Thanks for the response, Sherman.

We met Sherman at the local rose society meeting in December 2018. He immediately recognized Michelle as a fellow property manager since he had seen her in Lowe’s buying refrigerators all the time. Between the roses and the property management, we had a lot to talk about.

One critical function that an experienced property manager such as Sherman can provide is tenant selection.

Let me give you an example. In the past, ASU has consistently ranked in the top ten party schools. Then, Super-President of ASU, Michael Crowe came to ASU. He was the new sheriff in town. He was determined to clean up the town. And he did. ASU is now one of the leading research universities in the country, and the world. The faculty includes five Nobel Prize winners.

Around 2009, ASU informed the fraternities that they would be removed from “fraternity row”.

We got two or three calls from fraternities asking if they could rent our Tempe Palms Apartments located near the ASU campus.

We decided to do a dedicated advertising campaign to all ASU ‘societies’ (fraternities, sororities, cultural student groups…). I googled ASU organizations and we got dozens of hits, including the Dean of Student Housing. My brilliant friend Dave and I created this flyer working from an “Animal House” theme; specifically, “Avoid Double Secret Probation” and “Make your own rules”.

Using our email list, we did a blast email to all ASU societies including the Dean. Within 20 minutes of sending the blast email, I got a formal reply from the Dean threatening me with legal action unless I took down the flyer because I had infringed on the trademark/IP of the “Animal House” movie. He referenced a Beverly Hills lawyer. I took down the flyer.

More directly, the next day, two plains clothes Tempe police detectives approached Michelle on our property to ask for details of renting to a fraternity. She knew them because they had ‘worked’ together before. They were ‘friends’ but were giving her hard time. Obviously, someone had sent them. Finally, Michelle was ticked and said, “You don’t have a warrant, get off my property.”

Did we rent to the fraternity? Yes and no, but that’s a different story.

Is Michelle still on double secret probation? We don’t know, it’s a secret.