I went over to property Chi Monday afternoon with my HVAC guy Gonzalez. He checked everything and said that there was nothing wrong. Since he was already there, I had him replace the thermostat that was all taped up. I then saw Umar coming home from work. I was supposed to talk to him about the family moving out, but I didn’t. I just… didn’t. I decided right there that I wasn’t gonna throw them out.
I couldn’t explain it and I went home confused. What the hell is wrong with me? Why haven’t I started the 30-day notice process? Was I scared? Was I afraid of doing the work it would take to move new people in? Hey, maybe they practiced voodoo on me to change my mind?! I decided to read this blog, this time from the beginning of last year until now. Usually I read this blog every day, but I would usually start from a month prior. After reading the entire blog I realized a few things. The first is how much I’ve learned in the real estate business. The second is that I would like more pictures on this blog. The third is that I got issues. But the last thing I noticed was a specific pattern of behavior I exhibit when I get into certain situations, like the one I’m in with the Africans. For analogy’s sake, I call it the GGT Syndrome.
Ever watched an action movie? When it gets to the end, the good guy has the bad guy cornered. He picks up the gun and points it at the bad guy, but doesn’t shoot. The bad guy then provokes him, maybe by reaching for a weapon or calling his mother a slut, and the good guy finally fires the gun and kills him. That’s what this syndrome is, the Good Guy Trigger Syndrome. See, I had the meeting with them already. The Africans know that I’m now watching them—they’re in my crosshairs. The gun is pointed right at their heads, and now I have to be provoked to pull the trigger and start the process of throwing them out. Will the repair calls finally stop? Will they provoke me? I don’t know, but I’m willing to wait and find out.
Besides the GGT Syndrome, there’s also the matter of experience. I’m a novice in this game, no matter how I feel. I have so much more to learn and I’ve never dealt with sabotage before. As much as I’d like to rush to judgment and throw them out, that’s not the smart thing to do at my level. They have their warning. The gun is at their heads. They know that if there is one more suspicious repair that needs to be made, I’m throwing their asses out. Why not see what happens and gain experience from that, rather than pull the trigger and not learn anything? There’s an ebb and flow to the game of property management that I’m not experienced enough to know, so I need to play the game cautiously with both eyes open. I need to soak up as much experience as I can from every situation, and that means following the procedure and patience.
There are other contributing factors at play as well. I called my lawyer Marvin Wassle yesterday and he said that, because I signed them to a contracted lease, I can’t just give a 30-day notice like I usually do. I must have a reason for the 30 day notice, and will have to prove that reason in court. I’ll have to keep records of the suspicious repairs as well as statements from the handymen confirming sabotage. He said that it can be done, but a legal case like that usually opens a can of worms on both sides. I guess it serves me right for breaking my rule of not signing a tenant to a set term lease, but I was really trying to lock the Africans into property Chi with that one-year lease. If all goes well with the Africans and they make it to the point that their lease expires, I won’t renew it. The same goes for all tenants. I want all my tenants on month-to-month terms with me, so that I can throw them out at any time for no specific reason. When a landlord lets a lease expire and the tenant stays in the apartment without a renewed lease, they are seen as month-to-month tenants in the eyes of the law. Good enough for me.
So for now, I’ll wait and see what the Africans do. If they provoke me, the gun goes off and the countdown to them getting thrown out will begin. The warning was given. It’s all up to them now.
P.S.: I will go on record as saying that my current experience tells me that this is the WRONG decision. The situation last year with Laurie and Annie tells me that I have to get rid of anyone that gives me problems such as this. So if this turns out to be a mistake I’ll admit it, lick my wounds, and then move on. But if I’m right and this gamble pays off in my favor, it will mean that I learned something new. I can think of no greater reward.
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