My (Prospective) Tenant is on Life Support!
I ran into a friend of mine recently who helps manage a very large portfolio of rental properties. She always has the funniest stories to tell, and I just had to pass this one on.
They had an ad running for a rental property in a nice area of town. It was a typical 3 bedroom bread and butter house and there had been a lot of interest on this particular property. She said that until just before closing, she had the usual run of the mill tenant applications.
Then at the very last minute before closing, a lady ran into the office waving cash and said she had to put in her application today. She told the property manager that she was going to have to move quickly as she currently lived in a two story house with the bedrooms on the second floor. The applicant said this house was in the right location, and she reiterated that needed at least one first floor bedroom. She said this house would be perfect!
The prospective tenant began filling out the application and when it was complete my, friend looked over everything noting that the income given was for her and her husband. Wanting to get as much information as possible, she asked her why she needed to move so quickly. This nice lady said that, “Her husband would be off life support any day now, and when he came home from the hospital he was going to need a first floor bedroom that would accommodate his hospital bed he would need for his long recovery”.
After my friend recovered from the shock of hearing he was currently in ICU on life support, she gently asked the applicant what she would do if by some chance he didn’t recover. The tenant said she was sure he was going to recover but it might take some time. She just needed a house with a first floor bedroom. My friend pointed out that she didn’t have sufficient income by herself to rent the property.
So how did they leave it?
My friend the property manager told her to see if she could find a co-signer and get back with her. She never heard back from the lady so we really don’t know what happened.
Wow, that’s a sad situation. But it makes sense that you need to rent to someone who can pay. I suspect she probably found another home to rent – hopefully it works out for her and her husband (and the landlord).
I hope so too Mike. At the end of the day, you have to have a tenant that can pay the rent so that you can pay for the house. It would be much worse to let them move in (knowing that they couldn’t pay) and then have to evict them. No one wants to do that.