Quote:
Originally Posted by TiltonBB
A friend bought a nice single family home but there were renters (well, tenants who didn't pay) still living there. He stopped by the house and told them he had bought the house and they needed to leave. They laughed at him so the next day he hired a lawyer.
The lawyer told him to offer them $5,000 to leave. He said "You didn't understand me. I now own the house" The lawyer said yes, I understand you but if you want to move into the house in the near future go pay the "tenant" (It usually takes about 4 months to get rid of deadbeat tenants and you never collect the back rent.)
He did, and they left.
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I am a business and real estate lawyer and I have given similar advice before. Evictions are messy and expensive (though less than $5,000), a related issue is that a bad tenant will trash your place before they leave. You may have a security deposit, but that won't cover the damage and going after a dead-beat tenant for cash (if they had money, they'd pay the rent) is useless. Better to pay them to go away and not trash the place. Most folks pay if they can, a few, are just plain deadbeats. Pay the tenant to go away, often cheaper than the lawyer.