Three Broke Felons - What to do?

[Miranda M.]

Hi all,

I recently closed on a house in Austin, TX for $1.2m but the appraisal came back at $1.9m. Why such a discount you ask? Because the place came with 5 unrelated tenants (room share) 3 of which are delinquent felons.

With COVID laws going out of effect on March 1st, I thought it would be easy to get these guys out but there's not a lot of debate around whether or not the laws should stay in place. I've already offered money to get them out but that's not something they want as they have criminal records so they wouldn't be able to find an apartment to lease regardless. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Miranda 

[Aaron Gordy]

@Miranda M. A person with a criminal record can find an apartment. They just need to chat with an apartment locator that knows the apartment communities that will work with their background. If they are broke then I think that they would be very interested in taking your offer, if they had a place to go. The unemployment rate is very low in the metro so I expect that they will be able to get a job fairly easily or probably already have one. I will need to qualify that a little bit more though. If their criminal record shows a violent or a sexual assault then it will be very tough for them to find a spot. A good apartment locator will be able to help you with this process. 

Best advice: hire a property management company that knows how to deal with it.