Please, Ruth do not kick me and my Kids out.

Opened my mail this morning.  The letter started with, Please Ruth do not kick me and my kids out.  The letter goes on to state what the problem is and how they plan to rectify it.   Now how do you respond to a letter like that one week before Thanksgiving?  I have feelings!  I'm not an ogre!   I'll call the bank and tell them the reason I am not paying them this month.  Wait!  Bank does not care.  All they care about is that they get their payment on time.  They don't care about me let alone a tenant that has fallen on bad times.  What to do?  I do feel sorry for them.  But, what about my problems caused by their problems?  I have bills to pay.  I have a business to run.  I know,  I'll refer them to a couple of agencies that help out in situations like this.  I'll pray for them. I'll encourage them.  I'll work with them, but at the end of the day; I may still have to evict them.  I can not allow their situation to take me down with them.

Sometimes landlording is just darn hard!

Stuff Happens!

I have been thinking about some of the situations that happened in my world just because I have property.  Let see there was:

1. The fifteen year old that gave birth in the toilet.  Dad learned she was pregnant when he heard her screaming from the bathroom.
2. Entered a house and found a couple on the pull out couch.  With wife of the man sitting in a chair across from the couch.....watching I guess.
3. The X-boyfriend of the granddaughter of my tenant came onto my property uninvited and picked a fight with current boyfriend.  X-boyfriend got pretty well beat up and then sued me.
4. Tenant came in to pay the rent and when she got to the office told me the payment had blown out the window on the way over.
5. Noticed that my employee had a brand new shed that he had built himself.  The siding looked exactly like the siding I had used on the last remodel job.

I could go on and on!

Do You Have a Plan?

I sold a house Contract for Deed to a young couple early in my career of acquiring properties.  They watched me a buy one house after another.  To them it looked like I was getting rich and it looked so easy from the outside looking in.  After about a year or so, I sold them 5 houses CFD that were ready to be occupied.  They immediately rented them to their friends and family members.  They were raking in the money.  So they bought a new truck and a larger house.  They talked some other people into selling them their properties CFD.  They both quit their jobs.  Then the rent  stopped coming in.  They had a couple of tenants trash their house.  The long and short of it; they were in foreclosure in less than 5 years after they started.  Unfortunately this happens frequently.  What went wrong?

1. Spent the money before they  had it.
2. Did not set money aside for emergency situations.
3. Moved to fast.
4. Improper screening of tenants.
5. Shouldn't have both quit their jobs
6. Borrowed too much money.
7. Poor management. 

It could have been a thousand little things that all came to a head at once.  I think  Grandpa used to say something like this, "he who fails to plan.......plans to fail".

They should have listened to Grandpa!

Typical Day

Today was a typical day for me probably not much different than your typical day.  But since I am telling the story this is my day. 

1. Took in some rent money.
2. Took a few calls of people looking for a rental.
3. Took a few calls regarding maintenance issues.
4. Took a call on one of the properties I manage.
5. Checked on the maintenance men  projects.
6. Entered some data in the computer.
7. Paid some bills.
8. Made a drop at the bank.
9. Walked to the post office.
10. Took a moment to enjoy the sunshine
11. Stepped inside a new business in town; to wish them well.
12. Interviewed a potential Contract for Deed buyer.

That's about it.