Ideally

In between my frequent naps and variety of over-the-counter health remedies of late, I have been toying with the issues around the Leeds house.

So far I have had three seriously interested parties. First I had Mr. Shanty who couldn't afford the joint and talked my ear off. Thus, turning me off to any potential wonderfulness he had long before I was willing to consider him as a tenant. There was Audrey the Pseudo-Criminal who, between Carolsue's wrath and my standard to have potential tenants show a bit of integrity, pretty much eliminated herself from the running--even if she still wanted the place. And, of course, there was the absolutely delightful Mrs. Spring who decided that living where she is currently for free is a much better deal than making rent payments to anyone--including me. It is really hard to compete with free.

Which brings me to my major dilemma: I still have a vacant home.

It has been a month since I started trolling for a tenant. And given the lack of potential tenants, I have a clear understanding of the problem. Nobody is willing to live on this particular street, in Leeds Alabama for what I am charging.

Now, a word about the Leeds home: it is a cute little cottage. It has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, newer carpet and hardwood floors, an indoor laundry, a huge carport/shed, a rather large fenced yard with a deck. The stove, hot water heater and heat pump are in decent condition. The roof doesn't leak. There are about a dozen homes on this quiet country road. And, if you can ignore the fact that one neighbor thinks breaking an entering is an ok hobby, another neighbor collects rusted metal junk and proudly displays it in his front yard and I suspect high-ranking members of informal social networks who thrive on bigotry happen to live down this country road, it is a pretty nice place to live.

It isn't just that I want the house rented. I want it rented to people who aren't going to call me month after month with some lame excuse because they aren't smart enough to solve their own problems. I am not missing the Betty's and I don't want The Bettys, Version 2.0. The Bettys burned me out on lame excuses.

I completely understand whomever rents this home must have a different level of sophistication, from say, my recently vacant homes in the suburbs (the Waterford and bankruptcy homes). But, just because the perfect Leeds tenant doesn't have a suburb mentality doesn't make this future ideal tenant any less quality. People with integrity come from all walks of life.

An ideal tenant doesn't mean one who pays top dollar. What I am looking or is someone who keeps their word. You know, someone who prefers to pay their bills and do what they say they are going to do. While I am making my list, I would also prefer someone who will live there for a few years and take reasonable care of the place. And, in this case, I need a tenant with character attributes to include someone overlooking some of the idiosyncrasies of the neighborhood.

Surely there is another ideal tenant for this home. Even in Leeds.