Kerry On

In my humble opinion, it is in bad form to cry at one's future landlord before you have turned in the lease.

I'm just saying...

Kerry is no exception. I approved her for the home in Pinson on Monday. I gave her explicit directions, take the lease and the security deposit to Legal Eagle. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Do it by Wednesday.

Kerry said the obligatory "yes ma'am" and I got a queasy sense of foreboding.

Tuesday, in order to quell my stomach pains, I called Kerry just to check in. She didn't have the deposit. In fairness to Kerry, she found out two weeks ago her landlord of five years was going into foreclosure and the trustee sale was June 1.

She was being forced to move because her landlord didn't pay the bills. Kerry paid the rent on time. But the landlord didn't see fit to take the rent money and apply it towards the mortgage. Just to add insult to injury, the landlord didn't have Kerry's security deposit either. So, I don't necessarily blame Kerry for this debacle.

I do blame Kerry for sticking this all on me with a sobbing, "what am I to do?" I could think of several answers off the top of my head: Take out a 401k loan. Find a loved one who can loan you the security deposit. Take out a credit card loan. Bring me a reasonable suggestion as to what will work for you--I am not that hard to work with.

I didn't share my solutions with her. All that was running through my head was, "What about next time she has a crisis?" Yes. This is a test. I don't want her thinking I was the one who would be manipulated.

What I told her was I wasn't going to solve this for her. I did suggest sometimes sleeping on a nagging problem will bring new light in the morning. And, while we were at it, let me know what she was planning on doing in the morning. Yes, I think what has happened to her is terrible. I think her landlord is scum. I think Kerry should be angry. But don't ask me to solve her "I don't have the security deposit" dilemma.

I am willing to take less of a security deposit. I would be willing to put the house back on the market. I would be willing to pass this along to the next person waiting in line.

But I didn't tell her any of that. I want her to be creative. I don't want to be the fixer of everything. It isn't healthy. And, I think Kerry, at age 40-something, has enough life experience to find a way not to be homeless.