Archive for the ‘quirky tenants’ Category

How I Evicted A Problem Tenant in 4 Steps

Sunday, May 4th, 2014

I recently did my first tenant eviction. It’s something I always felt a little queasy about doing, since the procedure was kind of hazy to me. But I found the whole process fairly easy.

Contrary to widespread misconceptions,  the justice system favors the landlord. If a tenant violates the contract, the law is on the side of the landlord. And, not having enough money is an unacceptable reason not to pay the rent.

I had a tenant that had a habit of paying late. I warned him that this can’t continue, yet after the warning he I still didn’t receive his payment on the due date – the first day of the month.

Here are the steps that I took to remove him:

1.)  I filled out a “Pay or Quit” form that gave him 5 days to pay up or remove himself from the premises. I taped it to the front door and mail a copy to tenant. I made a copy of this form from my copy of the Arizona Landlord’s Deskbook.

2. ) He didn’t pay or leave so I went to the County Courthouse and filled out a form to set a court date to have him evicted. I paid $42 to process the paperwork and $40 to the County Constable to hand deliver the Eviction Summons to the tenants. The Summons named the tenant as defendant, stated the date and time of the trail, and listed the amount of money they owed. It took one week before we could get a trial date.

3.) At the trial, my wife and I show up, but the tenants do not. The judge awards the judgement to my wife and I and gives us a paper ordering the tenants to leave and to pay the costs, which includes an additional $85 for Court Costs. The Judge’s Eviction Notice gives the tenant 5 more days to get out.

4.) We mail a copy of the verdict to the tenant and he is out before the 5 days is up. We don’t anticipate getting the last month’s rent, but our main goal was to remove them from the premises.

The entire process is simple enough that it can be done without a lawyer. However, in the court I saw one tenant who had hired a lawyer to represent her. The rest of the landlords that I saw did not have lawyers.

My only regret was that I waited longer then I should have to file the paperwork with the county. I negotiated with the tenant, which turned out to be futile. It wound up taking about a month to actually remove the tenant. Had I acted quicker, he could have been out in half the time.

Overall, going through the process was empowering because it gave me confidence that the government is there to assist landlords to remove problem tenants.

Excuses for not paying rent

I have found that tenants can afford to pay for cable TV, new Ipods, big screen televisions, yet they can’t afford to pay the rent. I often think to myself, “Something is wrong with this picture.”

Here are some sad but true excuses that tenants have come up with (from The Landlord Protection Agency at http://www.thelpa.com). If you hear excuses like these, it’s probably time to start the eviction process.

“I had to pay my car registration & I owed my former landlord money.”

“Oh come on. You’re gonna harass me on Valentines Day?”

“We are expecting a couch delivery in the next few days.”

“You know with Christmas gifts and parties, we’re a little short on the rent this month.”

“My last landlord had no problem with me paying late. This seems to be a real big issue with you.”

“Sorry I said I would have the rent and the late fee. I lied. So where do we go from here?”

“I would have paid the rent, but I though I needed it more than you.”

“So many things came up this month that I had to deal with. Now I don’t have the rent money. Sorry. I don’t know what to do. I’m sure not gonna borrow it.”

“I lost my cell phone with your number in it. That is why I couldn’t call you to tell you what happened!”

“We had to use the rent to pay our electric bill. They were gonna turn us off if we didn’t pay the whole bill.”

“Why you bothering me? I told you I work 2 jobs and don’t have time for this!”

“I would have paid your rent, , but I had to make the car payment.”

“I did not pay the rent when I said I could because that is the only day I can sleep late.”

The 5 Rules on How to Lose Money and Get Your Rental Property Trashed by Tenants

Friday, August 10th, 2012

The Arizona Network of Real Estate invited me to give a presentation to their group about my book “Fix em Up Rent em Out.”

I thought the video might be available to the general public but it looks as though that’s not going to happen.

However, so that no one feels left out, I am going to provide  a summary of the key points that I hit during the presentation. As someone who was regularly picked last for teams in gym class, I’m sensitive to people feeling left out. Casting modesty to the wind, I am also including exclusive photos of the event.

So here are:

The 5 Rules on How to Lose Money and Get Your Rental Property Trashed by Tenants (based on an article by Andrew Stefanczyk)

1. Choose the Worst Possible Area

Location will determine the kinds of tenants you will attract, and how much rent you can fairly charge.

Do you want these bearded wonders as tenants?

The best approach is to identify target areas in your city where you would like to focus your purchases. I like to focus on “transition zones” (where there is a mixture of housing types) which are good for investors because we can purchase properties at lower prices, and there is high demand to live in these areas.

2. Put in the very best of things when fixing up  an investment property

Use new and expensive sinks, doors, refrigerators, light fixtures, etc. Never shop at stores that recycle construction supplies. Spare no  expense.

Of course, the problem is that tenants will not take care of our properties as well as we would,

Habitat Store

so we end up with many broken or worn out items. The better alternative is to shop at used building supply stores, and to purchase good, inexpensive, supplies for our rental houses. One such store is the Habitat for Humanity store.

3. Make sure you have absolutely no experience in make basic repairs

Not knowing how to change electrical outlets, unclog drains & toilets, and replace broken windows will cost quite a bit down the road.

The better way is to:

A. Learn as you go, and comply with EPA regulations

B. Take construction classes at junior college

C. Learn from handymen and contractors

D. Take the Zen approach to  house repair learn to do everything yourself

5. Utilize fix-up books, investing books, & YouTube to find answers on how to make house repairs

4. Do not screen your tenants

Being as uninformed as possible about who you rent to may be the best way to lose money as a landlord. Do not ask for or check references. Do not call previous landlords and ask questions like, did they pay rent on time? How was the condition of the house or apartment when they left? Did they ever disturb neighbors with loud music or shouting matches? How often would you have to make special trips for repairs? Being as uninformed as possible about whom you rent to will make a huge difference and will increase the chances that you will get tenants that will trash your property and refuse to pay rent.

However, the better way is to:

A. Use a checklist for tenants. Decide what kind of tenant that you want ahead of time.

B. Look at their paycheck to verify income.

C. Check county records to see what illegal activities they’ve been up to.

D. Know the Fair Housing Act. Never select tenants based strictly on “race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status or handicap (disability).”

E. To find new tenants, use Craiglist, put up arrow signs, and host an “open house.”

5. Make sure you have not learned about your rights as a landlord

Be completely unfamiliar with the eviction process to guarantee long, drawn out disputes with tenants. Don’t keep up to date financial records or copies of correspondence with tenants. Most states provide online information about tenant and landlord rights so avoid reading these.

The better way is:

A. Get an authoritative legal guide like  “The Arizona Landlord Deskbook” by Carlton Cassler.

B.  Copy forms and letters from your legal book to send to tenants.

C. Comply with legal ways to deal with bad tenants.

D. Use memos to communicate with tenants so you have a record of correspondence.

E. Use a month to month lease instead of long-term lease to more easily scrape off bad tenants like barnacles.

F. Reward tenants for paying on time by discounting their rent $25.  

G. Send good tenants Target  gift cards for Xmas.

In Conclusion

Share Your Knowledge

“Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”

–Albert Schweitzer

Carve Out Your Niche Update

My award-winning book on self-publishing, Carve Out Your Niche, is now available in Kindle format.

The Midwest Book Review called Carve Out Your Niche,

“Invaluable for anyone seeking to successfully write, publish, and market their own work.”

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Funniest Tenant Screening Stories

Monday, June 4th, 2012

This guest post is from Endre Rex-Kiss, an online marketing, social media and human resource enthusiast. He currently represents FidelisAM, a US based agency providing employment and resident screening services. Follow his occasional guest blogging activities on Twitter.

Tenant screenings is the way to go if you want quality tenants and most landlords come across potential tenants who are either not what they claim to be or have serious behavioral problems. This article takes a look at the funniest screening stories landlords have had and their aftermaths. So sit down, relax or better still grab a cold bottle of beer to nurse while you go through the experiences below.

The Estranged Wife

A couple with no kids moved into a 4 bedroom duplex in the suburbs, the house and environment provided the perfect scenery for the couple but there was only one problem and it was that of meeting up with their mortgage payments. So they decided to put a room up for rent. The necessary adverts were created and finally a prospective client came knocking, he was the perfect tenant for he claimed to be single, had no pets, did not smoke, drink, do drugs and had a well-paying job. This obviously was too good to be true so the couple decided to hire an agent to conduct a little screening on him. After two days, the agent returned to tell the couple that they had been invited to have dinner with the previous landlord of their prospective tenant. On getting there, they were told that the tenant usually preys on sympathetic landlords and if you fall into his trap by renting a room to him, he would move in, behave for some days but a week later a woman who would claim to be his estranged wife would come visiting for some time and then finally move in with a cat. They would then proceed to co-habit like pigs, steal your property and when rent is due, disappear like thieves in the middle of the night.

Ghost Tenants

A couple responded to a landlord’s accommodation advert, they came to see the Landlord and professed that they loved the apartment and would be willing to rent it for the long term. The landlord was convinced that they were the perfect tenants so when the wife came calling the next day without her husband (due to the supposed fact that he works late) to ask for the keys to the apartment so she could look through it, the landlord duly obliged. A day passed, the lady did not return, two passed and she was still missing. The landlord quickly called his agent who conducted a quick search only to find out that the woman and her husband had already moved into the apartment. The police was called and the couple quickly evicted.

Dead beat Prospective Tenant

An agent once recommended a tenant who had the best recommendations ever; he had a good job, perfect credit and good relationships with his previous landlords. A meeting day was fixed and the prospective client shows up with a dead beat car and the attitude of someone who was one step ahead of the law. The landlord who needed to rent his facility out as soon as possible, overlooked this tell-tale signs and had agreed to lease the apartment to the tenant. The recommended signatures had already been traded and an upfront deposit had been made but as luck would have it, a police officer who was driving randomly through the neighborhood spotted the prospective tenant, felt his face was familiar and got down to trade some questions. Suddenly, the tenant bolted and a foot race began. The tenant was finally apprehended and the landlord discovered that the name, details and personal information given by his perfect tenant had nothing in common with the tenant.

The Thief

A couple came with an agent to view a landlords property, after going through it, they decided it was perfect and would be signing the necessary papers the following day but there was just one issue, they needed the house repainted. The landlord obliged, carried the necessary equipment to the house and started painting. He painted into the night and decided to spend the night there instead of returning home late. In the middle of the night, he began to hear strange noises at the side of the house, quickly he got up to investigate and on getting there, he found his prospective tenant trying to detach an A/C unit.

These stories show that conducting an in-depth screening which should include: former landlord credit checks, recommendations and past criminal activities are highly recommended.

Upcoming Speaking Engagement – Terry Sprouse (author of Fix em Up Rent em Out)

I will be making a presentation to the Arizona Network of Real Estate Investors. Mark your calendars.

Where:
Fidelity National Title, 6760 N. Oracle Road, Suite 100, Tucson, AZ

When:
June 7th, 2012

Time:
Meeting begins at 5:30 pm, presentation at 6:00 pm

Title: The 5 Rules on How to Lose Money & Get Your Rental Property Trashed by Tenants

Make Sure You Have a Good Lease for Protection Against Bad Tenants

Tuesday, December 20th, 2011

There are two common types of leases: 1. year-to-year lease and, 2. month-to-month lease. You may think that you are locking in a tenant for a year, in a year to year lease, but you are also locking yourself in, and it is much harder to remove a tenant with a year to year lease.

The Value of a Month to Month Lease

My policy is to use a month-to-month lease whenever possible. This way, if you have a tenant that you want to get rid of, it’s easier to do. These are tenants who are disturbing the neighbors, they don’t take care of the place, or they consistently pay late. Just cancel the contract and the bad tenants must be out in 30 days. No court fights, no mess.

Modify Your Lease

Feel free to modify a lease contract to make the tenants behave the way that you want them to. Nothing is set in stone. It’s your contract. Mold it into something that works.

For example, I found my tenants making oil changes and auto repairs in the driveway of one of my properties. I didn’t want to encourage that type of activity, so before the next tenants move in, I just added a sentence to the lease contract saying that those things are not permitted.

Some of the key components of my lease include:

• tenants are responsible for paying utilities (electricity, gas and water). If the landlord pays any utilities you are encouraging the tenants to be wasteful;
• tenants cannot paint or make any significant changes to the landscaping without permission;
• no smoking is allowed inside the house;
• and, tenants must maintain outdoor plants.

How to Be a Guest on Radio Shows

Dealing with Problem Tenants

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

Malcom's Dad

In today’s interview with Mark Wayne of WICH Radio in Norwich, CT, the question came up “What if you want to start a rental house business buy you are leery about dealing with tenants?”‘

My response is that some tenants are real pleasures to work with and you rarely even see them. They go the extra mile to maintain your property and get along beautifully with the neighbors.

On the other hand, other tenants require constant attention and supervision, not unlike my own teenagers who like to push me to the frazzled limits of my sanity .

As the dad observed on Malcom in the Middle, “Let’s face it, teenagers are thoughtless, inconsiderate eatingmachines dedicated to putting us through hell and sending us to an early grave.”

Okay, tenants probably aren’t that bad, but that’s a good starting point for discussion purposes.

Some of the common problems that landlords face are:

1. Tenants that pay late or don’t pay

2. Noisy tenants

3. Messy or destructive tenants

Handling difficult situations

If you are using a month-to-month lease, as I strongly suggest, either the tenant or the landlord can cancel the contract by giving the other party one month’s notice. This way, if you need to evict a tenant, you just give them a one month written notice, and they are out the next month.

You don’t even need to have a good reason to remove them.

You are just exercising your right to cancel their monthly contract. It removes the possibility of having to go to court to remove a tenant. Easy as pie.

Here are the steps that I take to remove a bad tenant:

1. Tenant engages in some action that violates the contract, for example, they pay the rent late.

2. Call the tenants to inform them they are in violation of the contract.

3. Follow up immediately with a memo that again tells them of their contract violation, and tell them exactly what I expect them to do. For example, pay the rent at an agreed upon date. Tell them the consequences of not immediately remedying the situation. For example if they don’t pay the rent, I will not renew the month-to-month contract.

4. If they don’t take the appropriate action, of if another violation occurs, send them a form or a memo saying you are cancelling the contract. They must be out in 30 days.

5. If they are not out in 30 days, I can pay to have a deputy sheriff evict them. If they are still behind on their rent when they leave, I keep their security deposit to cover the unpaid rent.

Don’t get the wrong impression, most of my tenants have been good tenants. I have only had one eviction in years that I have operated my business. And the eviction was a fairly easy process because of the month-to month lease.

Upcoming radio interviews

August 17, 7:50 am, Jason Mansmith show, WRPN 1600 am, Ripon, Wisconsin.

August 19, 7:40 am, Gary Sutton, WSBA 910 AM, York, PA.

August 20, 8:30 am, I will be on David Sutton’s show, KSRN 1490 am, Los Alamos, New Mexico.

August 23 at 8:05 am, the Cliff  “On-Air”  Turner show, KLBN 1450 AM, La Grande, Oregon.

August 25 at 8:08 am,  I will be on Jeff Anderson’s show, KSDR 1480 am, Watertown, South Dakota.

August 26 at 11:05 am, the Ron Ross Show, WJBC 1230 am, Bloomington, Illinois.

September 15 at 8:05 am, the Dan Ramey show, WBEX 1490 AM, Chillicothe, Ohio.

How to Find Tenants

Thursday, April 8th, 2010


Here is a recent email that I received from someone who is taking my 7-Week email course, and my response:

Dear Terry,

We bought one fixer upper but are having trouble renting it — any ideas of good places to advertise for a tenant?

Thanks in advance,

Jean xxxx

Hi Jean,

Let me suggest a few techniques that that have worked for me:

1. Place several small For Rent signs on all nearby streets, especially the major intersections. If you get a sign with an arrow on it, you can point the arrow in the direction of your house. I buy the signs at Home Depot or Lowe’s.
2. Hold an “open house” on Saturday and Sunday. People driving by can come in and look around.
3. Contact companies that help people find rental properties. Some will list your property for free. These companies usually contact me.
4. Run an ad on craigslist.org. You can upload photos and describe the qualities of your rental property. The ads are free & I usually get a great response.

I hope you find a tenant soon.

Let me know if you come up with a good technique that I haven’t thought of.

Good luck!

Best regards,

Terry Sprouse

Location, Location, …

One thing I didn’t mention in the letter, but which is perhaps the most important consideration of all in attracting good tenants, is the location of your property. Properties located where people really like to rent are called “opportunity zones” (or “transition zones”).  Just as Baskin-Robbins must offer the flavors of ice cream that the public likes, so you must offer rental properties in the areas of town where people want to live.

If your property is located in an area where people don’t like to rent, you will always have trouble finding tenants. For more information about my philosophy on where to invest, check out my EzineArticles.com article The Secret to Increasing Cash Flow – Invest in Opportunity Zones .

Low-end market houses becoming affordable for first time buyers, and Weekly Blog Roundup

Friday, February 29th, 2008


The real-estate slump has an upside for first-time home buyers looking to spend $200,000 or less. As median-home prices continue dropping, the supply of homes for sale in the much-coveted low-end market is swelling. That’s good news for those of us operating fixer upper house businesses.

The subprime debacle, foreclosures and “short sales” in which a buyer offers less than what is owed the bank, continue to drive Phoenix real-estate prices down. That, in turn, makes more homes than ever affordable for first-time home buyers. Bidding wars on “short sale” properties with multiple offers are breaking out.

Under-$200,000 market gives home sales a push in the Arizona Republic describes this new phenomena.

Weekly Blog Roundup

Thee were some truly outstanding posts this week. Some highlights from this week’s blogs include:

Conniebrz.com hits the jackpot at a thrift store; notetalk’s article gives good insight into what home buyers are looking for in a house; extremeperspective sees lease-to-own as a way out of a financial spot; johnreed.com tells us, in his own “sensitive” way, why we don’t need advisors, networks or mentors (okay, I admit that’s his webpage, not a blog); wealthisgood deals with tenant problems, and retals’r’us is closing in on selling a property.

Also, gatherlittlebylittle describes the epiphany that inspired him to put his financial house in order, and moolanomy describes differences between Prosper vs. LendingClub.com peer-to-peer lending.

Thrift Store Shopping: Major Score at conniebrz.com
Characteristics of First Time Home Buyers at dequalss.com/notetalk/
Where to Get Rich? at extremeperspective.blogspot.com
Do You Really Need Team of Advisors? A Network? A Mentor? at johnreed.com
There is Light at the End of the Tunnel at rentalsrus.blogspot.com
My Financial Epiphany: The Storm of My Life at gatherlittlebylittle.com
LendingClub Highlights and Giveaways at moolanomy.com
Late Rent, and Landlord Craving at wealthisgood.blogspot.com

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Weekly Fixer Upper Roundup of Real Estate Investing and Prosperity Blogs

Saturday, February 16th, 2008


Once again, I present my unbiased, unwarrented, unadulterated and unrelenting list of favorite blog articles from the past week, not necessarily related to the fixer upper house business, but still informative.

Managing Tenants Part Three: Written Criteria for Tenant Selection at biggerpockets.com
When Tenants Pay Late (Part 1 – The Initial Discussion) at twowiseacres.com
From Freakonomics at fsbojane.com/
Flowers and Shrubs and Dust Oh My at rentalsrus.blogspot.com/
Almost…To….The…Finish…Line at flipthyhouse.com/
Health Insurance, Medical Expenses, and Unscrupulous Doctors at moolanomy.com/
Compare Your Rent to Your Neighbors at wealthisgood.blogspot.com/
Frugality: Increasing Your Quality of Life for Less at mrsmicah.com
Suze Orman Gets it Right About Why Our Economy is Faultering at money crashers.com

The Zen of Repairing Properties

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Serial Home Seller Tax Exemption, Part 3

Thursday, January 10th, 2008

.
Advantages of selling a home every two years and claiming the exemption:

1. No more dealing with tenants

One of the biggest gripes of real estate investors is dealing with problem tenants. In fact, based on what I have heard from former investors that I have talked to, that is probably the biggest reason that investors decide to get out of the business. The next best thing to biting the bullet and learning how to deal with tenants through the school of hard knocks (or reading a copy of Property Management for Dummies), is to have no tenants.

Who wouldn’t want a world without tenants? It’s a dream come true! No more weekend calls about clogged garbage disposals and toilets not flushing. No more staying up late balancing the books. No more late payments and far-fetched excuses. No more rush to put the place back together and quickly rent it out again, when someone moves out. No more surprise midnight moves by tenants who get out under the cover of darkness.

2. Lower interest rate

Owner occupants can pay 1% less for their mortgages than people who don’t live in their investment properties. For a $200,000 house that can be an additional $132 a month, or $1,584 per year, that you don’t pay for your mortgage.

3. You control the whole process

If you become a serial home buyer/seller and move from one house to another every two years, you alone are in total control of your investment future. You’re captain of the ship.

Since you live in the house, maybe while you fix it up, you’re just making mortgage payments that you would be making anyway, if this wasn’t a business for you. So, you’re not out any extra money, except for the closing costs when you buy or sell.

If you decide you want to live in the house a few years longer, no problem. You can live there as long as you want to, 20 years if you like, and still take the tax exemption.

But you can also decide to buy and sell every few years, and each cycle buy a nicer home, like Suzanne Brangham did, as described in her book Housewise: the Smart Woman‘s Guide to Buying and Renovating Real Estate for Profit. She started in San Francisco in 1972 when she couldn’t find a job that she liked. She decided to create her own career. She started by investing $9,600 in a condo and wound up renovating and selling 71 houses and apartments.

Regarding self-reliance, Ms. Brangham says:

“The biggest lesson I learned in the property business in that there are no absolutes except yourself. Prices fluctuate; products change. Markets move up and down. Tax laws are rewritten every year. Interest rates are as predictable as unwired champagne corks. But there is one stable element in all of this: the person who renovates for profit.”

Disadvantages of utilizing the exemption every two years

1. No long-term profits

In addition to losing the headaches associated with tenants, you also lose many benefits by selling rather than renting. You lose:

a. An monthly rent payment. Its easy to get used to those once they start coming in.

b. Tenants are gradually paying off your mortgage for you.

c. Tax deduction for depreciation and for interest on your loan.

d. You lose the long-term appreciation of 5% per year. Its nice to have the option of cashing in on that appreciation by selling off a house or two when you are ready to retire.

2. It’s difficult to time the market

This is not a disadvantage of the exemption as much as a disadvantage of operating a business of buying and selling every two years. Under this investment strategy, you may not be able to time your house buying and selling to accommodate the fluctuations of the market. For example, many would say that now is not the best time to sell. Some real estate analysts say that cycles usually last between 2 and 10 years, and naturally the ideal time is to sell is when demand is high and the prices are up.

A similar problem exists for buying your properties, you may be caught in a cycle when prices are artificially high.

——————————–

What is the secret to overcoming these seemingly insurmountable obstacles? Where do you turn? What’s that up in the sky? A bird? A plane? Who was that masked man?

The next installment of this series will address some of those questions.

Part 4 of Serial Home Buyers/Sellers, What properties do serial home buyer/seller buy?

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Who Was Your Quirkiest Tenant?

Thursday, September 13th, 2007

I’ve had a married couple in one of my rental houses for 16 months. I have them mail their monthly rental checks to my PO Box, as I do my other tenants. Yesterday, they called and asked me to give them my PO Box address so they could mail in the check. They had misplaced the address. Misplaced the address? In the past they have lost their keys. They have also lost their copy of the rental contract. Last month they mailed the check to the wrong address, and had to cancel their money orders and send me new ones (precipitating yesterday’s request).

Granted, I don’t have the greatest memory in the world. I call my kids the wrong names all the time, and yes, sometimes I absentmindedly use our dog’s name when calling out to one son (in my defense, both their names start with the same first letter). But, you’d think the mailing address for the landlord is such an important piece of information that they would try to make a special effort to keep track of it. I call that a little quirky.

Quirky tenants, of course, are better than out-and-out bad tenants who won’t take care of the house and don’t pay on time. I’ll take quirky any day. In either case, it’s always comforting to remember that whoever occupies your house is ultimately helping you to achieve your goals of financial independence. Each day that you have a tenant in the house, they pay off part of your mortgage, you clear a certain amount from the rental payment, and the value of your house goes up an average of 5% each year. (Well, it doesn’t go up 5% per year these days, but that’s the 30-year average. And, we have to be grateful for the big boost in equity that we received in the 2005-2006 housing boom.)

In general, if we have rental properties and long term-tenants, that’s a pretty good situation to be in.

Speaking of quirky tenants, check out Will Ferrell in The Landlord Video.

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