Home Restoration Help

Hello everyone,

For those of you who know me, you know that this goes against every fiber of my being. Asking for help is not what I do. But I’ll take this whole nightmare experience as an opportunity to learn and grow and that includes knowing when to ask for help.

As some of you may know, I have been trying to buy a home for years now. After decades of scrimping, saving, sacrificing and many set backs I finally got my foot in the real estate door and bought a house where I could afford to on a single income, in Nackawic New Brunswick. An adorable 2-bedroom bungalow in a picturesque little town on the Saint John River. I lived here for a year making improvements to the home and while I adored the house and the town, it was very hard to meet people and make connections.

I decided to rent out the house for a year and move back to Ontario to be closer to friends and family while I figured out next steps. Unfortunately, this has become the biggest regret of my life.

I picked the tenants (a mother and two adult children) because she told me she was fresh out of an abusive marriage and loved nature and needed peace and quiet. I rented the place to them furnished since they were starting over, I let them use all my brand new/heirloom furniture. I left them food, laundry detergent, dishwasher pods, cleaning supplies etc.

Slowly they fell behind rent, always with an excuse and a promise. In April payments stopped altogether at which point I hired someone to conduct an inspection. Turns out they had 12 cats/kittens and 3 large dogs all using the entirety of the home as a bathroom.

So here I am, sleeping in a tent for 3 weeks so far, working and living outside or in my garage and going into debt to make the home livable again. I’ve had to pay to throw away all my furniture. I’ve brought in restoration cleaning companies and ozone machines and have spent 3 12-hour days myself cleaning, just to start. There is not a single thing that they touched that is not broken or damaged. Not to mention all my personal belongings were in a locked room in the basement - they all smell and are tarnished and my not be salvageable.

I have spoken with lawyers, paralegals and gone down to the Provincial court building to file a small claims against her, but because the tenants will not provide me with a forwarding address and they pulled a “runner”, vacated the premises before my arrival, I have no way of serving them papers.

Through my stages of grief I keep returning to bargaining, begging and pleading for a time machine so I can make a different decision. But I don’t need to tell you that life can only be lived forward. So, I am now turning to the only option I have and leaning on the generosity of family and friends to donate what you can so I can return this house to a habitable home once again. I know that these are difficult times for everyone, financially we’re all struggling and the world seems in chaos.

So, if you can’t donate to the GoFundMe, I completely understand…but please share with everyone on your socials, help me to spread the word because a little bit from a lot can go a long away. And I will forever be grateful and when my luck has turned around, I will be sure to pay it forward in kind.

Thank you for your time, support and generosity.

Jaclynn Wiltshire