Houston has had a few recent back-to-back murder-suicide incidents in the immediate aftermath of the terrible events at Virginia Tech. 

You might have heard about the event at NASA which got some national coverage.  But unless you live in Houston it’s unlikely that you heard about a second killing, in which a tenant who was on the verge of eviction killed the property manager at the apartment where he lived.

The second event was the one that really got my attention.

Stop for a moment and think back on how you thought about landlords before you became one.  From the point of view of the tenant, you, as a landlord, are in a position of enormous power and authority.  It may not feel like it at times - especially as you’re wrestling with taxes, eying interest rates, and dealing with contractors – but you are in control from the vantage point of the families who live in your houses.  You own the walls that surround them, the roof over their heads, and provide the shelter that keeps them safe.   

You invest in real estate in order to secure your financial future.  And if you’re like me then you’re into real estate because you enjoy negotiating, you like crawling around under houses, and you’re into making deals.  But in your rush to build equity and wealth don’t forget about the lives that you touch every day – meaning: don’t be cavalier with the influence that you wield. 

This is a reminder that being consistent, clear and fair with your tenants is a key to building good relationships.  And building good relationships is an important key to being a profitable buy-and-hold investor. 

But sometimes that isn't enough.  The one thing that all of these instances have in common is that the perpetrators were mentally ill.  Dr. Peter Marzuk, associate professor of psychiatry at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell points out some warning signs in a recent ABC news interview, including:

• Past history of violence
• Loneliness and social isolation
• Stalking and other antisocial or criminal behavior
• Paranoid behavior

Pre-screen your tenants well.   And even after you've done your due diligence trust your gut.  If you feel that you’re in danger then listen to your instincts.  As Malcolm Gladwell explains in his excellent book Blink, we sometimes know things even when we don’t know why we know them. 
 
Note:  The strange thing about this post is that I actually sat down with the intention of writing something funny to comply w/ Pat Kitano’s call for funny submissions for the upcoming Carnival of Real Estate.  But for some reason this is what came out.  Oh well; maybe I'll be able to write something funny tomorrow.  But to lighten it up a bit here’s a funny clip.  I’m told that I’ve been living under a rock and everyone in the universe has already seen this, but I just saw it yesterday and thought it was hilarious.