Purchased an 8 family unit 4 months ago, my second property, and was certainly in over my head. Lets call it growth. Was able to get all the existing tenants, who weren't on leases, leased up with projected rent raises in the first weekend. It was a dusy, incredibly scary and stressful, but all in all a good job done.

I did do estoppel agreements with all the tenants prior to closing but I missed one of them that claimed that the had a 'verbal' lease agreement with the existing owner. I totally missed that he said that and he was not down with the idea of a rent raise coming 2 months after I took ownership. I went back and forth a million times about how to handle the situation and decided that 6 out of 7 (i had one vacant unit to renovate) tenants with signed leases and rent increases was good enough for me and that I'd deal with him down the road. As the past couple months went by we would make occasional small talk and he was always pleasant but I always felt like he was lying to me and that he thought he was getting one over on me. After the first two months of month to month leases I was getting everybody onto new updated leases at one year's length with new rents and I knew I was going to have issues with this guy again. At this point it was clear his girlfriend was going living with him against the lease but as we all know that can be a really tough thing to pin down. Anyways, I gave him the option to either sign a new month to month lease at his current rate, or that he could sign a one year least with a $100 increase and be locked in for the next year at that new rate. He opted for the month to month at the current rate (obviously).

My phone rang yesterday and I saw his name come up on the caller ID and I just had that pit in my stomach feeling. He wanted to let me know that he found a new place to go to and was going to be moving out at the end of the month and that his last month's rent was in the deposit box. 'OK SOUNDS GREAT LET ME KNOW WHEN YOU NEED HELP MOVING !' - Me (haha)

All that to say that I always want to be as professional as possible as a landlord BUT sometimes things are not so black and white. Kind and professional, those are my mottos. A little bit of patience, and some gentle pressure continuously applied went a long way on this one. I think just staying on top of things and being persistent sent this guy the message that he wasn't going to be able to take advantage of me and I got him out without any need for legal fees, yelling and screaming, or (so far) trashed apartments. Very happy to say that sometimes in this business patience is our best tool.

Jaryn Pierson

Podcast Guest on Show #15

Springfield, Massachusetts

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