LANDLORDING AND THE ESPN SPORTS AUCTION

Hello everyone:
Thanks for stopping by Len Is Right. You are at the right place to clear your head of murky thoughts. Only clarity here as Len Is Right can only make you an ACCURATE thinker. Today, I'm going to discuss a few things and I'm going to stay as positive as possible, cause I don't want to drag anyone down into depression. Here goes:

LOSER TENANTS AND BEING A LANDLORD
I've owned a 2-family house since 1989. I moved out in 1997, and continued to rent out both halves. In all the time I've owned the house, I've run into all sorts of people. I've had tenants who were great, paid on time, took care of things, treated my house like it was theirs. I've also had tenants who were, for lack of a better term, scumbags. These would be people who were late on the rent every month, didn't mow the lawn or rake the leaves, as agreed to, or just blatantly destroyed stuff before they moved out.

These are some of the things you have to consider if you're going to own an income property. Another thing would be the hassle of finding new tenants. Screening people with a Tenant Questionairre is a must. You must get job info, past landlord info, and whether the prospective tenant likes it or not, bank account info. These days, you can't do enough to protect yourself. If a person is serious and is on the up and up, they won't mind giving you certain information to prove they are sincere and a good risk. It only takes a couple of times of getting burned my losers to learn the lesson.

Presently, I am trying to get rid of one of my tenants. She was an exemplary tenant for almost 1 year. Then, her ex-convict, formerly drunken husband gets out of jail, moves in without informing me and I find out he is very controlling. Now, she has changed and refuses to pay me for the last month's rent, saying she can use her Security Deposit, which violates her lease. My Tenant Agreements (leases) have always been on a month-to-month basis. This means that if one of us needs to make a change, you have to give thirty (30) days notice to the other person. I find this works better than a 1-year lease, because it seems to allow the tenant to lock-in for too long. The quicker that you can get them out, the better. While this may not be by the exact letter-of-the-law, it is usually acceptable to most people. As long as you come up with a plausible reason for them to leave, there is generally not a problem. Some people go out of their way to fight it. At that point you need to go through the expensive and time-consuming Eviction process. This is a pain in the butt, and usually gives them time to destroy your house. Once you get the police to show up, it ends quickly, but who wants to go through that? Now I have to decide whether to have the police remove her, or deal with her after she moves out in Small-Claims court and attempt to go on a campaign to sully her name at her workplace and anyplace else publicly where I can embarass her by telling people how she really is, OR I can take the High Road and chalk it up to experience and eat it. This is probably the way I'll go, because I can't let my life degenerate into those kinds of actions. If the apartment is left in bad shape or destroyed in any way, I'll just take her to court, and then have her husband sent back to jail for destruction of property.

Thus, it behooves you to do your homework beforehand when screening, although that's not a certainty because people can change and become losers overnight. Enough about that. On to something else.

THE ESPN JIMMY V AUCTION
Yesterday (July 12), ESPN held the 2nd annual Sports auction to benefit the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research. The items auctioned off were autographed sports items (footballs, helmets, jerseys, etc...) and awesome sports-themed experiences (tickets, tours, and meet and greets to Monday Night Football games, College football games, etc...). Most of these items were very high priced ($250-$25,000). However, you could just make a small donation to help the cause. All day on ESPN Radio the different programs were centered around the items and the cause. One of the things they said was that each and every one of us either has had cancer, has a family member, or has a friend or acquaintance who has been affected by cancer.

During the day, the hosts played a couple of clips from the famous goodbye speech made by Jim Valvano before he died. In it, he said that there are 3 things each of us should make sure to do every day. One, Laugh. We should all laugh each day. Two, Think. We should all spend some time in thought each day. Give yourself a few quiet minutes out of your busy day to spend in quiet thought. It doesn't matter what you think about. Love, life, business, spirituality, sports, likes, dislikes, friends, whatever. And finally, we should each allow our emotions to be moved to tears everyday. Laugh, Think, and Cry once per day. He said if you do that, you will surely experience a full life. In short, take the time to taste life and experience true feelings. For, what is life if you go through cold, bitter, and unaware? It is a waste.

Many of the hosts took calls from people who had been affected by cancer in certain ways, and were helped by charity, or friends and family, etc... A couple of times, the hosts went completely quiet on air as they tried to reign-in their own emotions, sometimes unsuccessfully. One took the time to apologize about it. But as I listened, I felt that he was only showing a human side. Too many times I've wondered how some radio and TV newsmen manage to not tear-up or even break down in tears over heartbreaking stories (certain 9-1-1 stories come to mind) that they report. It's a job that I don't know if I could do.

If you'd like to make a donation to the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research, just dial
1-800-4-JIMMY-V.

KEEP LIVING THAT LIFE
Thanks to all of you who make a positive difference in the lives of friends, family and those around you. Continue to experience your total range of emotions. Take a little time each day to remember someone close to you who has left the earth. Taste life. You only get one. Don't waste your time wallowing in despair, sorrow, hate, anger, and spite. Life on Earth is too short. Make a donation to charity once in a while. Experiment with food when you cook. Try to have fun with everything you do. Squeeze the juice out of the fruit of life. It's full and you can never deplete it, till it's time to go. And even then it rejuvenates for those still left alive. Get your piece, drink that juice, taste that LIFE, baby!!!

Why should you do this? BECAUSE LEN IS RIGHT!!!!!!
But you knew that.
I am,
Len Tollerton