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Being a landlord gives an initial aura of being different than other businesses.  I believe this is because your product is an intangible.  You’re not selling an item like a store.  You’re selling a service, but even that is different than most services.  It’s not like you are an electrician or plumber where you come in, perform a service and get paid.  As landlords the service we provide is a properly maintained housing unit. 

The service we provide forces us to have a different relationship with our customers than a plumber would have with their customers.  Our business relationship with our customers can last for multiple years.  We can see marriages happen, children being born, growing up, etc.  We have a view into intimate happenings.

On a personal note, I will say that I believe that if you are a good person, and treat people well, you will be treated well and have a good life.  You can call it living by the golden rule, karma, whatever you want.  My point is that it is how I live my life and it flows through to my business practices.

As a landlord, especially a new landlord, it can be hard to realize that there needs to be a line drawn between the tenant and you.  This is a business and it nes to be treated as such.  This isn’t charity, it isn’t a helping hand, it is a business.

When it comes to landlording it may seem that those two points conflict but I don’t believe so.  I give everyone a fair shake when i deal with them.  I don’t take advantage of anyone and I don’t expect to be taken advantage of.  If a tenant doesn’t pay me I see it as being taken advantage of.  I live up to my end of the deal by taking care of any issues that arise and providing good, sound housing.  They need to live up to their end by paying on time and taking care of the property.

What goes around comes around.

This article is a very good reason why you should not mix relationships.

Business is business.  Personal is personal.  Listen to the godfather on this one, “It’s nothing personal Sonny, it’s all business.”

Obviously this situation ended as poorly as it could have but there were so many chances taken here.  First, legally, if she was his tenant and he was giving her a rent reduction for a relationship I can smell harassment, prostitution, etc all over the place.  The landlord would have been in a pickle if she decided to take some type of legal action. 

Landlording is a business people.  We need to treat it as such.  Landlord, tenant and girlfriend/boyfriend should not be in the same sentence.

Woman held in stabbing death of boyfriend

Chicago police this morning were investigating a stabbing death on the Far Northwest Side that resulted from a dispute between a 54-year-old landlord and a tenant of his building who also was his girlfriend.

Officers were called to the apartment building in the 6400 block of West Touhy Avenue at about 12:30 a.m., police said.

Police arrived to find Fred Khoshaba, the owner of the building, dead on the floor of his girlfriend’s apartment there, bleeding from a stab wound to the neck. A 49-year-old woman was arrested and charges are pending, said Police Officer Laura Kubiak.

According to Kubiak, the woman pulled a knife during a possibly domestic-related argument in which she ordered her boyfriend to leave her residence. When he refused, a struggle ensued, with the victim reportedly grabbing the woman’s arms and shaking them, apparently causing the knife to plunge into Koshaba neck, according to Kubiak.
A cousin of the dead man said the woman called police and told them Khoshaba had stabbed himself in the neck as they argued.

"I will never believe that," Wissan Zala told WGN-TV Ch. 9. "He would never hurt himself."

Zala said his cousin had four children, was in the process of a divorce and was having financial problems due to the difficult real estate market.

     Having rental properties is having a business and dealing with customers is something you cannot avoid if you want to have a business.  Landlords who don’t take the time to learn how to deal with tenants properly can get into some unwanted trouble pretty quickly.  You have to be able to keep a cool head no matter how the tenant approaches you.  There are too many things that are open to interpretation when it comes to landlording.  For example if the water needs to be shut off or the heat goes out in the winter, a landlords "reasonable" time.  For example, reasonable to me would be to talk to one or two repair-men and have them come out as soon as possible.  If it seems that all technicians will take 3 days to repair, 3 days seems to be a reasonable timeframe.  However to someone living without heat or running water, 3 days could easily be too long.  This is where good customer service skills can come into play.

     One key way to ensure you keep good tenants for a long time is to not forget they are your customers.  Taking care of issues quickly and to their satisfaction is important.  Give them good customer service and they will stay longer and refer you to friends who may be looking for a place to live.

     An update to the article I posted Monday.  The fake landlord has been charged with 20 counts of submitting fake warranty claims.  From what I have read and heard, nothing about ripping off the people looking for places to rent.

Article and video below.

Rental rip-offs suspect faces judge, new victim talks
Reported by: Jesse Chavez

WEST PALM BEACH, FL — He’s the suspected ring leader in what authorities call one of the biggest mortgage fraud cases in Palm Beach County history.

Carl Heflin faced a judge on a day when another one of his alleged victims came forward.

"Court is now in session. The honorable judge Ted Boors presiding," said a bailiff.

Heflin, a former West Palm Beach cop, is now on the wrong side of the law.

In court this morning, he faced 30 counts of fraud, burglary and grand theft.

Sheriff’s detectives arrested Heflin yesterday, saying he submitted fake warranty deed forms.

Heflin reportedly claimed he owned 20 homes in the Westgate and Belvedere areas of West Palm Beach.

Julio Elvir learned from us that Heflin claimed to own and live in a house on 2328 Beech Road.

Elvir and the bank are the actual owners.

"Oh! I’m surprised because I never expected something like this," said Elvir. "I thought the bank had already taken possession of the property. But, last July, I went there and noticed two men living there."

Two weeks ago, we caught the suspected scammers, Heflin’s associates, on camera, trying to rent a home they did not own.

It’s located on Wabasso and Oswego.

"I’m the landlord," said one of the men who did not give his name.

"We’re the property managers," said a female associate. "

"Why are you asking me questions?" ask the man.

"Because I’m a reporter," said NewsChannel 5’s Jesse Chavez. "That’s what I do for a living."

One of the associates is George Chambers.

He claimed to be renting Elvir’s house from Heflin since last July.

You can hear dogs barking inside, even though it’s supposed to be empty.

"It’s the first time this has happened to me," said Elvir. "I’m happy to hear that he has been captured. What he was doing was wrong."

A neighbor says a woman, possibly Heflin’s wife, still lives in the home… at least for the time being.

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     If you peruse the blog you know that from time to time I jump on to Yahoo! Answers to pass around some knowledge.  I’ll say that most of what gets posted there is a load of junk.  It’s a shame because for some people who don’t know how to use the Internet or search engines real well it is their only place online to find answers.

     I once got into a heated discussion with someone on the site who gave bad information.  This woman was touting herself as a real estate expert and was giving landlord/tenant advice in absolutes with no knowledge of the area of the questioner.  Personally I think everyone who gets into landlording or real estate investment learns early on that all real estate is locally driven.  This is true in prices and this is true in landlord/tenant law.  The only absolutes you can quote about landlord tenant law are federally mandated items such as the equal housing laws, lead paint disclosures, etc.  Items such as what rights a tenant has if the landlord goes into foreclosure are all locally driven at the state and municipal level.  You cannot speak in absolutes on this unless you know the location.

     OK, off my rant about the ignorant posting as experts.  There have been a lot of questions lately about what rights a tenant has when a landlord goes into foreclosure.  A lot of the questions have to do with can the tenant stop paying rent.  My general answer is that the tenant can do whatever they want.  It’s a free country.  What can they do legally is a whole different ball game.  In most jurisdictions the legal answer is that you must continue to pay rent.  You have a legal binding contract.  You never know what the outcome of a foreclosure filing is going to be.  There are three possible situations in this:

1. Property has a short sale completed.   
   • In this scenario a lack pf payment by the tenant could cause an eviction.  If the new owner is an investor they may not want a tenant who stops paying, for any reason.
2. Landlord makes arrangement with the bank to keep the property.     
   • Again, an eviction is likely here.  The landlord isn’t going to want you in the property when you stopped paying rent.
3. Bank takes the property back.     
   • Your lease used to be voided but the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009 changed all that.  Some states have stricter laws than what the federally mandated minimums require.  There is a PDF at the end of this post listing each states laws.  If the state has stricter laws than the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009 then they stay in effect.   

     One sure fire thing is that if a tenant does get an eviction on their record other landlords will treat then as a pariah.  No one will want to rent to them anymore.  Play it safe and know your rights. 

     I found a listing of tenant rights by state.  Check it out, it has a lot of good information on your rights if you are a tenant facing foreclosure.   Tenant Rights in Foreclosure

     I’ll be posting on the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009 and my views on it shortly.