Gary Gets Arrested

The upstairs tenant of property Beta, Stan, finally paid rent plus late fees. He said that Carver’s girlfriend, Linda, died on Saturday from cancer and he has been downstairs with Carver since. He had simply forgotten to mail the envelope that was sitting on his table. I didn’t believe him, but who really cares? With Linda finally gone, property Beta can get back to normal. Property Chi’s upstairs tenant Gary, however, has a problem that may not be resolvable.

Gary called me yesterday morning to come clean with why he hadn’t paid rent. He said that, after Ira moved out, he got arrested for something. He didn’t tell me what, but I’m assuming it’s for a DUI. Anyway, he said that he had to go to court on Friday to find out if the charge against him will be a felony. If it is, he’ll lose his job at Firestone and will have to move back to Florida. I told him that, while I understand his situation, “I’m under deadline to pay the mortgage at a certain time and I have to get the rent today.” Hehehe. I tried to sound sincere and even offered the number of a lawyer I know who could help him, but he already had one. He wanted to mail it to me, but I didn’t want to take the chance. During his lunch break, I picked him up from his job, drove him to Chase and got my fucking money, then drove him back to work. I hate having to go through that (I felt like Sha for a little bit), but I needed to make sure I had his money in case Friday doesn’t go his way.

This is actually a good situation for me. If he gets charged with a felony, I can start advertising his apartment as early as Saturday. He did a lot of good work in the apartment, cleaned out the garage and the attic, and kept it in very good condition. Adding to this, Hanna and the Africans in the downstairs of property Chi keep the exterior looking nice and mow the lawn on a regular basis. I already have the advertisement ready to go, so I’m now waiting for Gary’s phone call on Friday to see what will happen. Gary is a little disoriented right now with everything going on, and I may be able to take advantage. If he quickly moves back to Florida, he may forget to ask for his security deposit. It all depends on how I word phrases when I speak to him, and how quickly I can get someone for the apartment. It’s a long shot, I know, but I’ve been doing well with long shots lately.

I’ve been a bit anxious to start showing units again. I was hoping Stan was going to default because it’s much easier to rent out property Beta’s apartments due to the prestigious location, but Gary’s apartment will do just fine. It feels weird to be a landlord that’s eagerly waiting for somebody to default on rent but I can’t help it. I want to see if I’ve learned anything about renting apartments, and my goal is to be able to rent out an apartment in 2 days. We’ll see what happens, but it’s good to know that I’m ready for Friday to go either way.