A Tenant Story
August 25th, 2008 by KenricRewind to October 2007
I received a called my a lady who wanted to rent the home. She had a long story about her financial troubles and a car accident and she needed to rent a place right away! She asked me all sorts of questions about the home, number of bedrooms, bathrooms, location, etc… I gave her the address and she said she’d drive by and let me know if she was interested.
Two days later, she called again. However, she proceeded to tell the same story again and ask all the same questions. I told her that I had spoke to her two days ago. She said that the car accident is causing a loss of memory. Again, she said that she’d drive by and call me back.
Two weeks later she calls again, same conversation and same result. At this point, I was done with even attempting to rent to her. She said that she’d call back after she looked at the home. I wasn’t counting on it.
One week later a nice older couple calls looking for a home for their daughter. I meet them at the house, they like the house and want to rent it. The parents will be paying the rent for their daughter and signing the lease. While signing the lease, they mention that their daughter was in a bad car accident. I ask them what her name is and of course its the same lady! I told them that she had called me several times and always forgot she called.
So at this point, I couldn’t exactly back out of the lease and I felt comfortable because the parents were paying for the rent and utilities until she got back on her feet. So the house was rented to them. She had 4 kids and 2 dogs.
This Weekend
Because of the memory loss, kids, job, etc… I had been too afraid to visit the home because I didn’t want to know what condition it was in. She moved out last weekend and I finally went over to look at the home and I am happy to report that she left the home spotless and even rented a carpet cleaner to clean the carpets. Needless to say, they received 100% of their security deposit back. Considering that they had 5 kids and 2 dogs, that is quite an accomplishment.
Posted in Real Estate | 2 Comments »
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Wow! Great story.
In a somewhat similar situation, I agreed to rent an apartment to a couple after only having met the nice older mother of one of the renters. The couple was moving from CA and only one had a job lined up, and I’d never met them – but mom agreed to guarantee the lease so I went for it. This was my very first leasing experience, so I was very nervous, but so far the couple still live there, keep it in great condition, pay rent on time, and are proactive in contacting me about things they think I might want to know. I know enough to keep my fingers crossed though. :)
By Meg on Aug 26, 2008
That is a great story. Its very good of her parents to rent the place for her until she got back on her feet.
I don’t have two dogs or kids and I rarely get all of my security deposits back but then again I’ve been living in apartments so it doesn’t matter what condition you leave it in.
By Jennifer Zetter on Sep 3, 2008