First of Many Missed Quotas

Ugh, do I really have to write this? Well, I guess I do since it’s the end of the month. Okay, here it goes: I did not reach my quota of 13k for this month. I had better get used to writing that because I will probably miss the next two or three quotas.

I have $10,952.55 in my account, which means that I actually lost money this month. The combination of getting nothing from Nicky or Stan’s apartment, water bills, fixing up Stan’s apartment, and some other expenses made it near impossible to even reach 11k! I prepared myself for this, yet I still feel bad that I didn’t reach 13k. Sometimes I think about what could have been if I didn’t have to pay those damned taxes. An extra $6,000 in my account? I would have been getting ready to put an offer down on a prospective property Charlie! I know I’m not supposed to complain about the past but I’m really gonna feel those lost tax dollars in June.

Speaking of June, I’ll most likely miss June’s quota of 16k, but I’m gonna try anyway. Fixing up Nicky’s apartment will probably be my biggest expense, but I’m happy that I at least found tenants for that unit already without ever showing it. There’s an out-of-town couple that came to look at property Beta’s unit, Belle and Sebastian. They have 4 pets (3 cats and a dog), so obviously I wasn’t going to give them Beta’s apartment. But they both work and make good money so I told them about Nicky’s apartment. They jumped at the chance to take the apartment because I’m the only landlord that doesn’t give them shit about having pets. So they’re simply waiting for me to throw that dirty bitch out and fix up the place, and then they’d move in. Since no one is offering what I’m offering, I’m confident that they will be the next tenants of property Alpha. I just have to do a few reference checks before anything is set in stone.

While on the subject of reference checks, I’m no longer certain that Jaleena will be the next tenant of property Beta. The young couple won’t work out either, but Jaleena’s landlord reference is suspicious. I called the number she gave me and a woman picked up. When I asked her if she was Jaleena’s landlord, she said no and gave me a character reference instead since they used to work together. I called Jaleena back and she said that the woman was the landlord and must not have understood me because her boyfriend is the one who deals with tenant stuff. Before I called him I went online to check property tax records. The woman she put down did indeed own the property, so I called the boyfriend. He just made me more suspicious because he stated that HIS name was on the property and said that Jaleena pays $575 when Jaleena said she pays $600. One might chock that up to getting tenants mixed up, but according to him they have only one other property! He also said that Jaleena “moved in” in March of 2011, but the property was sold to his girlfriend in MAY of 2011. How could she move into their place when they didn’t own the property at the time??

To make matters worse, I googled Jaleena’s first and last name. It showed that the only relative she has that lives in NY is on the south side of Smalltown. Could she be lying about her residence to have a better shot and getting an apartment? All these things put together is making me not want to give her the place, especially when I found someone yesterday with NO kids and makes the same amount of money that would be perfect for property Beta! Her name is Ashley and her landlord gave her a glowing reference. I’m in the process of verifying her job—as a nurse for three years. I liked her a lot better so I may just go with Ashley instead of Jaleena. Jaleena also seemed like a bit of a pain in the ass, in the way Stan was. I mean, I can respect that she doesn’t want to put money down until the place is 100% finished but most normal humans know they have to put SOMETHING down to hold the apartment for them. I dunno. I’ll make my decision today.

May was a transition month and June will be just the same. While I like the fact that I’ll be getting five paychecks this month, I still have much drama ahead of me as far as getting Nicky out of that apartment and getting it ready for Belle and Sebastian move in. May was a difficult month but at least I know I’m getting better at doing my unique background checks that I explained in a blog I did last year called Common Sense Background Check. I’ve always believed that there’s more to a tenant than paying some P.I. to do a background check, and I’m seeing the proof. And I’m also very happy that I was able to get tenants for Nicky’s apartment without even showing it! Wins and losses are just that. I’ll learn from both and move on.