• http://www.investorsclassifieds.com Ken Spohn

  Patrick/Dusty

  I thought of another one.
  This one almost had me fooled and very cleaver. But the judge did fall for it. I guess 30 yrs on the bench will do that.
  Tenant was 3 days late. When I called him and sent him a notice. He faxed me back a copy of his check and a FEDEX receipt going to my mailBox. Where is a live person there to sign for it. Never showed up. I called him again he said he was out of town and would be back in a couple of days. Well on the 15th I automatically turn it over to my Attorney.
  What he had done is change the date on the Fedex receipt then faxed it. Couldn’t see the changes and I never check the tracking number.
  The judge asked him for the original. He gave the judge a faxed copy. The judge said this for real “I ain’t buying your bullshit where is the original?!”. We’ll you can guess what happened next. Yes, evection!
  .-= Ken Spohn´s last blog ..Are you aware-right now-there’s a major shift going on in Real Estate Business =-.

• http://www.byronwatts.com Byron

  I can’t pay you because I don’t have any money….

  …only problem is this particular tenant made a down payment on another property for $5,000 at the same time he didn’t have any money to pay his lease obligations with me.

  Thoughts anyone?
  Byron

• http://shortsaletech.com Don

  Yeah I have heard them all to 17 years of it.
  1) my dog eat it

• http://shortsaletech.com Don

  my dog eat it, my wife ran of with it,i didn’t get paid this week, i lost my wALLET,MY CAR GOT STOLEN AND THE MONEY WAS IN THERE,Oh yeah i sent it 2 days ago and it was returned so i tought you didnt want it,my baby got sick, Listen folks, your in a bussinees here if you don’t pay your bill then who will stop putting up with the crap it only takes 5 min to send out a letter to evic, some one and if you check your home town you will find a company that does this stuff for you, Don’t tell the tenants its ok to be late file the forms evic, them and move on then they will know you mean bussiness ( PS in my 20 page lease it shows if your late 2 times its auto,madtic Eviction if we file you must pay all late fee;s and court cost and you must stay current for the term of lease if not it will apply to credit report ) So go back to your leases and think about what all tenants come up with and add a claws for it, and then when you go to court the next time watch what the judge does it can be a lot of fun you see because if you make me go to court they will pay me for it and yes i do send them a bill for it. Thanks and good luck you will need it.

• Patrick Riddle

  Ken …

  WOW! that tenant really went out of his way. That’s pretty bold standing in front of a judge and lying to his face. But, you got the eviction done. It’s just a pain to have to go through all that.

  Byron, good luck on this one man …

  You could file a judgment against the tenant but chances are you won’t ever get paid back. My suggestion would be to move on and do your best to put a better tenant in next time.

  Don,

  Thanks for the tips. Sounds like you’ve heard them all … and, you’re obviously still at it.

  For any newbies out there, don’t let these little tenant stories scare you too much. Yes, you do have to deal with some BS but the advantages are well worth it!

  ~ Patrick

• http://www.RealEstateInvestorGirl.com Kathleen Couch

  I was told they could not afford to pay it on time because they had to make a direct TV payment.

  Another lease option tenant of a mobile home told me they would not be paying off the amount promised, because when they got their social security disability settlement they decided to buy a wide screen TV and a brand new car. I was too nice and made a new agreement with them, but they started to never get caught up, and had to move.

  Both cases, they think it is more important to have the best in TV entertainment, than have a shelter for them and their TV.
  .-= Kathleen Couch´s last blog ..Incorrect Reporting by Banks on Short Sales =-.

• Leasa B

  My latest tenant just didn’t pay. I called the “mother” and she stated that my tenant was in jail and couldn’t pick up her paycheck..hmmm Boy can I pick em! I did get my rent and the late fee a week later.

• Mike Jones

  “I didn’t pay you because you didn’t fix the broken door I forgot to tell you about.”
  What door is broken?
  “The hall closet door.”
  How did it break?
  “My son was swinging on it and it came off the hinges.”
  You do know that that is not normal wear and tear but actual damage. It’s going to cost you to replace the door. Would you like me to fix it?
  “Yes, please fix it and take the cost out of my rent.”

  Really? How much crack do these people smoke??? Oye. Thankfully they’re gone.

• http://www.we-buy-property.info Dave Ravnikar

  Patrick, great blog topic! We are going to have some fun with this one. I can only imagine all the bizarre stories you are hearing. Isn’t it amazing what someone’s credit history indicates with regard to their behavioral patterns and tendencies?!? They should cover this in Psych 101 class..

  Here’s one for you. Over a year ago, one of my tenants in a duplex back in Pittsburgh came with this excuse. They had signed the lease months prior stating a payment due date of the 1st of the month. About 4 months later they came with partial payment on the 15th with the rest on the 3rd week. When I asked what the problem was I received a response of “you know, its the date rent is due. We’d really like to change it to the 15th and we could let you know if we need to change it again. You know we could give you a heads up.” WHAT? I promptly reminded them that I am the owner and they signed a lease promising payment on a fixed date (and this aint Burger King – “your way, right away”) It was also mentioned that I have a mortgage to pay that’s due the same time each month. So, I instituted a late fee and within 6 mos they proved to be incompetent tenants. Let’s just say they no longer reside @my property!

• Patrick Riddle

  Kathleen … That’s amazing! Gotta have that TV … hahaha … ridiculous!

  Leasa … unfortunately, I’ve gotten that one before as well. At least you got the rent … love those late fees too :)

  Mike, that’s almost seems like a comedy routine … good one!

  Yo Dave …. what’s happening man? I like your “this ain’t Burger King” comment …

  Ya’ll check out these responses on twitter …

  http://www.twitter.com/stevenleconte tweeted, “I have a good one: The tenant said that he didn’t sleep at home much during that month. Lolllllll”

  http://www.twitter.com/RealEst_Barron tweeted, “What’s the most ridiculous excuse a tenant has given 4 not having rent?~bc the check comes out of Japan & plane crashed.”

  … That’s one of my favs so far … it was mailed from Japan and the plane crashed … there’s no way I could have held a straight face on that one :)

  Keep ‘em coming guys …

  ~ Patrick

• Nathan Kling

  “Uh…we ain’t got the rest of the rent ’cause we had buy some schoolkids for the clothes.”

• http://www.mustknowinvesting.com Dusty Keefe

  Hey guys!

  Just remembered another one. We didn’t receive rent for awhile on one of our properties, with no returned phone calls, so I went by there to see if it was vacant. All their stuff was there but no tenants so I decided to call her mother off of her “emergency contacts” portion of their original rental application (if we don’t receive your rent…it’s a Serious Emergency!! Lol). Her mother informed us that she was stuck in Mexico and couldn’t get home to pay the rent. The mother ended up bringing it current. I don’t know if she ever made if home though (or if she was ever really stuck in Mexico in the first place) b/c the next month we had to evict her and put all her stuff on the curb…sad but true.

  Anyway, had fun shooting the video. Actually, it was 2 parts painful, one part humorous : )

  Keep the comments coming guys!

  Happy Investing!

  Dusty Keefe

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Who's Behind Must Know Investing?

Patrick Riddle:
Patrick grew up in Lexington, South Carolina. Went to Clemson University for several years studying civil engineering and wound up doing real estate investing in Charleston, SC.
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