Cheap Living Tips

• Reader Story: Rental Properties for the Average Joe

January 25, 2010 – I personally experienced one of the “rental horror stories” mentioned in this article. Although I had in the past worked for a rental management firm and my family had owned a few rentals over the years, my first attempt at owning rental property on my own was a disaster. I made a couple of mistakes that ended up costing me dearly. The first was letting a prospective tenant supply their own credit report, the second was not waiting until I had checked out their references thoroughly before allowing them to move in.

I ended up with an activist who belonged to something called a “renter’s coalition” who deliberately set traps in an effort to entrap me into violating their renter’s rights. While doing this they flagrantly caused damage to my property and violated health and safety standards in such a way that I was required to give them an eviction notice.
They counter-sued me and I ended up paying out thousands of dollars to see the end of them. Do be careful, there are people who are not nice and do not respond to your efforts to treat them with kindness or fairness.

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