Ann-Marie is very nice, but it was Emrick who was at home most of the time, and he made my stay very uncomfortable almost from the moment I set foot in his house.
When I arrived, he warned me not to park my car close to the house because he had had disputes with some of his neighbors and one of them had keyed his car and might key mine. Shortly after that, he told me that the community used to be nice but that hipsters and gays were moving into the neighborhood and "changing it" for the worse. He told me that gays all have lots of money and as a result everything was getting more expensive. He then asked me if I was gay, which is none of his business, but I told him I was. He said he hoped I wasn’t offended, but shortly after that he started acting out in petty, passive-aggressive ways that made my stay very unpleasant. Chiefly, he would accuse me of doing things I didn’t do, or he would restrict amenities that he had previously promised.
For instance, on my first full day there, he told me, in an unnecessarily nasty tone, to leave the bathroom door closed; I always closed it. He told me to clean up after myself and turn off the lights when I left the room, which I did; they were the ones who would leave the lights on and unwashed dishes and pots sitting in the sink or on the counter.
When I arrived, he said I could use the kitchen, but when I did, he gave me grief over it. I kept my food in my car after he complained that it was attracting moths. (In fact, they had a bug problem before I showed up — when I arrived, he interrupted the house tour for several minutes to kill spiders.)
In the end, I used the kitchen less than I had hoped to (which meant I spent more on food than I had planned) just to avoid him. They have a long-term guest and, like him, when I was in the house, I spent most of my time in my room.
Also, there was no hot water for two days. I don’t fault them for this — they had a problem with their water heater and it took a while for them to find someone to fix it. But listening to Emrick scream at people on the phone, or scream at the workmen in person when they came to fix it, made me uncomfortable.
Having seen him deal with people, and considering his history with his neighbors, I did not feel comfortable trying to discuss anything with Emrick, since he might fly off the handle or pull some new passive-aggressive bit of nonsense. I tried finding a place I could afford on short notice, without luck, so I just stuck it out and was very glad to leave.