The Sure-Fire Sherwoods

Months ago, Mrs. Sherwood called me telling me she was giving her 30 day notice and was moving out. Her husband was out of a job and had been looking for months without any hope. She personally had her hours cut back. They simply could not afford the rent. When I asked her where she would go, she said she wasn't sure. I was certain she didn't have the money to move.

Her husband's unemployment issue didn't surprise me. I have been watching the Birmingham economy pretty closely for the past couple of years. Currently, Birmingham's unemployment rate is one of the highest in the nation. I read recently that the unemployment rate there jumped 95 percent in the past 12 months. I have been told by several people how difficult times are in Birmingham. Jobs are scarce. Those working have taken pay cuts to preserve their positions. From what I am reading and seeing, I certainly believe times over there are tougher than a lot of other places.

Mrs. Sherwood has called me about three times in the years she had been living there. She is one of those dream tenants landlords look for. When I drive by, the place looks well-kept up. The gutters are clean. The rent is generally on time and even though her stove doesn't work, she doesn't want me to buy a new one. Because then her family would expect her to cook. She doesn't want that.

Her move-out date would have hit the beginning of the holiday season. The house is 40 years old, has fixtures, carpeting and paint from about the same era. We are a bit cash-strapped right now and Mrs. Sherwood moving out did not look like anything I wanted to take on. Not to mention, when she called I was battling an 8-week flu/pneumonia/fell down the stairs and re-injured my back thing going on (last autumn just sucked).

At the time, I made a deal with Mrs. Sherwood. We would take a reduction in rent for a couple of months and then go back to our regularly scheduled program in January. What I didn't tell Mrs. Sherwood is that Mr. Partner and I discussed this and we were willing to extend Mrs. Sherwood's rent reduction a bit longer if it would keep us from having a vacant home right now.

This month, I didn't hear from Mrs. Sherwood. I thought about calling her and saying, "Hey! You are going to pay an increase in rent now, right?" My concern about calling her was that if I said, "How's it going?" I might very well get a sob story about how bad things were. If I left it as-is and see what she paid me (the adjusted amount or full rent) then I would have a conversation topic.

This past week I hadn't seen Mrs. Sherwood's check yet. I started to dither to Marty Sunshine. "You don't think she skipped do you? She doesn't strike me as the type." I would ask about every five minutes. He finally urged me to call her or get on a plane and find out for myself. Finally, I called.

When I talked to her, I found out that Mr. Sherwood had just gotten a job with the County. He was hired this past week. She started nursing school. She was sure things were looking up. And she was sure they didn't want to move.