There much discussion here that we should hold ourselves out as managers rather than owners to minimize issues with tenants. I'm not sure how much protection that yields. I'm a member of a FB group of PM's. There was recently a string about some of the craziest things tenants have done. Here's a representative sample of the comments:

" I had a resident try to strangle me because her rent increased seven dollars."

"Couldn't pay rent, mad for filing an eviction. 30 minutes before the office was scheduled to close for the day, bullets come flying through the windows, luckily missed my entire office staff of 6 due to us having a meeting in my office located in the back."

"Came after with me a bat accusing me of stealing stuff..."

"Came into my office with a jar of jalapeno juice, threw the juice at me then threw me up against the counter and started hitting me in the head with the jar..she ended up in a mental hospital."

" One hissed at me yesterday as she thru up her fingers like a cross as she walked by my office while I was doing a move in. When she came into my office later in the day I confronted her about it and she said she had to ward off the evil that is me"

G,

Yikes!

We work hard to keep our private lives private. No public office because I don't want to be trapped/boxed in.

99.999999% of our folks are great. But it only takes one to ruin your day...or worse.

LLs often forget about the circle of folks AROUND the resident, such as family, deadbeat boyfriends, their drug dealer, and of course all the applicants.

PS I do believe it's much worse than years past. Entitlement, media stirring folks up, rage against accountability...

sign of the times - glad I am getting old and will not have to deal with your declining, less civil society

the education institutions unions have been destroying schools for generations. No conflict resolution is experienced anymore.

In the "death of dirt roads" Charles Kuralt says that on dirt roads kids learned conflict resolution. On the way from the bus stop kids stop and play ball in a field and they themselves determine if the ball was fair or out or if he was tagged or not

by age 5 Kids now are taxied to fields of play overseen by referees in stripped shirts.

Careful screening helps prevent some of those tenant issues.

Not owning rentals in the slums would cut down on some of it.

I occassionally have someone get really irritated when they are rejected, but I don't do that in person. They seem to think that calling me a bad name is the way to get me to reconsider.

"I occassionally have someone get really irritated when they are rejected, but I don't do that in person. They seem to think that calling me a bad name is the way to get me to reconsider."

I would never reject to someone's face. I can't anyway, I don't have enough info about them yet. I have their self-reported pre-screening answers, but I don't do the full application until after they've seen the place in person and if they make it that far everyone gets a link to the online app.

If they go so far as to actually complete THAT *and* pay the $40 screening fee to the screening company, they usually are good. There's only a few that I've rejected based on criminal history or an evication they "forgot" to mention but I just don't respond to them. Ever again.

Had a tenants mother threatened to have me jumped/attacked once. I don't have a gun, but another tenant's bf had a "carry": permit , and would use the lingo around me of that he was "carrying". Hmmm carrying, ok new term to me but i remembered it and I responded to evil mom," Guess its a good thing Im carryin' then! " -It did make me consider getting protection, but i think just knowing the lingo may have thwarted that threat. Wow i think her daughter has been my worst tenant EVER. I mainly rented to her because 'she needed help getting away from an abusive relationship (so she said) well I firmly believe SHE was the abuser!

Here's the thing though---each of these people are with larger property management companies with offices and staffs. Even with that, they present a far bigger target, so presenting yourself as being part of something larger in and of itself isn't helpful. I'm not suggesting that reasonable precautions and professionalism aren't in order. And just because you're part of a larger company doesn't mean that mistakes can't be made such as stepping over the line in tenant relationships. Some of this may be attributable to those sorts of mistakes as well.

I agree Gkarl.

GreatOne,

Why go thru other steps but leave your name on public records?

Being manager is step one. It's easy and it's free. Don't let your pride get in the way of protecting your children.

Masking your name on public property records is easy if you know how. It's step two to protect your family.

BRAD

Brad, That's definitely something that I've thought about, over the years. I honestly wouldn't know where to begin to get my name off of the public records short of transferring the homes into a Trust. (Something I have begun.)

My "children" are grown-ish now, so it's less of an issue, and, thanks to a divorce, I no longer live at the address on record. (Neither do my kids)

Most of my homes have a PO box as the address,on public records, but I am certain some of the earlier ones do not.

Any advice?