Past the Skin

For a very long time, I’ve held a bias towards African American prospective tenants. After trying them out a couple times and ending in disasters, I decided to eliminate them completely when it came to options as a tenant. After I moved in Taniqua and Eugene into Property 3 earlier this year, my mind started to change. After paying late for a few months, they now pay rent on time.

On Saturday, I had a guy come in to check out Property X's vacant apartment. When I saw him, my old thoughts came back and I immediately disqualified him in my mind from getting the apartment. But then we started talking and… he was just cool as shit. He reminded me of the kind of dudes I liked to hang out with in Brooklyn. He’s been working at a restaurant chain for a couple years, and transferred to Smalltown’s restaurant location. His cons are that he just misses the salary requirement for the apartment by $100, and he currently lives with his mom in a bad area of Smalltown. While I can look past the $100 shortcoming, the Rent Out Guide points out that I should never rent a property out to someone coming from a bad area. So now I’m wrestling with what I should do. Should I give him a chance?

This rent-out period was supposed to be about me fixing the problems at Property 3 by finally choosing the right people and not taking shortcuts. But, considering the neighborhood and the scumbag autistic mongrels that live downstairs, wouldn’t Chris be perfect for that place? Signing him to a 6 month lease would be perfect, because I would have new tenants in the downstairs apartment by then, which would mean that I could determine whether he would mesh well with them. Tisha and her autistic animal son drove Mallory away, so having Chris there would definitely put my mind at ease. But is it worth the risk of him bringing people from the bad area of Smalltown over to Property X’s neighborhood?

I don’t know the answers to this problem yet. All I know is that I am considering Chris as a tenant, and that’s pretty interesting. I never thought I would consider African Americans as tenants, but here I am. Let’s be honest though. I will always look at race. Any investor who doesn’t take race into factor isn’t living in reality, and should get out of the business immediately. But to base a tenancy solely on race is just dumb, and I’ve done this for a long time. As an investor, it makes no sense because it gives me less options to choose from when it comes to tenants. I need more options, not less. It's like those landlords that refuse to rent out to dog owners. 60% of my tenants have pets, and they've worked out great. I guess it just shows that, as time goes on, I can always learn new things as long as I keep my mind open. So long as they meet the requirements detailed in the Rent Out Guide, they should have a chance.

Update 11/06/2014: Chris won't work out, as he hasn't provided landlord verification for his last known address. I made that mistake with Tisha, and I promised never to do that again.