Collecting on a judgement

[Bryan Comeau]

Hello BiggerPocketeers and thanks for taking the time to read my question.

Back in 2016 I had a tenant that stopped paying rent and after six month with the help of the Massachusettes housing court I was able to evict the tenant. I'm not a lawyer or what I would consider an experienced Landlord in these matters but the people at the housing court were super helpful with assisting me through this entire process!

Anyways, a judgement was handed down by the Housing Court that included a monetary settlement which to this date has not been settled.

Today I spoke with a company that claims they will try to collect the judgment amount for me but would charge $100 fee to start and a 40% commission when the collect. They also indicated that there is a 10% fee if I terminate the contract while they are "still working it".

My questions:

I could continue to track down this person and serve them with papers to return to court for non payment but does anyone have any other ideas on how to collect?

Hiring a collection company will reduce the settlement but is 40% too much?

Any other useful thoughts?

Thanks again!

[Bryan Comeau]

Hi Josh its nice to meet you, yes I'm in the Haverhill area and yes this particular tenant had hit some hard times. I think your right investing another $100 on the chance that I collect 60% of of the $5800 judgement is probably a smart thing to do. I'm going to sign on with this collection agency and let them do what they do best...  

I will keep you guys updated as things move forward.