Comments on: Whiney Potential Tenant http://www.landlord-success.com/care-and-feeding-of-tenants/whiney-potential-tenant How to be a successful landlord Fri, 16 Dec 2011 08:32:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: George C. Torres http://www.landlord-success.com/care-and-feeding-of-tenants/whiney-potential-tenant/comment-page-1#comment-28004 George C. Torres Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:52:57 +0000 http://www.landlord-success.com/?p=128#comment-28004 I was there with about three units coming vacant all in one month. Luckily I got one rented with another rent pending. The third apartment will take some time. Here are some lessons learned: 1. Never tell a neighboring tenant that one of your tenants moved out in the middle of the night without you knowing about it. News like this spreads like a virus and unhappy (read: fiscally challenged) tenants may want to do the same if they see how easy it is to "escape" to cheaper digs at the end of the month without giving you the courtesy of a lease-madated thirty-day notice. 2. If a tenant has the electricity cut off and their meter box locked by the electric company because of failure to pay the electric bill, pay close attention to that loser. Especially if you have vacancies nearby with electric meters intact. Chances are, that the tenant will most likely bolt out if the cutoff was near the end of the month. Also, loser electricityless tenants will rip out a nearby meter and tear open their (your) locked meter box to install the stolen meter so that they can have lights to work with during their night time clandestine move out operation. Then end result is a dirty, vacant, and trashed out apartment when you arrive the next day to verify if the tenant paid the electric bill; torn up meter boxes; a pissed off electric company technician who checks up on his locked boxes the following day and declares your meter loop as "tampered with and out of code"; having to hire a licensed electrician to pull permits and rebuild the meter loops (unless your licensed, it usually is illegal to do this work yourself); paying a city electrical inspector to inspect the work and give the OK to the electric company to turn on power to your trashed out apartment so that you can get it cleaned up. 3. In low income rental areas, always maintain a take no prisoners attitude with tenants. Get the full deposits from those types. Especially if they have punks for kids. Those kids will trash out your apartment, invite their gangster wannabe thug friends over, and go look for a pretty wall to spray paint their BS. It's getting to the point that I'm seriously thinking about the language in the criteria for my rental application policy: Something to the effect of being able to have access to the citizenship grades or principal's phone number of the 7th grade and above kids of applicants. Loser kids are most likely the result of loser parents -- translation: Loser renters. I was there with about three units coming vacant all in one month. Luckily I got one rented with another rent pending. The third apartment will take some time.
Here are some lessons learned:
1. Never tell a neighboring tenant that one of your tenants moved out in the middle of the night without you knowing about it. News like this spreads like a virus and unhappy (read: fiscally challenged) tenants may want to do the same if they see how easy it is to “escape” to cheaper digs at the end of the month without giving you the courtesy of a lease-madated thirty-day notice.
2. If a tenant has the electricity cut off and their meter box locked by the electric company because of failure to pay the electric bill, pay close attention to that loser. Especially if you have vacancies nearby with electric meters intact. Chances are, that the tenant will most likely bolt out if the cutoff was near the end of the month. Also, loser electricityless tenants will rip out a nearby meter and tear open their (your) locked meter box to install the stolen meter so that they can have lights to work with during their night time clandestine move out operation. Then end result is a dirty, vacant, and trashed out apartment when you arrive the next day to verify if the tenant paid the electric bill; torn up meter boxes; a pissed off electric company technician who checks up on his locked boxes the following day and declares your meter loop as “tampered with and out of code”; having to hire a licensed electrician to pull permits and rebuild the meter loops (unless your licensed, it usually is illegal to do this work yourself); paying a city electrical inspector to inspect the work and give the OK to the electric company to turn on power to your trashed out apartment so that you can get it cleaned up.
3. In low income rental areas, always maintain a take no prisoners attitude with tenants. Get the full deposits from those types. Especially if they have punks for kids. Those kids will trash out your apartment, invite their gangster wannabe thug friends over, and go look for a pretty wall to spray paint their BS.
It’s getting to the point that I’m seriously thinking about the language in the criteria for my rental application policy: Something to the effect of being able to have access to the citizenship grades or principal’s phone number of the 7th grade and above kids of applicants. Loser kids are most likely the result of loser parents — translation: Loser renters.

]]> By: TheLandlord http://www.landlord-success.com/care-and-feeding-of-tenants/whiney-potential-tenant/comment-page-1#comment-27947 TheLandlord Sun, 29 Jun 2008 21:02:15 +0000 http://www.landlord-success.com/?p=128#comment-27947 Tell me about it Cliff. As a footnote to this whole situation, I saw the Mom in the grocery store the other day and totally got the stink-eye from her. Maybe if she didn't treat her 20 year-old daughter like she was 7 she wouldn't be whining to people who just don't care? Tell me about it Cliff. As a footnote to this whole situation, I saw the Mom in the grocery store the other day and totally got the stink-eye from her.

Maybe if she didn’t treat her 20 year-old daughter like she was 7 she wouldn’t be whining to people who just don’t care?

]]> By: Clifford http://www.landlord-success.com/care-and-feeding-of-tenants/whiney-potential-tenant/comment-page-1#comment-27930 Clifford Sun, 29 Jun 2008 14:08:18 +0000 http://www.landlord-success.com/?p=128#comment-27930 The number of whiney stories that has entered my ears is beyond numbers. My rule of thumb is to never rent to a friend of a friend. I don't want to lose a friend due to a "friend in laws" actions. Plus I think renting to total strangers naturally establishes a landlord-tenant relationship instead of a friend-friend relationship. This can get mucky. The number of whiney stories that has entered my ears is beyond numbers.

My rule of thumb is to never rent to a friend of a friend. I don’t want to lose a friend due to a “friend in laws” actions. Plus I think renting to total strangers naturally establishes a landlord-tenant relationship instead of a friend-friend relationship. This can get mucky.

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