Donning the Crash Helmet

Was this summer of peaceful tenants too good to be true? Maybe. But, does it count as a disaster if it takes until mid-July for the rocks o'distruction to come crashing down?

Ms. Robin--who has been absolutely fabulous in the almost two years she has rented from me--bounced a check two months ago. Three weeks ago, she said last month's payment was coming last week. As this was unusual for her, I let it go. However, I made a mental note.

This past Friday she said she just didn't have the rent. And, they were happy to move on. She didn't offer tons of excuses. Just that they were behind. Life had gotten crazy--Mr. Robin had surgery two months ago. And, that is where they are.

When I talked to her Friday, I offered her up a few suggestions. Ms. Robin is someone I am willing to work with, if she indeed wants to. I don't want to urge her to stay if it won't work out in the long run. Neither of us benefit from that. But, if there was something that can be done, yep. I will play.

She did get back to me with a somewhat viable solution I will accept. The reasons I will accept it are: 1) they have history with me of being very good tenants 2) they have jobs that are recession-proof (Birmingham's unemployment rate right now is over 12 percent) and 3) them moving out gives me a vacant home. Though I could rent it out again, this seemed significantly easier.

Once Ms. Robin was set in place, Ms. Kathy decided to e-mail me. Mind you, her rent is due on the 3rd. I heard from her on the 12th. She is on widow's social security--which (ideally) is a guaranteed rent check. As anyone who has read this blog for any length of time knows, "guarantee" and "Ms. Kathy" in the same sentence is questionable.

According to Ms. Kathy, Social Security messed up her check this month and should have it fixed by next month. So, could she pay two months on August 3? I would have been so much happier if she had mentioned this to me nine days ago. I might have even believed her.

Now what? Here was the dilemma: Ms. Kathy has been the picture perfect tenant since our encounter in March. No rent problems, with only the occasional septic tank needing to be drained. I can handle that. Truly, it would take longer to kick Ms. Kathy out (who probably doesn't have the money to move anyway--no matter where her "lost" Social Security check might happen to be) than it would be to wait for her to send me two rent checks next month. To her credit--and I mean this sincerely--she offered up a solution instead of making me bring one to the table. This is the only reason I went along her.

Except, I am not sure I believe I will be getting two rent checks. I am expecting I will probably will get one month's worth of rent and tons of excuses. Begrudgingly, I did agree to her silly plan as long as she sent me a token amount--which she swears she put in the mail immediately after she got my e-mail.

All this, plus Artie and Candy are supposed to move out this week. Marty Sunshine tells me if this is the worst it gets, it isn't too bad. Both Ms. Robin and Ms. Kathy's situations are sorta resolved, with me giving in more than I really care for. Kirby is handling Artie and Candy's Fultondale home. So, hopefully this is a momentary rock slide and not an avalanche.