Landlording for fun and profit story

calmloki

Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Joined
Jan 8, 2007
Messages
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Location
Independence
So my honey is down south and after some lasagna i fell asleep on the couch - cell phone rang and woke me, thought it was her and got several exchanges into the conversation before it dawned on me that it was a 23YO tenant calling me to let me know that she should be able to go out to the bar at midnight, come home after 2, and not have the downstairs neighbor bust her chops for noise. Uhhhm - ok, i'm waking up now, it's 2:30AM and she's calling me because she was too noisey? The funny part was that my mood was all warm and fuzzy at the beginning of the call and then i couldn't get back to sleep till after 4. Gonna go over and see if she wants to move her aggreived self to some more simpatico domicile. Think that's the least i can do.

The profit part is that i've been hunkered down waiting for a firestorm of complaints and repair calls as we raised a bunch of the rents. We are very slow to do that, really should hit people once a year with a modest increase. instead i tend to raise them a bit when people move - result for instance is that i hadn't raised a WW2 vets rent since May of '96 - some of that was inertia, some choice - but raising his rent from $360 to $435 had to sting.
 
hmmm ... your only mistake was answering the phone. She wouldn't even have left a message.

I sleep with the cell a full floor away.
 
Well she sounds like a nice girl maybe you just need to get to know her better. :)
 
hmmm ... your only mistake was answering the phone. She wouldn't even have left a message.

I sleep with the cell a full floor away.


Came out of a dead sleep on the couch and thought it was my gal - also thought it was maybe 10 or so. Our tenants can reach me at any time. Sometimes i don't like it, but i put me on duty. Was pretty funny when i went over about noon and had a little chat with her - she kept rushing to the bathroom to heave. Nice lady, bad judgement. Alchohol and being 23 kinda conspired against her.
 
Our tenants can reach me at any time.
Sometimes i don't like it, but i put me on duty.
That's not landlording, that's running a free social-services mediation hotline.
Or parenting.

Was pretty funny when i went over about noon and had a little chat with her - she kept rushing to the bathroom to heave. Nice lady, bad judgement. Alchohol and being 23 kinda conspired against her.
So... gonna let her renew her lease?
 
That's not landlording, that's running a free social-services mediation hotline.
Or parenting.


So... gonna let her renew her lease?


Mostly you are right, OTOH, there are times like when a toilet valve got broken off at a rental house around midnight (big mystery as to how that happened...). Sure, it was almost certainly the tenant's boyfriend's fault, but recovering damages would have been difficult - judgement and collection aren't the same. They are our places and it's easier for me to stop damage than to hope someone else has as many skills and as much desire to use them. Because i make the correct decisions. According to me.

We're month-to-month, and she is welcome to stay or go. Her apartment was clean and well decorated, nice drapes hung, she pays on time. Figure i smacked the puppy on the nose, will see if she's trainable.
 
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