If you are one of those landlords that preaches " I only want applicants that have garnishable W-2 income",...which includes people who flip burgers at McDonalds or work at Walmart etc.

Lets get real here: Are you saying that you would rather rent to an hourly paid (W-2) service worker that has to work 'over-time' to net $2,000/month as opposed to an applicant who sits at home collecting $2,000/month in guaranteed disability income?

My second question: Are you really going to garnish the income of someone who only makes $8.00 -$12.00/hour ???

They most likely won't pass other screening anyway.

WMH,

Amount of income (3X) min. is important, but how stable is that income is even more important. Entitlement income is usually fairly stable and this is the reason I still accept Section 8 tenants.

Roy. First the income needs to be 3X's the rent. Yes I for one am saying YES to first question. Won't take anyone on SSI.

#2 The amount you can take of some ones salary is state regulated. Some checks aren't big enough to take funds. Others like this upcoming bonus check season may be. Ya never know when.

Roy we don't do 8 or ssi or retiree's.

Roy gotta ask-- don't you think that Wally world worker in 5 to 7 years will be making more than 12 hr? Time is on our side. We're collecting from past tenants from 5 to 8 years ago. The gift that keeps giving.

MYOB,

I have an active garnishement right now on a person making $13/hour. So yes, I garnish them. $50/month is beer money.

$12/hr * 160 hours a month = $1920. So they can meet the baseline qualification for a $640. But, that's the MINIMUM.

Income below 3x rent means an auto-fail. It does NOT mean auto-qualify. I have been clear on that in the past. There's more to the story: this is simply a starting point.

Next, we look at the credit report. I ignore the meaningless credit score, and look at how they handle their financial obligations.

I would rather rent to someone who makes 3x the monthly rent and has no debt than someone who makes 6x the monthly income and has a 60% debt-to-income ratio. The first person may not be the highest income earner, but they have good discipline and control of the resources they do have vs. the second person who sees a dollar coming in next week and spends two dollars they don't have today.

Roy I don't want titles to crappy trucks or cars-- I want the $ from their pay check. I already have what you describe. Liens big deal!

Roy I never said what your doing or how your doing it is wrong. 8 and ssi people just don't have cars I want title too. You want to do it that's your way -- wish you luck. I've tried many time to explain the pyramiding effect over years of tenants-JUST FROM ONE HOUSE. It's amazing. Once the flow starts coming in-- yes it takes years to get there but imagine as one comes off the top. (One being someone that's paid off the garnishment) there may be 2 or 3 more just jumping on board that you have just located. 25% collection fee and 15% on debt.

Jeffrey,

Do you chase deadbeats to the fullest extent of the law? Inquiring minds want to know.

Roy,

You make some good points. I do t want to garnish wages period so I don't rent to the folks making minimum wage at McDonalds or other such jobs. How do I avoid this? I don't rent low income housing.

That being said you have to look at the overall picture/situation. I currently have an older couple who lives entirely off a military disability pension and social security disability. The woman could work but chooses not to and they make sure to live beneath their means because of this. My income requirement is 3.5 times the monthly rent amount. Their income is $4000 a month. House rents for $780. They were at their last rental 7 years and only moved because it was sold which I verified. Neither of them has many teeth but they are great tenants which I can not garnish.

Also have an retiree living off a pension and social security income, similar to the above. Perfect tenant.

I once inherited a pair who worked at Taco Bell and Duncan Donuts. Three kids, pit bulls and lots of guns. Tried working with them and they were out in three months leaving their junk, to include their financed junk car behind. Pretty much knew that was coming as I wouldn't have chosen to rent to them. But they are likely the reason I was able to get such a deal on the house from the previous landlord.

Lisa,

I love the way you spelled 'Duncan Donuts'. I am about to rent to my 2nd Section 8 tenant only because we have a good Section 8 coordinator here.

Roy in most cases, the residents who are evicted, they do not have large debts beyond the deposits we are holding. I used to not pursue those debts beyond putting their debt on all 3 credit reports.

Then I was challenged by Cynthia Schmidt at a Mr Landlord Convention (as many other landlords were) several years ago to get more of the money owed. At that point I started more aggressively doing garnishments. However, I admit I had not taken the effort to make it part of my systematic procedures, and have been guilty of not chasing all deadbeats to the fullest extent.

However, like Jasper (OH) I am continually encouraged by myob's post, and I am slowly but surely developing and adapting my procedures in this area and assigning someone to the tasks to make it become something that is consistently pursued.

Texas isn't garnishable. However, if I go through the cost and effort of formally evicting someone, and I get a judgment against them, supposedly I'm able to take my judgment to the bank 30 days later and get their account swept... I'm going to find out.

That said, I like retirees. They're quiet, their children are grown, their lives are relatively stable, and they're not susceptible to all the drama of younger people.

The bad part, of course, is that they're very fixed-income. They've got $x coming in, and they know how to live on $x, but they're not at the stage of life where they're saving in hopes of something else happening. (Well, technically, only a few of my tenants are in savings-mode...)

So if something happens that disrupts their income, it can shatter them pretty quickly-- because they're not conveniently able to go grab a second job, or pick up more hours at their first job, etc, to make up the difference.

So, for example, I had a nice retired couple. He used to be a commercial truck driver, so in theory, he could have used his CDL to make up the difference, like something short-haul, or oilfields-related, or maybe an easy route like OKC-Dallas. But because he was older, people don't want to hire a 70-something-yo trucker-- he said.

When I rent out a prime "A" or "B" class property, I only accept applicants that have a proven track record with a long term job history and savings.

On the other hand, on my "C" class properties, this is a completely other situation. I'm glad to get people whom have little debt, owe under 10 grand on their vehicle and maybe have a couple of thousand in the bank with a FICO score above 670.

In the later case, I don't waste my time trying to collect on a debt after an eviction. If someone would rather be kicked out of an sound apartment to live in the streets -- there's little chance of debt collection within the next decade. I'll renew my judgement and with luck, every year give it a review to see if the person has changed their situation and the debt is collectible.

Out of my last 100 judgments against evicted tenants, less than 5% end in satisfaction of the debt.

What about retirees? No W2 income but they could very well have a stable source of income and meet or exceed income requirements.

It's all on a case by case application for me. I never try to paint myself in a box and say never.

So, yes, I would if they fit the criteria. 3X rent, good LL references, pass in home inspection, and have a clean case net, for Mo.

We invest in people.

I pose this question: you lease a 30,000 car--- after using it for 9 out of the 12 month lease-- you now want a different one! sooooooo you drive up to the leasing company-- don't leave the keys -- tires are shot (I do mean shot) rims busted-- interior ragged out-- engine been run with no oil for last 10K miles.

What does the leasing company say--- OH Roy or Lisa or Robert it's OK go on your merry way------ go down the street and lease another from XYZ. (unsuspecting company)

We are leasing out 100K homes-- usually for only 900 or 1K security. Heck even the leasing car companies get 3 or 4 K up front for that 30K car.

Deanne after 30 days its cash account time--- R U serious that's fantastic. We have something similar in GA but only if the owner of the company fails to garnish. We go down and lock off his business checking account. Doesn't take long for them to see the light.

Jeffery thank you and others for your comments. I don't want to take over conversations and get so involved. I sometimes (all the time) get on a binge. Especially when I see things that have also happened to me in my daily office round up.

MYOB,

One thing about the car lease (and I too like that analogy, btw!)....leasing companies will check out a person more thoroughly than most land lords.

Saw something on YouTube awhile back where a couple made a game out of renting VERY NICE homes, not paying a dime, trashing them, and then moving on. They were evicted 14+ times and STILL found other 'trusting' land lords who didn't check them out.

Google this phrase and you can watch it. Unbelievable!

"Serial Squatters' Cost Homeowners Thousands"

If you are a tenant why are you leasing a $30,000 car? Unless you live in a major urban area where well off professionals are more likely to rent than purchase a home, who can afford a huge lease payment plus rent plus living expenses? In my area if you can buy a house you do. Often much cheaper than renting.

Roy,

I keyed in on yoru words in the original post. The disablity income is guaranteed...to the recipient, not to me.

Without super sophisticated methods there is no way for me to get those unpaid funds.

Even if the person says "Your Honor, I'll pay $2 per month" the judge cannot write it down.

And like I've said before, once they have ANY little financial hitch (illness, medicine, car repair, funeral...) they have no way of catching up.

BRAD

PS

We're bringing in THOUSAND$$$ every month from old judgments created back when we "worked with" people.