I always pinch myself because I have such stellar tenants. It’s also the reason I’ve started to sell once someone moves because I don’t want to ruin a good thing. Here is my latest example:

I collect rents using Clearnow (auto draft system). I got a panicked text from a 13 year tenant that the money hadn’t been taken from her account for rent this month. I told her not to panic, I hadn’t gotten a failure notification. Well this morning I did and I notified her.

She was mortified, doesn’t know what happened. I told her she’d have to pay manually by going to my bank to make the deposit as they won’t draft twice.

She was there making the deposit within an hour and she overpaid me by $200. I corrected her and told her I now owe her $200 back. She claims it was not an oversight, she paid me $200 extra for “my inconvenience“.

Absolutely not. Not a single late or missed payment in 13 years, I’m not taking a cent extra from her. Her failed draft literally made my day. I love my tenants, they are a pleasure to serve.

Well I'm a little down but my father just passed away too the funeral is this weekend. So I'm sure that has something to do with it :/

It reminds me of the discussion last week about Trulia doing tenant rental reviews, and why I think its so unfair for rental businesses.

The main reason being no matter how good a rental experience is, someone always leaves a lease when they finally have a problem or complaint. There is a disagreement, they decide they want a bigger place, no longer like the neighborhood and on. And so by default, they are always pretty much unhappy with the rental when they get to write the Trulia review. And who spends time writing a review anyway if they don't have something to complain about right. Few, I would imagine.

I'm looking at someone who rented 6 years and liked the place a lot, but if they wrote a review on leaving now they'd tell everyone why not to rent there right. A lot different than buying a product you have and plan to keep imo.

Where do you......

JP

I’m so sorry for the loss of your father. That’s so tough.

I’m very fortunate I know, I’ve just not had the same experience or at least not in a very long time. I could give out the names of just about any current or former tenants and know they would have nothing but good things to say. Probably why I’ve had multiple repeat tenants who leave for various reasons and then want to come back and why I don’t really need to advertise because I get so many referrals. I still have quite a few who have gone on to buy homes who still call me for advice and referrals.

JP

I’m so sorry for the loss of your father. That’s so tough.

I’m very fortunate I know, I’ve just not had the same experience or at least not in a very long time. I could give out the names of just about any current or former tenants and know they would have nothing but good things to say. Probably why I’ve had multiple repeat tenants who leave for various reasons and then want to come back and why I don’t really need to advertise because I get so many referrals. I still have quite a few who have gone on to buy homes who still call me for advice and referrals.

My condolences on the death of your father. :(

Re: Where do you find them?

I think I’m fortunate to live in a high demand area so I get to pick the cream of the crop. After almost forty years of experience and sticking to my high standards, I just seem to have a sixth sense about people.

I do heavily scrutinize, you can learn a lot about people just by reviewing their Facebook pages. But honestly, I have no secret, I just seem to get lucky. My rents are lower which encourages people to stay. I do treat everyone and their issues/concerns with respect and I think it makes them feel cared about because I genuinely do care about my duties and responsibilities. I notice them doing things right and show appreciation and seem to get it in return.

Our thoughts are with you JP.

We all have bad days as landlords.

Happy Dance for Lisa

Congrats, Lisa, on winning!

Sorry to hear that you are giving up the streak because you fear what the new lot of prospects is like.

JP, sorry to hear of your loss. A tough experience.

Prayers coming to you and yours.

Great post, Lisa. I will say in all fairness that stellar tenants were MUCH more common 13 years ago than they are now by far!

I also have stellar tenants now that I've been totally screening to the max and willing to wait the obligatory six months before finding that unicorn that speaks Norwegian aka a cooperative and conscientious tenant.

I'm down to one mediocre tenant now. But she's a "lifer."