Landlord Shmandlord

I have a question out there for Shmandlord readers: Are there certain types of business that you won’t do with family members because of the potential conflicts of interest? For example, if your relative was a mortgage broker, real estate agent, or a lawyer, would you use them? If you do, are you able to keep it objective and non-personal? If you don’t, why don’t you?

For certain types of transactions, dealing with family is fine. For example, if your brother has access to wholesale prices on goods that you want to buy, not much can go wrong. Other jobs seem more conducive to problems, like what if your cousin is a mortgage broker, would you go with him? What happens if you find better rates after he’s quoted you?

Does it depend on what the service is? What about real estate brokers? lawyers? doctors?

I’ve passed off the judgment to a Collections lawyer who is going to try to collect money from the settlement that my former tenants receive every year. We set up contingency compensation where they’ll receive one-third of what is collected. At this point, I just want to get this thing over with since it has been dragging on _way_ too long.