Are you prepared to do what it takes to SURVIVE this business? • Are you REALLY prepared to make those tough calls? • Can you push emotion to the side for the betterment of your business? • Are you willing to do EVERYTHING in your power to succeed as a Real Estate Investor? This is what my team did in Cleveland today. Are you willing to do everything above EVEN if it's on Christmas? I am sure it'll be a mixed bag of opinions on this topic. Drop your comments below. I would love to get the perspective of Investors on both sides of the isle on this one.

"Easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life." -Jerzey Gregorek This applies to both residents and owners.

You know me by now Jim resounding NO.. I would have left a gift basket and a Christmas card.. And told them catch up when you can

I got out of the D class rentals after I had to explain to a kid that I now owned their house and he was translating it to his mom... so no, I don't have what it takes

Jay, there are only a handful of us on the site old enough to not have to ask Alexa who that is.

@Mary Mitchell If you haven't read "Evicted" it really is worth the read. I operate "affordable housing" (not subsidized) based on the median income in my area. For a number of my apartments, a full time minimum wage job would provide sufficient income to qualify. But the tenants described in the book, Evicted, were not tenants that would qualify for my apartments based on either income or eviction history. For some of the tenants described, that were able hold a job, a helping hand with initial deposits, a couple of months rent, and child care MIGHT have been enough to get them back on their feet. BUT I get calls from churches and halfway houses all the time trying to place tenants on disability with very, very low incomes and I tell them 'no' because I want tenants that can be successful. For the people getting what my tenants call a "crazy" check (from SSDI), they probably are going to have a difficult time as a tenant. Because of their disorders, they can't hold a job, they often can't get along with their neighbors or roommates , they don't have enough money to manage on their own, and they are lucky if their payee isn't stealing from them. If they have anti-social disorder, especially if they have committed sex-offences no one wants them, and they might have other felonies as well. The non-crazy SSDI recipients fare better; they can get along with a room-mate and since they are more sympathetic, they'll probably have better luck finding subsidized housing. We, as a society need to look at how we treat people that cannot provide for themselves, especially the unsympathic cases-- or we'll all have to deal with the fall out. I don't know the answer (but they probably don't qualify to rent from me). .

@James Wise By the time I file for eviction...i can't wait to get the tenant out... That tenant has been completely unwilling to be reasonable usually over a period of weeks or months. So if it the baliff is scheduled the week before Christmas so be it. I would know that the tenant ignored many opportunities to work with me before it came to a red tag and they chose not to. If some random person on the internet or street who knows nothing about the situation thinks I'm a meanie, too bad.

I really have to say something mainly because this is one of the saddest threads I have read so close to Christmas. I practice Landlording very differently that a lot of people would suggest, especially on this thread. First, I buy properties in desirable neighborhoods for several reasons, but, in regards to the main theme here, it is because I have a choice of the quality of tenants I would like to deal with. In other words, if you invested in C/D neighborhoods, you better expect to do evictions because there is no point on doing a Credit Check as the high credit good income tenant will be incredibly elusive. In my neighborhoods where I invest, 700 FICO would be the LOWEST acceptable credit score and you HAVE to make at least 40 times income. Once someone becomes a tenant and I have verified all of their information, accepted guarantors, etc. They become part of a family. IF hard times fall, I help them out because I know that once you get past my tenant screening process.... you are a good and responsible person and the only way you can fall may be some emotional or economical situation which is beyond your control for now. For instance, there were a number of tenants that JUST graduated from a close by Art and Architectural school, had been working for a few years, but suddenly lost their jobs during the financial crisis. I didn't threaten to evict them or anything like that. I knew it was going to be rough for Art graduates to get a job in their field when in an economic crisis. BUT they are good people, in my case, and what I do is help them to survive until things got better. There was no need for me to lower the rents, but in some cases I did. Some cases I ask them to add a third roommate and that I would do the advertising for them, some cases I did both lower rents and asked them to take on a third roommate. I lost money at the time, but I did not lose my soul. Years after the crisis, the majority of these tenants are doing well. They in turn send me referrals and I have found further good tenants from them, even without having to do an ad. The most prominent event that happened in my landlording career was during one snowy morning, I was going to shovel the snow. One of my tenants slipped off the stoop with her Mom before I could shovel. They both laughed it off and the tenant told her Mom in front of her, this is the best Landlord she has had and everything was ok! If the tenant hated my guts, she would have found some way to sue me. I know it's not the way every single RE School would teach, but I and my Partners are multi-millionaire Real Estate Investors and this is how we practice Landlording. The kind of Landlording you do is a choice and you choose it when you decide to buy a certain kind of property. I chose to feel good about being a Landlord and helping tenants who are good people. I do understand those that have made the choice to buy properties where they cannot help but to evict, even during Christmas, but that is NOT my choice when I bought my buildings. AND, BTW, don't call me a bleeding heart... the reality is that this is about business. If you feel good about your business, you will do better business. If your clients (the tenants) feel good about doing business with you, then you will get referral business. So, yes, it's about business, but in a very good way.

I have to wonder if perhaps @Mary Mitchell really means running a business in while respecting personal values like kindness, generosity, compassion, empathy rather than running a business with emotions? Like @Jim K. , I feel like you are not doing anyone any favors if you enable self destructive behavior. Each of us has to decide how to balance our own personal values. If you hire a financial advisor or a property manager do you want them to prioritize the value of wealth? if so when, over compassion? integrity? honesty? I feel like It's a constant balancing act. In my actions, I find that I value financial security more wealth because on a daily basis I make choices that do not optimize wealth building, I'll buy that cold coke when I'm thirsty even if I'm just 30 minutes from my house (my frugal husband won't). I don't try to eek every last dime out of my tenants, I'm making decent money, I'll chalk those broken mini-blinds up to normal wear-and-tear. I might even forgive a debt on occasion for a good tenant that is going through a personal struggle though I'll never donate to the united way. However, If I hired a property manager like @James Wise or a wealth advisor, I don't think I'd want him/her to make those calls for me. They need to do what our agreement calls for. @Dennis M. and @Thomas S. you both frequently espouse the primacy of the value of wealth building over kindness, generosity, and compassion in your businesses (and take a pretty good bit of sh*t for it). However, I don't think it's really reasonable or fair (and I do value reasonableness and fairness) for people to hire a management company because they are "too compassionate" to do an eviction and then claim that they are morally superior to you "mean, old, money grubbing landlords".

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Updated almost 6 years ago on 04/30/2019. Most recent reply

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James WisePoster

#5 All Forums Contributor

Real Estate Broker
Cleveland Dayton Cincinnati Toledo Columbus & Akron, OH

General Landlording & Rental Properties

Are you prepared to do what it take SURVIVE this business?

James WisePoster

#5 All Forums Contributor

Real Estate Broker
Cleveland Dayton Cincinnati Toledo Columbus & Akron, OH

Posted December 14, 2018 13:57

Are you prepared to do what it takes to SURVIVE this business?

Are you REALLY prepared to make those tough calls?
Can you push emotion to the side for the betterment of your business?
Are you willing to do EVERYTHING in your power to succeed as a Real Estate Investor?

This is what my team did in Cleveland today. Are you willing to do everything above EVEN if it's on Christmas?

I am sure it'll be a mixed bag of opinions on this topic. Drop your comments below. I would love to get the perspective of Investors on both sides of the isle on this one.

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Jim K.

#3 Investor Mindset Contributor

Handyman
Pittsburgh, PA

Jim K.

#3 Investor Mindset Contributor

Handyman
Pittsburgh, PA

Replied December 14, 2018 19:00

I would post that notice on Christmas Eve or Day. I would post that notice while they were at the hospital for the birth of a child. I would post that notice on the day I knew a child services social worker was going to visit. I would post that notice if the tenant and all their children were lined up next to that door, begging and pleading for just one more day of leniency. To do otherwise is to misunderstand the nature of eviction.

By the time I get to eviction the tenant's self-destructive behavior has put her or him well past the value of any help I could offer. That notice means I've made a judgment that the tenant needs to hit rock bottom to get better. A judgment that I am prepared to be condemned to hell for if I am wrong.

Standing between someone and the rock bottom they need to hit is not an act of charity or mercy. I learned that the hard way many years ago.

So I agree with you, Jim, but I should add that I do not believe I have ever posted an eviction notice as an act of pushing aside my emotions, or for the betterment of my business, or in order to succeed as a real estate investor.

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