Don't ever say never?

Question

I just answered a post called "How to prevent an eviction".  And the poster was correct in what he said, but some landlords replied, "don't ever say never".  My answer prompted me to get on a roll regarding this matter, so much so I thought I'd write up a new post called, "Don't ever say never".

So here it goes.

I am a caring person. I am also a business woman.  My husband and I had 40 rental properties that ranged from apartments to duplexes to single family homes.  Being a landlord is a business of "People Management".

A lot of responsibility is placed on our shoulders.  We are responsible for the lives of the people who live there.  If we don't take care of our properties, and a tenant hurts themselves, we will be sued and will lose everything we have, not to mention the guilt we would have to live with if a tenant died due to our negligence.

We are made to comply by the courts, looked down upon by the media,  frowned upon by tenants,  family and friends, and we have no one sticking up for us!

Our lease agreements are legal contracts.  We all must abide by  legal contracts that we sign.

Somehow though, some landlords believe that we, as landlords, should be sympathetic with the tenants when they fall on hard times.  Therefore, altering the contract, just this once....right?

Well for one thing, when you alter a contract and allow a tenant to pay when they want, you have created a new contract.  You have created a new due date.  And when you change things in the CONTRACT, then you lose credibility and the tenants have no stability.

I taught my tenants to know that what  I say  I mean, and I mean what I say.  But I was good to them when it came to repairs.  I took care of their needs immediately.  They knew they could trust me.  They knew they had to pay their rent on time.  They knew they could call office and tell me why they couldn't pay their rent, but they also knew I would make them pay it anyway.

I was kind to them, gentle to them, understanding when I told them that I understood why they couldn't pay their rent, but this is a business.  "Couldn't you borrow money from your mom, dad, friend bank? And believe it or not, they found a way to get the money".  And we still ended up having a good landlord/tenant relationship.

Do you think that when I told a tenant they still had to pay their rent that after I hung up the phone I sat at my desk and laughed?  Big grin on my face?

You should have seen my face the many times I had to tell a tenant they had to do this or do that.  There were times I even cried.  Yea, me.... strong Nancy.  But I had 40 people I had to take care of.  And each one of them had  a problem.  I can't help the world.  I couldn't help all 40 when they had problems all at the same time.

I didn't get a kick out of always saying no.  Sticking to my "guns"!

This is a tough business.  If I caved in for one, I'd lose my business, and then I couldn't take care of the other 39 tenants I had.  And then I couldn't take of US, me, and husband and the rescued animals that we took care of after a tenant left them behind to die!

We need to live too! We are human beings too! I'm always writing stories about landlords so the media and others can see we are HUMAN BEINGS with a heart, but we can't take care of the world.

So I get frustrated to read other landlords say there is always an exception to the rule.  Yes there is always an exception to the rules, but be careful, that exception causes Chaos and destruction if you choose to use it.  That's why no other business will give us the same treatment as some landlords want us to provide to our tenants.  To do so would be their demise.

Okay, I'm off my rant.

Nancy Neville

Account Closed · Answer

We are not a bank.  We are not a Contractor  needing start up money.  We are landlords that deal with people who live in our homes.  Who live in our investments.

Banks have backups and a bail out by the Government. Landlords have nobody.  We are on our own.  Our start up money is the rents we collect from our tenants. That's what we live on.  That's what we use to pay for the repairs that are expected of us.

You cannot possibly compare our Industry with any other industry, because we are like no other.

We have code violations, law suits, vacancies, and we have the responsibility of taking care of other people's lives as I've stated in my posts.

We don't have that privilege of making deals like the people you suggest in your post.

We should be so lucky!

Nancy Neville

Mark Brogan · Answer

thanks Account Closed i need to here that, i grew up watching my parents get treated bad by there tenants because they always felt bad about making them pay and getting involved in their problems

my father used to always say we cant go anywhere because of tenant issues

thank you

Account Closed · Answer

Brian, thank you for sharing your story.  My husband was the type to "make them an offer they couldn't refuse",  (Like your CEO of the Collection Dept.) so thank goodness he had me to gently explain the situation to our tenants.

But once again, it was all explained when they signed the lease.

But, we basically had great tenants.  Very rarely did we need to put the "muscle on them".

We chose tenant who were COLLECTIBLE and who paid their bills on time.

But people do have a tendency to 'TEST LANDLORDS".  And that's when we have to help them remember.  :)   Right?

But there were moments when I wasn't so gentle and have many story to tell regarding some of the drama I went through.

Nancy

Account Closed · Answer

Karen, it's refreshing to read someone who has the clear understanding of Landlord hood.

Absolutely correct when you say if you go to court and the tenant tells the Judge that you allowed them to do this or that.  Well you just rewrote your lease agreement from now until eternity for this tenant.

When I first began in this business we had an attorney.  But he loved making deals.  Not only did we lose money from the tenants because of his deals, but we spent big bucks to pay this attorney to make deals with the tenants which make us lose money.

I then began to study the law, fired  our attorney, and from my second year on I handled all my cases myself  for over 13 years and never lost a case ever and never made a deal.

Our tenants stayed with us for over 20 years (Husband was in the business when I met him) and hardly anyone stayed less than 6 years.

I learned how to keep tenants long term, how to cover my behind by documenting everything under the sun, and became a good listener.

One doesn't have to be a mean old coot to implement the contract.  You can do it in a nice way, like you, Karen, told your tenants.

Anger comes from misunderstandings.  I was always up front with my tenants.  I told them that their rent was our income.  And you know what, they didn't realize that, they said.  They didn't see their rent as being our income.

Sometimes, things as simple as that, where you would think anyone would know rent checks are our income, do see it until we present it to them in clearer light.  But once explained, then the other person can see the other side of the coin, and it did make a difference.

Thanks for your support Karen.

Nancy Neville

Account Closed · Answer

One other thing.  Do you know that if you make a deal and help one tenant that it is discrimination if you don't help all your tenants the same way?

Do you know that when you make a deal outside the walls of the Contract, you have changed the contract.

Now you may say that how would your other tenants know, and the answer is they may not know, but word does spread.  And...there are testers.

Richard C. · Answer

And now we have descended into juvenile fantasy. Very businesslike.

Brian P. · Answer

Nancy

When my brother and I started landlording we were real suckers for the sob stories and the usual bs certain tenants were very good at. After several months we figured if we couldn't find people like us to be out tenants we would get out of the landlording business and stick with rehabs.

First thing we changed was the speech we gave when they were filling out the rental application and what they could expect from us if they weren't honorable people. Well we owned a home next to the head of a certain motorcycle club and he stopped by to deliver something, the couple trying to rent the apartment were professional deadbeat tenants (we found out later) and when they saw our friend and asked who is he, we said he is in charge of collecting the money people owe us and don't want to pay. And gone in a flash were two deadbeat tenants.

Well we overhauled out tenant screening, once in a while we were fooled but when we sent the "head of our collection department" over to talk to them, they were happy to move and pay all sums due. and like you most of our residents were long term. Don't like the word tenant.

Richard C. · Answer

Oh please. Look, they are your properties, you don't need to justify taking a hard line if that is what you prefer to do. But do not pretend that by doing so you are approaching some sort of Platonic form of ideal landlord hood.  The reason you lawyer made deals is that he knew that your conception of how discrimination and contract law work is faulty.

I work for a very large management consulting firm. The cost of obtaining new customers is a priority concern for any business. And the cheapest customer is the one you already have. My experience makes me believe that most of the real hard-line, no exceptions types on BP do not have a whole lot of high level business experience, and so they get their conception of what "business-like" means from a combination of stereotype and wishful thinking.

Frankly, I think the reason you don't want other landlords to compromise is that when your competition compromises, it makes it harder for you to hold a hard line.

I would rather work with good tenants who experience one of life's little bumps than deal with a vacancy. You may chose otherwise, and that is fine. But don't try to tell me I am notbeing businesslike, because that is nonsense.

I would also point out that the person whose post you are reacting so negatively to is herself a very experienced and businesslike landlord.

Karen Rittenhouse · Answer

Love it, Nancy.

Like you, I care about my tenants, but this is a business and must be treated as such.

I always explain to my tenants that I cannot discriminate, and I don't. What I do for one, the law requires me to do for all - and that's true. If I make an exception for you, I must make the same exception for every tenant or be guilty of discrimination.

Another thing landlords need to recognize is that, if they make an exception one month and take the tenant to court over the same thing another month, the court will say the landlord set a new precedent with this tenant and the same allowances have to be allowed FROM THEN ON!

Landlords typically have a very limited understanding of the law. You don't want to learn the rules when standing in front of a judge.

We abide by our contracts and so must they.

Thanks for your post.

:)

Richard C. · Answer

Are you suggesting that "real" businesses never deviate from their SOPs? That banks never make payment arrangements? That vendors never accept late payments in order to protect a long-term revenue stream? That contractors never start work for a landlord without cash upfront, as per their usual policy? Are you suggesting the city government should send your house to tax sale if you are three days late on your payment?

Don't ever say never?

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