's not a nail appointment you can just reschedule! It's a hearing, in front of a judge!! So I go to court, she doesnt show, I get a court order (this all took a painful 3 hours...) and apply for a "writ of possession". I have to pay $20 dollars for this. This is the drama portion of the process. I now have to wait for a marshall to call me and schedule an appointment to evict her and place her belongings on the public right of way. It's been over 2 weeks since that day, I still have not heard from the marshall and according to the court I am not allowed to go to the house until I do. Meanwhile April is fast approaching and I am still not collecting any of the money this girl owes me! Her tab is up to $2600 and April is only a few days away.

Eviction. There are too many laws protecting tenants. I pay for this house. I am responsible for this house. She does not have any babies that would be out in the cold if I kicked her out. In fact, her very own reason for not paying the rent was because she was on vacation in Costa Rica!!!

So she is still living in my house, for free. I am very angry about this.
Flydi