It isn't a large part of my business, but I do about 20 residential evictions every year. I get my best stories from evictions (like the time a tenant locked herself in her bedroom with the landlord's laptop and then called the police to tell them she had done it and that she had only stolen it temporarily to get the landlord to negotiate an extension of the lease, and the time my client found a stolen deputy sheriff's uniform, badge and gun in the home after it required a constable with several armed people to get the tenant out of the house). I also get most of my aggravating situations from evictions (much of the rest of what I do isn't aggravating).

I believe it is my job to act in my clients' best interest, but I don't believe that always means being as aggressive as possible. Some times I make less money myself, but I do the greatest good for my client by working out payment arrangements and settlement agreements that keep people in the home/apartment they are renting.

I have noticed a couple of things over the years that is very common behavior on the part of people in debt:

1. They stop talking to the person they owe. I get not answering every daily phone call from an abusive collection agency. But avoiding a creditor/landlord who would be patient or willing to work with you is shooting yourself in the foot. I'd say well in excess of 90% of the landlords I represent don't go through with an eviction until they have been far too patient and they've been taken advantage of. And they are almost always hurting themselves because they need the rent payment to pay the mortgage on the place that is being rented out.

2. When they do talk to the landlord/creditor they try to stall the inevitable and they make promises they will only be able to keep if everything works out perfectly for them. Most of the time they'd be better off being realistic and trying to get the landlord/creditor to work with them on the basis of reality.

3. If they do continue to communicate, they become belligerent. They think by being pushy they can intimidate people into caving in to what they want. And they probably have some success with this tactic from time to time so it only encourages them further.

4. When a lawsuit is coming, they do everything they can to avoid getting served. This forces creditors to spend more money to either have someone track them down or file a motion for alternative service with the court. If you do this, you only tick people off and harden their resolve to get everything they can out of you.

I'm currently working on an eviction of someone who the landlord didn't even know was in the home. The actual tenant picked up and left. Apparently, without approval as required by the lease, the tenant who just left decided to sublease a room in the home. The unauthorized subtenant has sent a barrage of nasty texts to the homeowner, has posted on Facebook that she is being evicted illegally and is doing everything she can to avoid receiving service.

After I get people out of the home/apartment, I have an honest conversation with the owner where I explain the difficulties in collecting the money that is owed and the fact that the owner will continue to pay me (or someone else) to try to track down the money without a guarantee of getting it. There are tools that are available and it absolutely can work out that people get enough money to make it worth it. But there are no guarantees. Anyway, a good percentage of people decide just to move and not pursue collection.

However, if you are belligerent, you avoid service and you drag the process out as long as possible, you practically guarantee the landlord is going to come after you.