The Cold Hard Truth

Mrs. 3001 wants to transition from renter to mortgagee. How nice for her and Mr. 3001!

Normally, this would be exciting. Except, they are falling into a pattern I don't need a crystal ball to predict.

Mrs. 3001 e-mailed me this past week asking what the next steps in obtaining home ownership would be. Before I told her, I gave her a very frank unsolicited explanation about the failure rate of those who don't make their rent/mortgage a priority. Those who are a bit unclear on this particular issue fail 100 percent of the time.

This does not mean all of the people in my program fail--most, I am pleased to say--don't. But, what keeps the successful ones going is that they understand having a roof over their head is a priority and treat it as such. Mrs. 3001 has always paid. She has always been straight up with me. I don't worry about seeing the rent and I don't feel a lot of heartburn about them. The rent, no matter how late, always comes.

Mrs. 3001, the polite Southerner that she is, thanked me for my advice. She said she would consider it, though I don't know what that means.

My preference would be for them to wait a few months and get used to paying the rent without late fees. I would like them to get experience not e-mailing me on the rent due date to tell me rent will be two weeks late because something came up/someone died/they just didn't plan accordingly. I would like them to experience the freedom of knowing their bills are paid, their check didn't bounce and they don't need to juggle their finances. I don't care where they live or what they do. I think this would be a great reward for them under any circumstance.

Because my contract states they can go from tenant to purchase at this stage of the game, the 3001s are not obligated to stay renters. Success, of course, is up to them. Most of the time I don't have trouble with mortgagees. But, for people like Mrs. 3001, it tends to be an issue. And, the cold hard truth is I really hate kicking people out.