The Real Lessons from Fergie

I have two tenants right now who are teetering. To them, their situations are unique. But, really they aren't. I have seen both types of tenants fail before. And, I have seen both types succeed. Right now, with rent coming in and both being (more or less) upfront with me, I would put them closer to the succeed category. But not by much. All I really want is for them to pay or for them to voluntarily move out and clean up when they go. Either is fine by me.

I should clarify. I have other tenants who are also struggling, but they don't make it my problem.

Both of these people didn't start out teetering. Circumstances changed while they were living under my roof. Because they are my only two troublemakers, I take this as a positive sign that I am getting better at picking tenants.

There are people like Fergie, like Wayward, like the Good Pastor who have helped me along the way. They have made it possible for me to hone my tenant screening process. They have made it possible for me to continually perfect my ideal of what a good tenant looks like. I am sure there will be others who challenge my good tenant ideal, but I am getting much better at weeding the garden.

Through these experiences I have learned to set standards. I do not discriminate on any of the Federal Fair Housing protected classes. I do not know what color, religion or ethnicity my tenants are. Nobody is every going to be able to say I didn't rent to them because they were black, Hispanic or had purple polka-dots on their skin. I just don't know what these folks look like. And, I don't care.

I now have written standards that I use for screening. I look at debt ratios. If you bring home $2500 a month and are currently paying out more than 55 percent of that, you won't be renting to me. Your bills are too high. The likelihood you will be calling me one month telling me rent is late because you had to buy pencils is pretty high.

I look at what you have done to former landlords. If your credit is stellar but you have burned a landlord, you will never rent from me. Ever. This is something I started looking at in the past couple of years. If I had done this sooner, Wayward never would have rented from me. She had three evictions prior to mine. Now she has a monetary judgement against her and her wages are being garnished. I don't feel the least bit sad about this. I do call past landlords. With my most recent tenant, I called all of her past landlords. One said he was impressed at how thorough I was. I explained my logic. He told me he would start calling too. We landlords have to stick together.

I look at their history of paying. I do this by checking credit. A monetary judgement doesn't scare me. One of my best tenants right now has a monetary judgement from a hospital against her for a car accident several years earlier. She is paying it. That's why she is renting.

Of course things happen to put one in this situation. And, yes, I do take into consideration life events that change and cause great strife. I do understand people die, there are divorces and there are job losses. I get that. I have always been sympathetic to this. I am not talking about those folks.

I am talking about the ones who don't have realistic expecations about paying their bills. What I don't like to see is lots of monetary judgements for little things. If you have judgements against you from the cellphone company, the power company and the credit card company, you probably are going to struggle to pay the rent. And, you are telling me your credit score and personal integrity aren't that important to you. You are also telling me I can expect you not to leave if you can't pay your way. I have enough drama in my life right now, thankyouverymuch.