Landlord Killed Collecting Rent… and a personal close call

This shouldn’t be a headline you EVER read, but it just happened in Ohio.  He was shot and then they tried to burn his body in a garage to cover up the crime.  (Click Here for the story)

Now before you jump to conclusions about the neighborhood or his attackers or anything else, realize that this could happen to ANY one of us in ANY neighborhood at any time.

Let me share a story that hits super close to home for me.  Tim & I used to own some duplexes (duplii?) in a part of town that really wasn’t that bad (let’s say it was bad-adjacent).  We bought them from an investor in his 70’s, but he kept some.  One day he was working in one of his vacant units getting it ready and was attacked.  They think it might have been a gang initiation.  His handyman happened to drive by and saw the front door cracked open and luckily found him still alive but barely.  He was in intensive care for weeks.  One of my units was 2 doors down from his and another was one street over.  I went to my properties all the time, often alone.  I didn’t keep those properties long after that happened.  (I also was at one of my vacant units assessing damage after a door was kicked in and my appliances stolen when I was trying to figure out what kind of oil-slick was in the carport concrete floor when the neighbor came over and said “oh, that’s my blood from when I got pistol-whipped and they drug me over here”).

What can you do?  Get training, be alert, and don’t go places where you might be “asking” for trouble.  I know investors that say “I carry a gun, I’ll go anywhere” but any TRUE expert on self-defense would tell you to now go there.  A CCW permit is NOT a shield that will protect you, and you might not realize you’re in trouble until it’s too late.

Follow SaferAgent for tips, or bring us to your office or association for a training session!