Renting Out Property Beta: One Hot Weekend

You know, I really didn’t feel like showing the upstairs of property Beta this weekend. I was extremely tired from work and wasn’t in the mood to deal with people. It’s hot and I’m anti-social. So I conducted all the showings dressed in my hoodie and my security guard pants. I usually dress up, but I really wasn't in the mood.

The first prospective (tenant) had the appointment for 11:00am. Her name was Lakeisha. That was strike one. She came 12 minutes late. That was strike two. When she arrived I was astonished at just how drop dead sexy she was—not beautiful, but dirty sexy with a ridiculous body. She started asking the right questions and things started to look good. Then she started yelling at her two kids in front of me and that was strike three. I’ve always hated what Brooklyn Mike and I call “subway parenting”. The kid starts acting up and the mother yells at the kid (sometimes beating the kid) in public so that everyone can see that she’s a tough mother. The kid always looks confused because, if he/she gets away with it at home, why the hell is Mom angry now? I started telling Lakeisha bad things about the place and she no longer wanted it. The second appointment was a homo that no-showed.

On Sunday was a woman named Jaleena. She works in a dental office making $2800 per month, and wants to move in with her kid. She came with her extremely skinny friend that had me thinking they were crackheads. They asked some good questions and Jaleena looked respectable enough. While I don’t like single mothers as tenants, I do like the fact that she makes $2800 per month. I called her back today to let her know she’s been approved. She said that she’s not giving the security deposit until the apartment is finished. I like that. But I’m still showing the apartment to other people just in case. Today, I had a Liberian couple that thought the bedrooms were too small (but seemed interested in Nicky’s apartment), and then a young couple of friends that wanted the place.

I liked the young couple, but I hated the fact that they REALLY wanted the place without asking any questions pertaining to the apartment. I’ll have to double-check their references because I’m not going through another “Nicky” situation. The last prospective that just left was very cute but seemed more interested in Nicky’s apartment, as she has a ton of clothes and the third bedroom would serve as a great closet. By the way, I like the fact that my plan of telling people about Nicky’s apartment while showing Beta’s apartment is working well. It would have been better if that apartment were EMPTY, but that time will come soon enough.

So right now, it’s between Jaleena and the young couple. I’m leaning more towards Jaleena because she seems to be the more stable one. She’s worked at her job for 5 years, while the couple have collectively worked at their jobs for 8 months. She’s a single mother, but she can bother the downstairs tenant Carver about how to turn on the heat and other stupid questions like that. He is, after all, the maintenance guy and he’s been semi-joking that I should get a female tenant. I’ll call the previous landlords for both parties as well as their references, but it looks as if Jaleena will be the next tenant of property Beta. I’m in no rush, and still have two days before the 31^st, so I’m definitely taking my time to make sure I don’t get another Nicky.