Brad20K's post about 'moving them out',...reminded me of a situation I sometimes have to deal with during the winter months.

During the cold winter months, when quality rental prospects can be almost non-existent, do you think it is better to leave the rental house vacant until March or do you feel the urge to rent to a less qualified person just to have someone occupy the space and pay the power bill etc.,... knowing that you may have to evict this tenant in the summer time?

The thing that bothers me the most with vacancies is not the lost rent but the possibility that my vacant house will get hit by petty thieves looking for copper or anything metal. It has happened twice so far in the last 8 years but only if I have an extended vacancy.

Last January, I rented 2 houses to people who I had a gut feeling I would be evicting within 6 months. I evicted one in May and just filed on the other one. Yes, evictions are costly but getting your $3,200.00 Heat Pump ripped out of a vacant house can be even more costly. With a $3,000.00 insurance deductible, the cost of a theft is usually on me.

Roy,

The easy answer: try to fill units with quality renters during late Summer/early Fall.

You and I rent to a similar customer base, and I realize how tough it is to find someone decent who will pay the rent among all the goofs. I typically have between 15 - 40 interested parties...5 of which submit applications...1 of which gets approved. Sometimes that approval comes with a beefy security deposit (double the normal) and/or a co-signer who is ROCK SOLID (700+ credit score, no late pays, owns local real estate, income sufficient to pay their own expenses plus the tenants' rent).

But to the crux of your question, no I won't rent to someone who is bad just to avoid the expenses and potential theft. It's not as bad in my area as it sounds like in yours, but even if it were bad I think I'd prefer to spend $1000 or so to upgrade security: build a high chain link or privacy fence around that heat pump that makes it hard to see/access except with keys for your service pros.

The strategy I follow for deterring thieves is "out of sight, out of mind" and "make my place harder to rob than the one next door."

Would rather sit with a vacant unit than a bad Tenant. Also, I'm trying to make sure I "budget" enough of a cushion for more vacancies or any of the other "unexpected" expenses that seem to pop up in this business.

As I learned many years ago, "fail to plan, plan to fail."

There are:

1. bad tenants - multiple evictions, train wrecks, long stories, you'll know em when you see em, basically people who are not well adjusted and will probably never figure out how to fix their problems, little or no consistent income

2. mediocre tenants - poor credit, maybe a little criminal history, able to seek out and keep a job on a fairly regular basis.

3. good tenants - stable people in almost every sense.

Avoid the bad ones, ALWAYS

Get the good ones when times are good.

Fill in with the mediocre ones, if you need them.

Lower your prices if needed.

I have tried to hold out and only rent to the good tenants, even as vacancies mounted. This is a fool's folly. I was a fool. You need to move product, and keep vacancy at an acceptable level.

Having a mediocre tenant in place for the winter is smart business. You can always terminate them in the spring and find a better tenant.

Roy, What is this thing you speak of - "good tenant"?? :)

Me? Our goal to keep them filled. We rent houses year round, even Christmas Eve and New Year's Day.

Applicants are still the same year round, we approve approx 1 out of 10.

But in Jan the number of applicants slows and their move-in cash is short so that's why we sometimes offer a $99 Move In Special. Those $99ers work out the same as any other lease. Some pay and stay, some fall behind.

Last winter we let some slide in order to keep the heat on in the house during Jan/Feb. When we finally evicted in March we discovered they did NOT have the heat on! Not only did we lose rent but we lost pipes. They survived with $15 elec heaters in each room, which does not help warm the pipes under the floor, and used jugs of water from the neighbor.

FYI: Wirsbo pex has reduced my stress during polar vortex(s) (vortice?? vortecii??)

FYI: they will steal your heat pump from an occupied house. We hide ours with a plastic fence. Outta site outta mind.

I do not rent to BAD tenants at any time of the year! Okay?

What I was referring to was Mediocre tenants,...ones that have less than 3x rent, ones who claim they were unfairly evicted, ones who are self-employed and getting cash under the table, and any single male between the ages of 18-30.

Roy,

If it weren't for mediocre tenants I;d have no tenants at all!