FOR RENT

The tenants in one of our properties are splitting the sheets. They'll be gone by the first of June.

It's a nice house. 3 bedrooms. 1,900 square feet. The appliances were recently replaced.

It's often a pain being a landlord. There's always something to fix. Taxes, insurance, upkeep, landscape maintenance all bite into monthly rents.

Today we're having an open house to give anyone interested a chance to see this home. Beats going back and forth, one at a time with prospective renters.

Most people in this neck of the woods have pets, especially big dogs. They go with the pickup truck. A lot of people in Cow Town smoke. Our rule: No smokers, no pets. It's in the lease. Break it and you're history. Our rule also narrows the field of renters considerably.

We signed a lease with one renter which consented him to have a dog. They described him as old and docile - an outside dog. Sounded reasonable. Old and docile turned out to be middle age and vicious. No one could be in the backyard with this animal without being assaulted.

Once in a while we check in with each of our renters. The rental with the outside dog, when we visited, was always inside. We were hoodwinked! No more pets.

Here's hoping that we find a non-smoking, no pet person, on-time rent type who's a neat freak. They're the best!