A Waterford Home Update

Kirby called me Tuesday. He had three potential people for Mrs. Waterford's former home.

1. A guy from England whose company was looking at relocating him to Birmingham Alabama (yes, we were clear it wasn't Birmingham England).

2. A single woman with two children on a Section 8 voucher who would have to come in with an additional $300 a month of her own money to cover the rent.

3. A single woman with a 40 pound terrier and wanted me to supply a washer and dryer.

Naively, Kirby wanted to know if I had any opinions.

I gave Kirby my experiences with all of the people from England who have contact me moving to Birmingham Alabama (not Birmingham England). Essentially what I have seen is more like one of those Nigerian money laundering schemes. Right now, my current Craigslist posting for the home in Leeds is averaging about one of these inquiries every three days.

The way it works is, the person relocating, offers to send over one check to cover all thier moving expenses. They ask the landlord to cash it and then pay all their other vendors who are helping them move. Usually these vendors consist of an "interior deisgner"/operative. Essentially, they are asking to send one check, have me act as the accountant and bill payer. You would think the interior designer/operatives would find other places to scam.

Mr. Partner has always been against Section 8 tenants. And frankly, I am not a fan either, but that is for another post. There are some occasions where I might be able to sell him on this, but this home has been listed for only two weeks.

So, before I bugged Mr. Partner with a given no, I wanted to know how this mother was going to be able to provide the remaining rent. Did she have employment? Did she have ties to the area? Were her children in school? Would she have the money to fix a broken towel bar? If she couldn't uphold her end of the rent, would she care? Or would she just dare me to evict her, so that she can go on to the next landlord (and yes, I know Section 8 tenants are required to uphold thier end of the bargain or they loose their vouchers. But I have seen Section 8 tenants who managed to work the system.).

The last tenant sounded more reaasonable, though I am not crazy about pets right about now with brand new carpeting. However, someone with a trained dog doesn't sound too bad. This woman is even offering to provide me with obediance school certificates.

The washer and dryer thing is kind of an issue. I don't want to pay for additional appliances. This person can probably look around and find used ones for under $200 for the set. I know I can.

However, if this person is really tenant-worthy, I won't let a washer and dryer stand in my way of a rented home. I can find a use set just as well as she can. I told Kirby this. He agreed and said he would see what he could do.