What The Pizza Man Knows That You Don’t
A couple of years ago, I had a friend who had sold his home in Des Moines on contract.
Needless to say, the tenants quit paying and let the place go to crap. He was a pushover landlord and always bought into the story “we are broke because….” and always extended contract payments and did all the hand-holding crap.
He had tried for months to get in contact with them and have them served legal papers to foreclose on the contract. Because they were never home, he suspected they had moved out.
What options did he have? The first option was that he could spend more money on the legal system since they had vacated the premises. The problem was that these were professional tenant types, schooled in how to prolong the issue as long as possible.
He sat down with me one day to share his story. I listened for awhile, but came up with a great idea to solve his problem.
I said, “If you are so worried about finding the tenants, why don’t you just call the pizza man?”
Puzzled, my friend asked, ” What does the pizza man have to do with it?”
So my advice is as follows-
Most tenants stay on the same side of town due to jobs, family, etc…
So why not call the local pizza company to see where they live?
With this, I asked for the tenants phone number. Next I dialed the pizza company and waited for the magic to begin.
” Thank you for calling _____Pizza, will this be delivery or carry out?”
Jason-”Delivery.”
“Phone number, please.”
Jason-”555-6666″ (tenants number)
” Do you still live at 555 Park Ave apt 45?”
Jason-”Yes, however I no longer want pizza, thank you.”
Then I hung up.
Since that address wasn’t the address of the contract home they were delinquent on, I assumed that was their new address. BINGO!
Well, that night they got served and needless to say, they were surprised how we found them.
The pizza man knows where your tenant lives.
Do you have any funny stories about tracking tenants down? Don’t just sit back, we need your help. Leave it in the comments below!
