Congratulations Tman,

There are so few stories like yours out there today. Great job on collecting on a judgment from 1998!

Another good news story for landlords! Thanks for sharing!

Mon Apr 14 2008, 07:19

I must say Bruce, I would have never have thought that I would be able to help you out in any situation! Unfortunately I was playing fireman when I first stepped into the Property Manager role. I was forced to face this problem head on and I learned early the life cycle of the eviction, from judgement to cure!

After you win the judgement you have to record a writ of execution with the court you won it in. (About $10-$15 more dollars) Then forward the writ of execution, a copy of the move out condition report, copy of the lease, copy of the judgement, and a few other detailed pieces of paper to them and they will begin.


Call NTN and join their group! I'm sure you have heard of them, but have you ever used them? I currently pay $17.00 for background and Criminal searches for my tenants thru them! Here is the part you want to know, they have partnered with a collection agency who will ad a 20% collection fee and go after the tenants for your money. You can call them directly at 800-801-1371, I always speak with Linda, she's super helpful!

As for "collects judgements successfully"; that variable is dictated by the tenants ability to repay the judgement, otherwise I have a few cousins who are pretty effective, lol! :-)

Mon Apr 14 2008, 06:36

You need to go back to the court and ask for an Abstract of Judgement and a Writ of Execution. You can talk to an attorney on the proper ways to collect, but last time we did this, we attempted to attach this to the renters bank account, but they were overdrawn and the bank closed the account. I believe, and I may be incorrect, that if you file these two it places a personal lien on them which you can then attach to a car or something that they own so when they attempt to sell it this lien will pop up. You want to make sure that the lien goes on their credit report where it will sit for 7 years, so if they attempt to purchase a home, it will normally have to be paid off before they can obtain a mortgage. Good luck!! It's not that easy in TX to collect, but there are ways.....

Mon Apr 14 2008, 06:11

Contact a collection attorney you may have to give up 30% for your judgement but will make our life real esay.

Who was your attorney or did you handle this yourself I have 2 tenants I need to go after in court I don't have the time rather have an attorney. You can email 911@lynn911.com with your attorney's name. Thanks!

Mon Apr 14 2008, 06:01

Good post by Sandy ...

Getting the judgement is pretty easy ... getting the cake afterwords is the hard part..

We just received a large payment from the court from a renter case we had in 1998 ... he used his name in a business that just finished doing work for the county .. and all judgements must be paid before the county will pay the contractor ....

I would have loved to be there to see the look his face when they only gave him 60% of that $20,000 check .l.o.l.. ... patience - and pure luck.!



: ^)

Mon Apr 14 2008, 05:35

Good luck collecting on the judgment. I know a handle full of landlords that have gone to court and gotten deficiency eviction judgments on tenants, only to never see the money. They have ranged from $700 to $55,000 (the tenant set the landlord's house on fire to get rid of her live in boyfriend)..

They are very difficult to collect on unless the tenant goes to purchase a home and the judgment must be paid in order to get the mortgage.

Thus, these landlords no longer take the time to bother getting the useless judgments.

My thoughts are...if the tenant didn't have the money to pay the rent and keep the roof over their head, how and why are they going to have the money to pay off the judgment? They usually don't.

Good luck. I hope you are able to get the monies owed you!

Mon Apr 14 2008, 03:43