Last Thursday, I had 3 appointments. One was this super cute Hispanic girl. I didn’t really hold her ethnicity against her for some reason, and she seemed to have her head on straight. She had a pitbull which I didn’t like too much, but she asked the right questions and I liked her. Unfortunately, her job pays only twice the cost of rent. Rule of thumb is that a tenant’s salary must be at least three times the rent price. Because of that, I could only rate her with a D.
Up next were a couple of SSI bums that needed canes to walk. They also came to see the upstairs 1 bedroom, but left quickly when they saw rat droppings under the kitchen sink. Good thing they saw it because I sure as fuck didn’t see it. So I cleaned it up after they left and checked for any other rat droppings in both apartments. See, this is why I don’t mind showing apartments to SSI bums. Sometimes they spot something that I wouldn’t see, and I can take care of the issue before a serious prospective tenant comes in.
Finally I had an older lady named Sindy on SSI come in. I wasn’t going to take her very seriously, but both of her sons (ages 19 and 21) worked. It was nice that the sons had their paystubs all ready to go, as it showed maturity. One might think I sound crazy, but it is incredibly difficult to find 19 and 21 year olds that value a job in Smalltown. I respected that. They also had a family friend that lives with them who has a stable job. I liked the fact that the sons worked, but the various sources of income combined with the SSI of the lady made me wary. I rated them with a C, and decreased that to a C- once she told me she has 5 cats. I called them on Friday to let them know they were approved for the place. Approved meaning they qualify for the place, NOT that the place is theirs. I told her that she has to leave something down to hold the place, and she said she would have it by Saturday. After talking to Nino about it, I realized that I wanted to see what happens this weekend before I settle on this woman as a tenant. So I told her that she can leave the security deposit on Monday, while never actually saying that I can still show the apartment to other people. Even though it’s common knowledge, I will admit that I didn’t remind her about that fact on purpose. I was hoping to find better tenants over the weekend before I settle on her.
I was happy that there were so many responses to the craigslist ad, much more than there were for when property Charlie was up for rent. The proximity to a major supermarket and the fact that it's on a bus line make people care a bit less about the cons of the neighborhood. I'll have to remember that when I go to buy my next property. Having Sindy in my back pocket made me feel good about the upcoming weekend's appointments. If things don't go well, at least I have Cindy to fall back on!
So that was Thursday. On to the crazy weekend...
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