Sounds weird, right? But I always feel like a tenant with a claw hammer can do FAR more than $250 worth of damage in the last 3 minutes in a home, and that while this is not satisfying emotionally for me, it’s far better financially. With a promise of $250 he has to decide which would give him more pleasure: some gas and motel money, or the satisfaction of destroying the home.
Of course, before I hand over the cash, I require my manager to walk through the home to ensure it’s empty and in good condition, and that the tenant has handed over the keys.
Any experience with this? Any other way of handling it? Thoughts?
We do the same thing. You have to decide in each case what’s best financially, and often it’s to pay the tenant to get out fast and without causing damage. Some park owners feel that this concept is immoral – paying someone to leave who already owes you money. But if you are trying to maximize the park’s income, you are often better off to pay the bad tenant to leave, rather than spend the same amount of money in legal fees and court costs, only to delay the process 30 to 60 days and have then tear your house apart for fun. The only one who sometimes benefits from the eviction process is the attorney.
How much are you willing to pay to get tenants to leave.
When word gets around that you pay people to leave they will start telling you how much they want. Guaranteed they will attempt to extort more than $250. The likelihood is that once that starts you will have little choice but to pay what they demand or face serious damage to the home.