I have a problematic tenant. She has been this way since I signed the lease with her last year. I have taken her to court on two ocassions, and now she is finally leaving. She was a trouble maker, late paying rent, but worst of all her "word" was worthless. I would give her more than enough time to pay the rent, and I would always ask her, when will you have it? Every time she would answer with an excuse, or flat out lie to me, by saying that it will be there tomorrow.
I think I have learned several lessons from this tenant, one is to be fair but be firm with your tenants. Say what you mean, and mean what you say. Second lesson is to not give anyone the benefit of the doubt too many times, because they will abuse your good nature. The third and final lesson is to diversify my real estate. That is to say instead of buying and holding, I will use different strategies in the future such as flipping, lease option, and "wrap contracts," which is something John Burley does a lot of.
Remember, how good is your word? If you can not keep up the little promises, how can you keep the big ones?
Keep up the good work. I like what you have to say. Your word is your bond. If that is worthless, so are you.
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