Rentals...Worth the effort?

[California]

If the thread has shifted to tenant stories - I just pm'd this to a friend. I'll share it here as well.

Eventually I gave up on rentals when I finally got the Tenant From H***. She sounded nice, said she was an author, then a week later told me living at the ranch guest cabin was her retreat to solitude to write The Radical Lesbian Separatists Manifesto and seeing me (on my own property!) kept throwing off her concentration so I would have to stay away. WTH??? My rental agreement said monthly then vacate at the end of the State University (my usual tenants) school year so I can use the cabin for my kids to visit etc so I let her stay until the following June. I don't think I offended her personally, she would write me elegant, thoughtful emails about trivial stuff like what time does the mail arrive, but then quiver with stress if she saw me face to face. Enough! I haven't rented the ranch cabin again.

 

[teejk]

If the thread has shifted to tenant stories - I just pm'd this to a friend. I'll share it here as well.

Eventually I gave up on rentals when I finally got the Tenant From H***. She sounded nice, said she was an author, then a week later told me living at the ranch guest cabin was her retreat to solitude to write The Radical Lesbian Separatists Manifesto and seeing me (on my own property!) kept throwing off her concentration so I would have to stay away. WTH??? My rental agreement said monthly then vacate at the end of the State University (my usual tenants) school year so I can use the cabin for my kids to visit etc so I let her stay until the following June. I don't think I offended her personally, she would write me elegant, thoughtful emails about trivial stuff like what time does the mail arrive, but then quiver with stress if she saw me face to face. Enough! I haven't rented the ranch cabin again.

Depending on local rules, I'm guessing a lot of landlords have met the "tenants from...." But back to your opening statement, the conversation has not drifted from the OP...it's all closely related. The potential pool of tenants are one of those things that need to be considered ("nothing parties like a rental"!!!).

 

[WoodChuckDad]

What the heck is a lesbian separatist manifesto? What does that even mean?

 

[Sprinklerman]

What the heck is a lesbian separatist manifesto? What does that even mean?

Do you really want to know ? I certainly dont

 

[teejk]

Do you really want to know ? I certainly dont

I dunno...women's prison movies are pretty popular

 

[WoodChuckDad]

My father died recently. I am liquidating his estate. It isn't much but there is a house. It needs a bit of work before we can sell it. My brother asked me " why don't we just rent it out? ". My response was " I love you, but not that much. ". It will go on the market soon.

 

[MossRoad]

What the heck is a lesbian separatist manifesto? What does that even mean?

There's a website for it. Look it up. But let's change the subject back to the topic or this won't end well.

 

[California]

What the heck is a lesbian separatist manifesto? What does that even mean?

Actually she was pretty straightforward talking about issues, once in a while. It means women who not only prefer women, but the ones who choose to live with no influence of men in their lives whatever. And she was writing what amounted to a call for women to join her in her personal revolution, a call to assemble a group of women of similar opinion.

Actually, as MossRoad said let's drop the subject. I looked online for a more precise definition - And found Google in less than 4 hours already references this thread under that subject. I don't think we want to be 'intenet famous'. We need to remember that anything we write on the internet is accessible forever.

Ask and I'll tell you about the tenant who sold my drapes, cabinet knobs, garden hoses etc at his yard sale as he moved out - as I discovered when I went to collect the coming month's rent. Or the kid who flunked out of A/C tech school and disappeared. I found the entire 2-bedroom apartment immaculately freshly painted, apparently as his personal version of goodby. Or the woman who responded to an ad and became the Outside Friend of a prisoner soon to be released...

Encountering people you never imagined really exist, is part of operating rentals. You get used to it. I encountered roughly 1 frustrating tenant to 19 decent ones, not a bad average. Averaged 95% occupancy.

 

[Thall303]

As a landlord for more than 30 years, one absolute is to never become "friends" with tenants, especially divorced or widowed women or single mothers. They will adopt you as a surrogate father or husband.

Keep it impersonal and direct.

 

[CurlyDave]

For several years I have been able to avoid evictions in our units.

Instead I offer a cash payment when the tenant has moved everything out. Usually $200 to $300 will do the trick. They are out like a rocket, and there is never any damage.

Many people have criticized me for this, saying that a deadbeat tenant doesn't deserve anything, but I save lawyer costs and the damage to the unit. I come out ahead and the tenant leaves happy.