My wife and I went out for dinner last night and a couple of tenants came in to eat when we are about getting ready to leave. Long term married couple. No problems, they do everything you would hope good tenants would do. They are very nice people. And I picked up their check for dinner and as I was at the register paying I thought this is going to come back and bite me in the a$$. Well, it’s 10° here in Northeastern PA this morning and I’m on my way to their building, because I got a text message from the husband this morning saying that they don’t have any heat, but thank you very much for buying our dinner last night!! Ha ha, that was quick. --174.198.x.xxx

Flip it. If you hadn't bought dinner for them the call may have brought worst news. Awesome kindness you did. --172.58.xxx.xxx

I’m very surprised you would have bought there meal. It’s a nice gesture, but, gifts ALWAYS come with strings attached. In almost all relationships. --70.92.xxx.xxx

That whispers of spirit help for you. Someone on the Other Side may have given you a heads up to help them so you paid for their dinner. The real heads up was for the heater issue. Sometimes spirit can be unclear or our reception is poor. You felt they needed "something" and you gave it to them but the "something" was the heat. That's how it works. Very subtle. --108.24.xx.xx

That is a beautiful way of looking at it, AllyM. --70.92.xxx.xxx

--71.202.xx.xxx

Well, I’m not worried about them hitting me up for anything. Today we are right back to a cold hard no. I’ve never bought dinner for tennis before, but I do it for contractors any time I see them out. --174.198.x.xxx

And, yup, we learn that just because we were nice on one thing, doesn’t mean that we are now a pushover. My tenants figure that out, if they’re with me long enough. No means no. --70.92.xxx.xxx

Wasn't a good deed-- it was your job to fix heat. --99.103.xxx.xxx

I’m not a crybaby at all MYOB I was just stating the fact that I knew there was gonna be some alternative response after this happened. But heats already fixed brother. These are the only tenants that I have that I would do this for. And if they don’t pay February, they better start packing! --174.198.x.xxx

Plus, the good deed is not fixing the heat. Good deed is the dinner. --174.198.x.xxx

Have a great new year NE. I need to get back to my cruise planning. --99.103.xxx.xxx

But it’s the risk I took. I always sell myself short but somehow always come out ahead. So in the end I still feel lucky. --24.96.xx.xxx

Some sort of alternate response.... that's rich. Did you think they wouldn't call you if the heat was out in 10 degree weather if you didn't buy them dinner? I think the gears are grinding. --66.42.xxx.xx

I don’t care that they called me about the heat. That’s not even the point. The point is I knew that there was gonna be something coming from the gesture of the dinner and sure enough it did. You lefties are going to try a little bit harder than that. You can’t dog a dog --174.198.x.xx

You have enough projection to run a movie dude. --66.42.xxx.xx

Lisa FL, it’s kind of along the same lines as when you get ready to go on vacation. You know the night before you leave somebody’s gonna call you with something crazy that you have to run out and do. --24.152.xxx.xx

I calls them as I see them. Don't be salty, your entertainment value is always high. --107.77.xxx.xxx

On the other hand here you are. Again. I’m wondering, why I never see you start threads of your own or participate in normal landlord topic conversations on here? Now I know I can trade blows with the best of them, but the only time I ever see you show up is when you have an opportunity to chastise at me. Now I can give it and I can take it, I’m just wondering why you’re doing it in the fashion that you are? Because I never see you anywhere else on here. Are you some sort of cyber stalker or something? --24.152.xxx.xx

I think JAC let slip one time that he/she/it has 1 unit. Instead of policing covid comments, maybe he/she/it could offer tips on how to paint that 1 door. Or, I know, how to get a couch out of their 1 living room! --174.198.x.xx

Buying meals for contractors is definitely a lot cheaper when you only have one unit. --24.152.xxx.xx

not that I would do that but wondering out loud. --99.103.xxx.xxx

MYOB, that was directed at JAC and she/he knows it. I think you should send me one of those gift cards as a thank you for all the comic relief you get from me. --24.152.xxx.xx

MYOB, it would be a lot cheaper for you to send me one of those gift cards and buy my dinner. I’m big enough to eat for two and as good looking as 10. --24.152.xxx.xx

*than buy my dinner, that is. --24.152.xxx.xx

I get plenty of tips from here for my 4 units and I rarely if ever hire contractors. Just today snapping cast iron from a stack. The hard part is the roof in the cold. --107.77.xxx.xxx

Wow. I’m actually impressed. I definitely did not take you as someone who could get into the nitty-gritty of that kind of stuff. Do you own the snap tool or did you rent it? --24.152.xxx.xx

Yes fun as always. --99.103.xxx.xxx

Eh, I can cook as good as Ruth Cris, fancy restaurants don’t impress me. Neither does adventures in far away lands. Send me a gift card Home Depot instead. You can still write that off. I was hunting for my own food this morning deep in the woods. I bet you’ve didn’t even know how dead silent it can be way out there in nature with fresh snow on the ground. --24.152.xxx.xx

I rent it. The building I have has 4 units, 2 on each side. Two stacks. I have been pulling out any cast iron from vacant units the last few years. The final piece this spring will be under the slab which I will have to cut and bust out for about 5 feet. I love a good sledge hammer --107.77.xxx.xxx

Even big tough guys get to be ‘softies’ sometimes. The thing is, it’s at YOUR discretion, nobody badgers you into it. I know you weren’t writing about this for accolades, so does MYOB, and even JAC. They get their entertainment value out of the discussion. (though, j a c, the obsession with ne might not be so healthy for you. Your sparring seems to come from an unhealthy space…) --70.92.xxx.xxx

Well done JAC, what made you do it? Was it failing. --24.152.xxx.xx

Refurbushing kitchens and baths in those vacants. The building is 1950s and so is everything else. If I have the cabinets and tubs out I might as well replace the old plumbing. --107.77.xxx.xxx

Busy, I think it’s something that’s also referred to as cosmic consciousness. Similar to when you’re thinking about someone and then your phone rings and it’s them. Or you think about knocking over a glass and the next thing you know, it’s smashed on the floor. Similar to looking at something and saying oh that’s a great idea I should turn it into the business and not too long after, you see that business pop up somewhere. It’s the vacation thing as a landlord. It’s the no good deed goes on punished by buying dinner and the next thing you know, you have to go deal with the furnace at this tenants building and the message comes from that tenant. It’s neither good or bad, it just is. --24.152.xxx.xx

Well JAC, I’m a man who gives credit where credit is due. Your ability to operate a cast-iron snapping tool takes my respect up for about a half a point. Most landlords don’t even know what that is. --24.152.xxx.xx

Off to go look that tool up! --70.92.xxx.xxx

JAC, rent an electric jack hammer to do the slab bust. Say, better yet, rent a JAC hammer. You're welcome. --184.57.xxx.xx

Jim, my RE partner has nephews who live out near Pittsburgh. They were cutting a stack of it let loose and fell on the one brothers hand. Just about cut his hand right off his arm. Basically had to have his hand rebuilt. --24.152.xxx.xx

I had one fall about 6 feet in a garage after a cut. I secure with clamps and ropes now and cut smaller sections. --107.77.xxx.xxx

JAC, you rock! Best of luck with your projects, including of the one to remove the cast-iron stack. I'm glad that you're taking precautions! --71.202.xx.xxx

I understand NE and my granny would too. You tempted fate by doing a good deed for your tenants and fate responded. I call it superstition. I am always hesitant to test that concept as well. Just like I never say, "Gosh, I haven't had any pipes freeze yet this year." --216.23.xxx.xx

Snapper is slightly less dangerous than a porta power or a 10X gun. --99.103.xxx.xxx

I hear ya on the trees and bushes, MYOB. Those with spreading ( horizontal) roots like maples often love a drain pipe. City has maples in front of three of my houses. Now, that shade is great, and in the summer, the knuckleheads sure need to cool off…..but those maple roots reach and reach…. Little leaf London tree was just planted a couple of years ago in front of my fourth property, so we’ll see…. The ash trees that lined that street were fairly well behaved, root-wise, but they’re succumbing to Emerald Ash Borer. The one in front of mine was first to go. --70.92.xxx.xxx

The tool isn't the danger. It just makes it easier than cutting by cranking a ratchet. The danger is the weight of cast iron. That danger is present whether snapping or cutting. --66.42.xxx.xx

JAC hammer, lol! Good one, Jim! --70.92.xxx.xxx

Why is it that the heat only dies on super cold days? --24.101.xxx.xxx

When the aunt of my tenant saw I let her a 32" TV, she went out an purchased a larger screen as a new years present. --47.155.xx.xxx

Why in the world are we loaning televisions to tenants now? I can’t imagine having this much involvement in my tenants’ lives. --73.177.xxx.xx

Jason, A lot of landlords are on a tea and crumpets basis with their tenants. I try to keep myself in a relationship where I forget their names shortly after lease signing. Except the folks in the original thread. My kind heart beats at least once a year. --24.152.xxx.xx

I wouldnt even know my tenants tv broke let alone get that involved and loan them one,why get so involved? --72.231.xxx.xxx