My Neverending New Year's Goal

I pine for the days when I bragged about 100% occupancy on all my rentals. In the last two years, I have achieved that now lofty goal about 4 months total. The land of property management changed forever with the economic meltdown and the effects are still rippling. Tenants lose their jobs, move for a new job, divorce...these events weren't so common a few years back. But not all can be blamed on a sputtering economy, renters attitudes and character are not what they were either. Either they can't read or have short term memory loss, but they inevitably don't remember ever reading the clause in the lease that explained terminating their agreement. This is an area new landlords need to highlight and possibly explain in very small words to all new tenants. A 30-day written notice needs to be issued BEFORE the end of the month, not on the 5th of the month they plan on vacating. This seems to stump most tenants, no clue why this is so difficult to comprehend. Breaking a legal contract, such as a lease agreement, doesn't faze most renters today. Can you say "entitled"? They are genuinely surprised, sometimes angry, that there are legal and financial consequences to this. As a landlord, you need to be consistent and abide by all federal, state and local laws regarding the landlord tenant act. If you choose to bend the law for one person, know this may set precedence if you ever end up in court for enforcing that law on someone else.
My New Year resolution for 2013 is what it was last year, and the year before that - 100% occupancy for at least 6 months in a row!