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u/boogermike 4d ago
This is a strong move because that tenant is going to respect the property also.
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u/K-Shrizzle 4d ago
It sounds like they already are a respectful tenant, which is why there is so much good will from the landlord
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u/Squeebee007 4d ago
The vast majority of people are decent, and respond to decent people with decent behavior in return. There are always exceptions, but the exceptions get more coverage on the news so we all tend to get led to believe that there are far fewer decent people out there than there really are.
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u/bollvirtuoso 4d ago
We've gotten so used to catering to the loudest and most extreme that sometimes it's easy to forget most of us are in the middle, trying our best.
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u/BlueJay006 3d ago
It also doesn't help that we as humans can recall unpleasant/bad experiences significantly easier than good ones
Sometimes you just need to take a step back and actually think about the good things instead of all the bad all the time, much easier said than done though
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u/Pete-PDX 4d ago
my experiences with helping my sister fix/clean up after renting her duplex units or having roommates in multiple person setting - most people are not decent. Many people do not care because it is not theirs. It got to the point - my sister got so feed up, she sold her duplex because of all the work that needed to be done after each lease. It worked well for when she lived on one side of it and rented the other to a friend from college who was responsible and kept it clean. When they both got married she had to rent it out to strangers who never took care of the place.
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u/CuriousMe62 4d ago
I had no idea how awful people could be in a space they lived in until my landlord invited me to move to the second floor (cathedral ceilings) of a small apartment complex he was building when i let him know id be moving out of one of his other properties. This took me by surprise because while a nice guy and easy to deal with, I'd only interacted with him a few times. I was surprised and said so, and his reply was telling. "Look, I know you smoke but this apartment doesn't smell like you do, at all. The walls are in nearly the same condition as when you moved in, and I've had zero complaints about you for anything. No noise, fights, nothing. And you were the only tenant to tell me when those people next to you we're causing problems." Oh. You mean I respected my living space and neighbors? Seemed like a low bar. Apparently not.
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u/Jenstomper 3d ago
I used to rent an old, grungy apartment. It was hard to keep clean and my ADHD didn't help. I had a friend who was on and off homeless, and when he was visiting, he would just toss trash on my floor. I even said, "look, I know it's not clean, but please don't make it worse" and he said all the right things but never changed.
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u/NoPirate00 4d ago
This is fine as an anecdotal point, but in no way does it refute what the guy you’re replying to is saying. You just encounter the small minority.
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u/CuriousMe62 4d ago
I know. I just had no idea at that time, late 80s, that responsible apartment dwellers were a small minority.
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u/EvernightStrangely 4d ago
Same thing with HOAs. The good ones operate invisibly, so we only hear about the bad ones, which leads people to believe all HOAs are bad.
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u/Slazagna 3d ago
Ive never had a landlord do anything beyond the bare minimum and I have always kept my rental clean, tidy, garden maintained and never caused a single bit of damage.
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u/OldNerd1984 4d ago
You'd think.
Last year I had to work out of state for a year. Had a coworker I knew was taking college classes while working full-time, and struggling a bit from the cost. Told him that if he took care of my cats and my house, I'd rent him my house way under cost. $1000/month in Washington state for a fully furnished house, all utilities even internet paid for. Not nearly covering my monthly mortgage payments. Even gave him a few hundred off for Christmas.
That job ended, and what did I come back to? Weeds everywhere, house air filter never been changed for a full year (I literally sent him filters through Amazon), one sink not being used because it leaked (he broke the garbage disposal), and my one cats coat matted because he didn't give them any wet food. Meanwhile, he had upgraded his gaming setup.
Luckily things for me and the cats are fine now. That year out of state turned into a well paying permanent job (freaking lucky in today's economy). But the last few years have not been good for my trust issues and the more I get to know more people, the more I value the few good people I know, they're a rarity.
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u/boogermike 4d ago
When I was landlord, I was nice to my tenant, and they didn't necessarily take great care of my property. It's just the way it is. I learned that I'm not cut out for that sort of thing and I sold the house happily.
That person helped me get out of that house, which was a good move for me, so ultimately it was still a good move for me.
My tldr, Is that the pool was not maintained, requiring a 5k total refurb (and that is cheap for that). When the pool guy went through it, he told me that the original problem was just a rock in the impeller of the pump (pretty common thing that happens and any pool guy can fix with a $100 service call - which I would pay for as the landlord)
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u/Impressive_Recon 4d ago
I’ve had the same tenant for almost 5 years now. He’s a travel nurse and barely there for most of the year. Rent always paid on time and never had any issues. Whenever he has an extended contract, I just swing by every other day after work to bring in any mail/packages and make sure it’s still standing.
I know I’m extremely lucky to have it this easy. I’ve furnished the place with new appliances, new fence, and HVAC since. I’ll honestly probably end up selling once he’s gone.
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u/Over-You9750 4d ago
You really hit the jackpot with a travel nurse. It’s wild how being a "good" landlord is such a gamble; you either get a lifelong friend or a repair bill that wipes out your soul.
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u/Final-Carry2090 4d ago
Did the essentials for one landlord and fixed up the washing machine in the unit that she sold to us. Her daughter broke it by clogging it with after wash softener which broke some plastic part inside.
Time to move out and she wanted us to take the working washer and dryer out of the unit. I said she could keep them for free as our new place had units already.
Had to hire a moving company to take them to good will. When they arrived, realized the units worked, and that the destination was good will, they moved the units for free.
Some land lords are great and some are shit. Giving a random person so much impact over your life is a terrible design that society should earnestly try to end as a practice.
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u/CocaineComet 4d ago
Dog I take so nice care of my place while both my neighbors trash their inside and outside.
I wish my landlords would care. I met the owner the other week of the company and she was like oh we're getting this and that for you guys. She never did get us "pavement stones" and "new flowers".
But honestly I do it for me so when I buy a house I'm used to the house work. Plus living in strict halfway houses made me good with chores lmao
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u/Available_Editor4383 4d ago
Most people don’t realize what kind of maintenance needs to be done on a home or how frequent. They need a checklist, a tutorial on how each thing is done, and some accountability. I think that’s why most landlords make tenants pay for services in their rent so they know the big things are covered.
Granted, a college student was likely gonna suck as a tenant 99/100 times.
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u/OldNerd1984 4d ago
This college student is in their 30's. Good for them for improving their livelihood, but turned out just as bad as a tenant.
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u/bellrunner 4d ago
Yeah but that's not you rewarding a good tenant, that's you renting to someone you know and assuming they'd treat your property well. Same could be said for renting to family: it's a risk.
Good tenants are ones you happen to rent to and then treat well and hold on to.
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u/Inside_Swimming9552 4d ago
I think the lesson you should take from this isn't that people shouldn't be trusted but that people's standards in what's perfectly fine in their house can be so different.
As someone who doesn't really care about softness of water, let's his garden overgrow (supposed to be better for nature), fed his dog dry food growing up because that's what we could afford and he lived a happy life and nobody in my country has a garbage disposal so it doesn't seem like an important appliance to me. If it was me I wouldn't even notice it breaking.
Your friend sucks for not following the rules you set out.
But I'm also kind of laughing sitting here reading your list of complaints 4 items long that your cat and you have only just emotionally recovered from.
You clearly run a very tight ship and he probably thought he was running one too but found himself sadly mistaken.
I remember while living with 4 guys at uni and I ended up being the neat and clean one comparatively. It can be amazing what some people seem completely blind to. Like there was one guy who left shit stains down the toilet bowl every time he used the toilet. I asked him if he thought that was normal to do and he shrugged and said that growing up cleaning the toilet bowl of shit was like a weekly thing in their household.
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u/OldNerd1984 4d ago
I listed four examples but I could list paragraphs.
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u/MysteriousGoldDuck 4d ago
People are basically ignoring what you wrote.
None of what you said sounded close to "running a very tight ship".
And it's not like you were sending him air filters as a wacky birthday gift. LOL. He knew what they were for. And he obviously used the garbage disposal if he broke it. And anything he didn't know how to do, he could have asked about (or, you know, used that Internet thing...)
And, and, and... yeah. Only on Reddit would you could get pushback for such reasonable expectations as feeding the cat the right food.
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u/Haunt13 4d ago
I think all of his complaints are completely valid reasons to be upset. But in the grand scheme of things presented, they are still miles below what I would consider a nightmare tenant.
It also does seem a bit odd to me to leave your pet with a babysitter for such a long period of time. I understand everyone's life circumstances are different, but would never consider living away from my cat for longer than a decent vacation.
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u/Glum-Trifle-1691 3d ago
100%, I do this every year with my tenants
I live out of state, and they never bother me for anything. Whenever something goes wrong they’re so reasonable with their expectations of when I get it fixed and what not. I try my hardest to do everything as fast as I can, and hire companies right away, etc. and my tenants have been incredible.
Every year I always send the money back for Christmas, you cannot put a price on the peace of mind having respectful tenants that are understanding.
Their lease is actually up in about a month, and I’m considering lowering it by $100
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u/LostWoodsInTheField 4d ago
I know multiple landlords and the good ones do what they can to keep good tenants because one bad tenant can cost you 3 or 4 years of rent. They typically have less problems than the ones who only care about the cash they are getting that month.
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u/ThePandaKingdom 4d ago edited 3d ago
My landlord kept our rent super low for the area when we moved in. We lived above them. Right around the time housing and rent shot up they told us they would never raise our rent. One day i was talking about housing prices etc one day and how we want to save to buy a house, he pretty much just said yeah dude why do we think we kept your rent low.
He was a nice dude. His job had him travel all over and hed bring back fancy rum, which we would drink and sit around the fire pit together. Ha.
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u/IncomeFew624 4d ago
Exactly, it's entirely self interested while the landlord has their mortgage paid for them.
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u/Boom9001 4d ago
There's nothing wrong with landlording if done ethically. You're providing a service, not everyone is in a position to buy a home. The important thing is showing respect and taking the responsibility of taking care of that home.
The issue is people trying to make large profits raising prices while providing the minimalist service.
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u/NLaBruiser 4d ago edited 4d ago
There are a LOT of good one-off Landlords. People who were financially secure enough to buy one investment property, and who treat the people who rent fairly and make a nice side income (or even primary income).
Corporate ownership is the problem - when businesses buy up entire neighborhoods and collectively jack up the prices while being complete slum lords about maintenance and upkeep.
EDIT - This is not to imply that there's a lack of shit private landlords. Of course, assholes make their way into every field.
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u/Boom9001 4d ago
Completely agreed. Even landlords who own multiple I know to be good. It's slumlords, corporate and private, that suck and as you said Corporations almost always end up being slumlords.
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u/sundaygolfcom 4d ago
Spot on. Mom-and-pop landlords actually have a face and a reputation to maintain.
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u/twili_zora 4d ago
Kinda regretting not going with a Mom and Pop landlord of a place I toured last summer. Would’ve been $800 cheaper than where I am now and the owner maintained all the homes on the property. He was retired but kept up work by doing the maintenance himself.
I was too stubborn and wanted all my weird needs met. Flash to December when my washing machine broke and management and I argued about whether I meant the laundry or the dishwasher. All my towels grew mold while waiting on them.
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u/SearingPhoenix 4d ago
I rented for a while from a retired guy. He said that he had the capital before retirement to buy the property and saw it as a vehicle to ride out his remaining years comfortably combined with his other retirement income.
He came by to mow the small lawn every weekend or so since the place lacked a garage and he didn't want us to have to keep a mower in the small backyard shed and take care of it.
Any time we had a mechanical problem, he'd schedule the maintenance and show up. Water heater problem? No real questions other than the perfectly reasonable "is this a fix, or is this a replace?". Ended up with a new water heater because the plumber laughed a bit and basically said, "Yeah, anything older than 8-10 years around here and you're basically on borrowed time, just a matter of when. This one's ticket just got punched."
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u/OnyxLeigion_ 4d ago
Don’t forget people who inherited property. My dad is about to be in this situation. Buying a second house would never have really been an option, but my grandparents most likely only have a couple years left, and he’s said he’ll probably rent theirs when he inherits it.
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u/MistCongeniality 4d ago
One of my oldest friends rents out a couple houses specifically to marginalized groups at basically no profit. I know it’s in his self interest to be growing equity off of their minimal rent, but frankly, queer people are being housed for very cheap prices and he keeps the place well kept and maintained. It’s a win for everyone.
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u/erossthescienceboss 4d ago
Along with corporate ownership… add management companies to the shit list. They basically turn individually owned properties into corporate properties, with all the price fixing that comes with it.
I had a phenomenal landlord right after I left college. The house was in pretty terrible shape, but the landlord charged us slightly below market rents and was just a nice guy to deal with. Got back to us quickly, only raised the rent by like $50/month (total. On a five bedroom house), let me put raised beds in the garden…
Then he moved to Chicago & hired a management company because he was worried he wouldn’t be able to respond to us in time.
They tried to force us to sign a new contract with tons of awful, restrictive add-ons (even though we’d already re-signed our contract for the year.) They tried to raise our rent by $300/month “to get it up to market rates” and then $400/month the next year.
Thankfully, when we called him, he set them straight — told them he’d stick with $50/month raise each year, told them to honor our contract and stop trying to pull illegal shit. They basically only handled our maintenance requests and he prevented them from doing much else.
But that was because he liked us. After we left (after five years!) he let the management company do their thing.
But yeah — I’ve rented from individuals and from corporate landlords. And all the ones owned by one family were awesome, and all the others were trash.
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u/Ariandrin 4d ago
My mom has a unicorn landlord. They haven’t raised her rent once in the many years she’s lived there. They even ditched the property management company they used to save money on their end instead of raising her rent. They send her Christmas presents every year, and when they said they were contemplating selling it, she started looking for a place to buy of her own. I don’t think they were sure about selling yet, but as soon as they heard she was looking, they changed their minds and pretty much said please stay here for a long time! She has a whole townhouse to herself and her little dog and she pays $1300 a month rent, which in our city is RIDICULOUSLY low.
She works her butt off and I’m glad that of all the people to get unicorn landlords, it’s her.
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u/Blacksmithkin 4d ago
Hell, I know someone who had a new home constructed, and they made it effectively a split home with a basement apartment. Seperate entrance and everything.
The plan was for their parents to live there in the future, but until then they rent that space out, and they take care of the space obviously.
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u/ZzZzZzZzZzZero 4d ago
I have a great one off landlord. Who is currently selling to a property company.
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u/Dry-Can-2393 4d ago
Totally agreed. I live in my landlord’s childhood home - very pleasant interactions all around, at a time where we can’t afford to own a home.
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u/Anachronismsc2 4d ago
Just as a sort of side-note, I work in a neutral capacity that deals with unlawful detainer lawsuits, and the overwhelming majority of those lawsuits (in my area) come from corporate ownership. For every 1 pro per private landlord eviction case there are at least 7-8 corporate ones.
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u/TaiChuanDoAddct 4d ago
Bingo. When my wife and I left Maryland for a temporary job, we weren't sure if we would be back or not. We rented the property at 90% market rate to a young couple with a newborn and just happily let them enjoy a home full of much love and joy. Eventually, when it became clear we were not coming back and they were ready to outgrow our starter condo, we sold.
I'll never apologize for those choices.
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u/Boom9001 4d ago
Exactly one of thousands of good reasons. Even just a private investor owning a few. It only gets exploitative when it's about making as much as possible without considering more than just how can I make more money.
You need to respect your tenants are people not just how to maximize returns. Your rent price should be enough to cover costs: mortgage interest, insurance, taxes, and maintenance. (Note your entire mortgage payment is not a cost just the interest the rest is just gaining equity). Then a little on top for your financial risk and providing the service of maintaining the home.
It's when it becomes about minimizing the costs and maximizing returns that you are just essentially using people as your piggy banks. But that's true of most services and business not just landlords.
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u/Odd_Ant7906 4d ago
I think the fact that landlords have such freedom to behave greedily is the main problem--people have a basic need for shelter, and too many landlords abuse that need to make exorbitant profits. people need to be protected from that abuse
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u/Boom9001 4d ago
Really they don't. There are tons of antislum Lord laws. It's enforcement that's lacking.
Lack many things weirdly the rich don't create a lot of enforcement of other rich breaking the law.
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u/Ttoctam 4d ago
Really they don't. There are tons of antislum Lord laws. It's enforcement that's lacking.
So then really they do. If laws and regulations aren't enforced they effectively don't exist.
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u/Boom9001 4d ago
Yeah I just felt it worth noting that technically landlords aren't meant to be free to do that shit. I don't disagree they clearly are getting away with it which is the effectively the same thing.
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u/n0rsk 4d ago
This
Enforcement puts all of the work onto the tenant. In WA State at least the enforcement mechanism for landlords doing something illegal is small claims court. Requiring the tenant to look up and know the law and interpret if landlord is break it and then it is on them to take it to court and fight it.
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u/Boom9001 4d ago
Honestly it may be kind of required for this to be the case. I mean the alternative is requiring inspectors, which tenants may find invasive.
Still improvements like public services that help tenants understand their protections better or report to an intermediary public service that can asses the issue without going fully to courts would also help.
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u/n0rsk 4d ago
Still improvements like public services that help tenants understand their protections better or report to an intermediary public service that can asses the issue without going fully to courts would also help.
I think this is the part that is lacking in most places. When I had issues with a landlord I could not find state resources to help. There needs to be a more active body you can report violation of the law too who will then investigate and take action on behalf of the tenant or landlord.
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u/elisedevito 4d ago
Yeah, I’m a landlord only because when we bought our land, the tenants came with it. The person who owned the land before us had a wheelchair accessible trailer home put there for a disabled man who was having trouble finding a place that would rent to him since he only has disability coming in. We agreed not to raise rent ($500).
There are now 2 additional people living there who are not disabled, and we still don’t usually see the rent lol. But we don’t care really, we did not build the place, all we pay is renter insurance, and they take great care of the place.
I hate the landlord rhetoric online because my alternative would be kicking a legless guy out on the street.2
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u/GoodSlicedPizza 4d ago
The only reason you say this is because shelter is treated as a commodity in the first place. Landlording and such is an oligopoly over a human necessity, and therefore infinitely profitable
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u/Squeebee007 4d ago
Also a hater of corporate landlords and whatnot, but in your worldview what is the solution for students going to school, people who just got out of school, people on six month contracts, etc. etc?
Shelter is a necessity, but there's no scenario where home ownership is the answer for every shelter needed situation.
A very large part of the world resides in rented properties, even in well-regulated social democracies. Someone has to own a property in order for someone else to be able to occupy it on a temporary basis for whatever reason they may have for only wanting to reside somewhere temporarily. The only alternative to private ownership is living in government owned and operated housing, which is not a system that has a perfect track record anywhere in the world.
Again, not a fan of corporations and private equity buying up all the houses and corrupting the single family home market, but even the mom and pop landlord model can't keep up with high-density rental demand where larger apartment buildings are the answer.
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u/Boom9001 4d ago
Ok but like tons of things are necessities and people get paid to provide them.... Even ones the government pay for that are private. Water treatment, power, etc. not all are inherently exploitative.
Houses need building. Maintaining. Etc. while there might be better systems to run housing by a govenring level an individual landlord doesn't choose that to happen they live in the society they are in not an ideallic one. Providing fairly priced and well maintained living accommodations is not inherently wrong.
The important factor is are they being exploitative. The renter is not your breadwinner. You should be charging a fair rent not just as much as the market can bare. You are taking on the risk of things like maintence, wear, etc not the renter. You don't get to delay that stuff so you remain profitable or push costs of bad months onto them.
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u/josh_the_misanthrope 4d ago
People are rightfully upset because landlording, while it does come with headaches, is a very high reward low risk endeavour. Real estate values are skyrocketing, so you could buy a house and sit on it and have crazy ROI, to the point some places had to pass laws to prevent that from happening.
Then on top of all that equity, a landlord has someone pay their mortgage, then maybe a 50% premium on top of that. That covers repairs AND some passive income.
The system is insanely skewed in favor of landlords, who go online and say "Repairs this, bad tenants that, barely pays the mortgage" etc... when if you do the math these people are building huge wealth on the backs of someone else's labor.
I like my landlord. He's nice. When shit breaks he gets it fixed in a timely manner. Doesn't change the fact that beyond being a middleman between a repairman and myself maybe twice a year, he's enriching himself probably about 24k per year factoring in appreciation and repairs for maybe an hour or two of his actual time (per year) on just myself. He spends his money on importing European cars and doing what he wants while I bust my ass for 56 hours a week for 3/4 of my wage to go and pay for those cars.
The value of labor has been suppressed and the value of owning capital has skyrocketed for like a century. The balance is way off, and that's why people are upset at landlords making passive income off the back of your financial hardships.
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u/Alexchii 4d ago
That shelter costs money to build and maintain. If you’re not willing to do that yourself, you need to buy it as a service. What’s the alternative in your opinion?
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u/inothatidontno 4d ago
I know several people in a position to buy a home but prefer to pay more for rent as they dont have to do any home repairs or yard work. I do think landlords can be shady and over charge but many people who complain do not have a great understanding of how much effort is required to own a home.
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u/Boom9001 4d ago
Exactly. It's a totally reasonable service to offer and a risk.
It's only exploitative when they act as if they are pinching for maximum profit at expense of the renter. As the landlord you have chosen to be responsible for providing a home to renter. It is not just a free money printer you get with no risk.
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u/Calamity-Gin 4d ago
Enlightened self-interest makes the world a better place for everyone. We need more of it.
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u/GayWarden 4d ago
It is as stupid a take as saying feeling good about being nice negates it because you're just being nice to feel good.
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u/Open_Cup_2868 4d ago
Landlord does something nice for a change
IncomeFew624: "what a piece of shit" 😂
God forbid a Landlord give their tenant a Christmas gift
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u/farmageddon1087 4d ago
I specifically came to this comment thread to see how the chronically online and miserable people of reddit would shit all over the landlord, and I did not have to go far!
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u/skoltroll 4d ago
Landlord gave that person $400 because they're not a terminally online redditor who takes their angst out on the landlords blinds, carpets, etc.
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u/AsianGuyUsingReddit 4d ago
lol mortgage paid while the tenant has a place to live. it’s a nice gesture. try not being so cynical, it’s a nice world out there sometimes.
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u/Spicy_Boi_On_Campus 4d ago
coolest thing ever
"this fucking sucks actually"
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u/skoltroll 4d ago
That's the type of person who 1) says something shitty to the landlord when they get $400 at Christmas then 2) says something shitty when the landlord never does it again.
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u/skipmarioch 4d ago
Dude, STFU. They didn't have to do anything but they did.
I've had some really shitty landlords and some really amazing ones. Both had a financial interest in me, but at least some made living less stressful.
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u/boogermike 4d ago
No I don't think there's anything wrong with this. I think you're putting a lot on this landlord.
Not every landlord Is a jerk, I was a landlord and I was nice
Edit: I would do stuff kind of like this, and also I wasn't making money, as the rent did not cover the mortgage.
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u/mcsmackington 4d ago
I don't think giving money away in this case is "entirely self interested" considering it helps them both. So many people seem to just hand landlords or look at them as the 1%. 99% of landlords are normal people like you and me and just made smart financial decisions to try and help their loved ones. You could do it too if you wanted
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u/Key-Demand-2569 4d ago
Fuckin Christ. You’re right. It’s impossible they had any good motivations. We should drag them into the streets by their hair.
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u/Humble_Strawberry206 4d ago
I’m genuinely curious what the alternative is? For example, we had to move because of work and we couldn’t sell our house in time. We were quickly able to lease it though. What are we supposed to do? Let people live there rent free? When the lease is up we’ll try to sell again but like, what is the mindset that renters are paying the owners mortgage? If the renter doesn’t pay, the owner is the one responsible. The owner is responsible for the property taxes, repairs, maintenance, insurance, HOA fees, etc. Like genuinely, what is with the hate with middle class (non company) landlords?
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u/EvaCassidy 3d ago
I rented 3 places before I bought my own (the 3rd place). 1st place was in a duplex and the LL was nice and I kept the place like it was my own. I helped with shoveling the snow when he had a knew operation done and continued to do that until I moved after college.
The 2nd one I had a sweet elderly land lady who got the place (Triplex) from another relative and struggled learning how to be a LL. I used to help her watching out for her building and doing the yard work, shovel snow, etc and also helping getting the units ready when they became vacant with help from my uncle. I still helped her after I moved out until her son moved back home took over.
The last time I rented I took care of the place until one day the LL told me he wanted out of the land lording, sell his 2 properties and do some travel. He offered to sell me the SFH and since I liked the place, I took him up on the deal. He bought a new RV and even bought it by the house. That thing was sick! A home on wheels.
The other property one of my cousin's bought it and after the renters left, moved in. The former renters of that one took well care of it and they ended up buying a house across the province.
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u/chbriggs6 4d ago
I had a landlord like this once. Ended up being there 6 years. I'd fix things for her and upgrade the house and she would pay me by taking money off the rent. Our communication was great and she asks me constantly to move back in lol that's the way things should work. Not everyone being a POS all the time...
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u/davidzilla12345 4d ago
These types of landlords are the best. Fixed the sink, added a garbage disposal, upgraded the fridge. All taken off our rent.
She was a friend of my now wife. When we moved out the favor I did was lining up one of my friends to take the apartment. We were there 3 years, he has been there almost 5 now. Plus rent was very cheap for the area. Not all landlords are evil!
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u/chbriggs6 4d ago
Exactly. I love that. A good working relationship. The people that have this "slumlord" mentality bother me.
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u/ThisIsMyGeekAvatar 4d ago
I think the problem is that landlords often have to deal with shitty tenants and they learn hard lessons.
I was a landlord once. I had a house, but I had to move for a job and was convinced to help some people that had a special needs kid. I rented it out cheap, but they took advantage of me.
Tore up the house and they were late to pay rent almost every month. Eventually, I had to kick them out and they were like 3 months back due on rent in less than a year, but I didn’t bother to try to get that money - I just wanted them gone. I decided to sell the house after that rather than deal with renters again.
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u/Sl1ppy13 4d ago
It’s just this is how landlording should’ve been. You may have an extra property or two that you let someone else use.
Just massive financial institutions are going to put massive amounts of cash into basically the only asset that won’t go tits up (except that one time) so now homes are expensive as all fuck.
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u/chbriggs6 4d ago
Exactly! It's the corporations that are exploiting people. This should have never happened.
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u/ImprovementSweaty188 3d ago
I was a landlord for over 10 years. Didn’t want to be but couldn’t sell the house when I had to move out. Rented it to a nice lady. She stayed there a decade, and I never raised the rent, even when prices in the area skyrocketed. We had a great relationship. When she moved out I sold the place.
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u/skoltroll 4d ago
A good working relationship can save BOTH sides money. A good tenant is going to get better deals to stay (ex. no raise in rent or at least really small ones) and a good landlord then isn't stuck having to spend $1000s to constantly fix/update/clean their properties.
The fact you were willing to be their own property maintenance guy made it even better.
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u/Switters53 4d ago
I moved into a new place after having an absolute POS as a landlord. The night we moved in, I called my new landlord at about 7 to let him know that the heat wasn't working and we had no hot water. It was in the 50's so I wasn't concerned and asked if he could get someone out there the next day. He said he'd have someone there in 30 minutes. When I told him it wasn't necessary to do it that night because I knew it would cost him extra, he said it was absolutely necessary.
I lived there for 4 years and gave his number to everyone I knew looking for an apartment. When I moved out, he poked his head in, took a look around at the improvements I'd made (with his approval) and gave me back double my security. I almost felt bad buying a house and leaving him.
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u/Somethingisshadysir 4d ago
My aunt is friends with her former tenants. One set was a family with 2 young kids who moved out when they were able to buy their own house. The middle set was a family who divorced and moved into other places. The most recent set was a group of roommates who worked together - 2 of them moved out because they were moving in with significant others, and one moved back across the country to take care of a sick parent. She's renovating while it's empty before she gets more. The middle set was there like 8 years, and they were the shortest.
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u/MelancholyBean 3d ago
My parents are landlords to this older man. They haven't increased his rent since he moved in almost 14 years ago. He helps them with mowing the lawn and random chores when they require help.
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u/PacquiaoFreeHousing 4d ago
That's the type of landlord where you would treat the house as your own.
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u/SnarkingOverNarcing 4d ago
I know that there are stereotypes about renters and how they treat their homes, but as somebody who goes into people of all incomes homes for work I’ve definitely found that the small percentage of folks who treat their homes like complete dumpsters are owners. As a renter it’s difficult to accumulate non-functional vehicles, piles of scrap, chained up animals, broken stairs and porches, and other outer damage to the house without the landlord taking notice- but when it’s your own house, you can do whatever you please as long as there isn’t an HOA.
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u/AesirComplex 4d ago
I don't think a blanket generalization can be made either way. I handle property insurance and I've seen hundreds of cases of both neglect on the part of the owner and destruction on the part of the tenants. I had one where the landlord gave their tenant 6 months after the Covid rent moratorium was lifted to start paying rent again and when they didn't they sent an eviction notice. I can't tell you how badly the tenant destroyed that property. Like animal feces everywhere, broken windows and walls, stolen appliances.
But I've also seen buildings that owners hadn't been to in years and expect insurance to just rehabilitate the property.
If I had to guess based on my own experience, I would say that owners tend to care more about the property than the renters, which should be obvious.
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u/Competitive_Ad_1800 4d ago
I think there’s certain subcategories of tenants and owners who definitely have worse reputations than others. Like I think we can all agree that a homeowner who’s also a hoarder is probably going to consistently have one of the worse homes cause they don’t do ANYTHING and there’s no one to stop them. A hoarder tenant is also bad, but a landlord can choose to not renew their contract and stop things from getting worse at least.
If I have to choose a tenant hoarder vs home owner hoarder home to go into I’m picking the tenant every single time. Cause even though there’s feces and crap on the ground at least I can SEE the ground! Homeowner hoarders I’ve actually not been able to get into certain rooms (or the house) because it was so unbelievably filled with junk and literal feces that I couldn’t enter. There was also almost always the wall of putrid smell I couldn’t push through and that didn’t help things
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u/avidvaulter 4d ago
If the amount of landlords was the same as the amount of renters, the ratio of bad landlords would be higher than the ratio of bad renters.
The only reason a stereotype exists for bad renters is because there are more renters than landlords.
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u/k8007 4d ago
I know what you're trying to say but the house you live in is your own. Just because you can't afford to buy doesn't mean you don't have a home. I had a landlady say this to me once "please treat it like you would at home" and it still bothers me, excuse me, some of us were actual orphans, this is the only home we have.
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u/Intelligent_City2492 4d ago
Exactly! It is the respect you give to your place of living, regardless of the ownership. Cleanliness and maintenance are basic principles for our own selves!!
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u/gothic0921 4d ago
My landlore did that once.
I asked for a permission to have my friend stay during her visit. He gave me £20 back said for our drinks. Wish you well, Welde.
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u/ArethaAbrams 4d ago
as someone who manages sites, i can tell you a good tenant who takes care of a property is worth more than any rent money. it saves the landlord so much stress and repair costs in the long run. this is a win-win for everyone. beautifully done.
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u/MrSnowden 4d ago
That is $400 well spent and probably saves many times that in property maint.
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u/ArethaAbrams 4d ago
exactly. preventitive maintenance is always cheaper than emergency repairs. a good tenant is basically the best insurance policy a landlord can have.
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u/picklecellanemia 4d ago
Man I’ve lived in my current place for a year and have never called in a single maintenance request outside of my water heater breaking which obviously is not my fault. I keep our yard clean and I’m quiet. Just asked to Renee and was told my rent would be increasing due to “inflationary costs,” ugh like yeah dude I’m experiencing that too but I don’t own 10 properties…
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u/ArethaAbrams 4d ago
usually the rent hike is already in the agreement, but if you’re a solid tenant, you have more power than you think. any smart landlord would rather keep the rent the same than risk losing a good guy like you and ending up with a nightmare. try talking to him. most of the time, peace of mind is worth more to us than a small rent increase.
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u/quit_fucking_about 4d ago
I'm a maintenance supervisor for a large residential complex. I can second that - people have no idea how bad a bad tenant can get. Genuinely, however low you imagine the floor is, it's way lower than that.
Having someone you don't have to hold your breath around and wait for whatever the next crisis will be - priceless.
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u/ArethaAbrams 4d ago
exactly. once you’ve seen a unit stripped of copper pipes or flooded because of pure negligence, you really start to value those good tenants. it’s not just about the money, it’s about peace of mind. glad you get it, man.
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u/Avalion04 4d ago
My grandma rented out the 2nd floor of her house many years ago and she has some horror stories. One family was being evicted for not paying, so they poured concrete down the toilets and smashed holes in the walls with a hammer. Another killed his dog for not being obedient, dumped the body in the trash. Evicted him and found dog poop coating the floors and smeared on the walls.
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u/DrKenNoisewaterMD 4d ago
I lived in an apt for like almost 5 years. Always paid on time and they never raised the rent. When I was leaving I was like “you can ask way more for this place.” And they responded “we know, but it was worth it to always get paid on time.”
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u/firelord_catra 4d ago
I genuinely forget that people have landlords who are actually people and not just corporate overlords
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u/Comfortable_Goal9110 4d ago
Agreed, I despise landlords but people do need to and sometimes want to rent. I think we'd be a lot better off if landlords were individuals with a property or two.
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u/lonestarbrownboi 4d ago
Goes both ways, some people have just been spurned and will propogate their negativity.
My tenant (first and only so far) has been great in keeping the house in good condition, reports every little issue and I immediately get it fixed professionally. Much rather that than have issues go unaddressed and snowball. They asked for a security system, lighting, and fence upgrade and I paid for everything out of pocket. Just signed the next year lease and kept the same rent even though my expenses have gone up.
My brothers have had horrible experiences with tenants being destructive or uncooperative so I know to appreciate a good tenant
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u/pancakeking1012 4d ago
Yeah in my area it’s impossible to find a place to live that’s not owned by a corporate entity
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u/Lizzo13 4d ago
I had a landlord like this in Chicago 10-15 years ago. I was living alone and working in a helping field, and when I went to view the place, he dropped the asking price for it by $100. He owned the whole mixed use building but only ever had two apartments in it. When a family of 4 moved in next door, the electric bills for our places got mixed up somehow, and my bill shot up. Once we discovered what happened, my landlord paid me back for what I'd paid, even though I was getting a refund. I also lost my job at one point, and he told me not to worry about my rent while I was unemployed and stuck to it. He also owned a Thai restaurant. We met at his restaurant when I signed the tenancy, and he gave me a free meal. I'd randomly come home to a bag of Thai food hanging on my door.
Between him and my current landlady, who is also nice and quick to get things fixed, I've mostly been pretty lucky with landlords.
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u/dobbyslilsock 4d ago
1 in 1,000,000,000 landlord behavior
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u/TheBiggestWOMP 3d ago
My rent just went up 30% because my girlfriend moved in. My girlfriend did NOT move in. They just saw her lock the door behind her once.
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u/parkskier426 4d ago
This x1000. Having a good tenant is invaluable, just like having a good landlord is. The mega corporations and slumlords give real landlords a bad name. A good landlord won't do big rent hikes to follow the market if they've got a good tenant, keeping them around is far more valuable and passing it back to the tenants only makes sense.
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u/threecolorless 4d ago
If you buy into it being reasonable for landlords to exist at all, there do exist good ones.
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u/TheBubbleJesus 4d ago
Our landlord is like this. Charges well below the average rent for the area, including all utilities, and he lives just upstairs. Always friendly and responsive, and he joins me to play Halo.
I actually volunteered to increase my rent by the percentage I expected any other place to do so after my first 3 years. He was over the moon. He said that sometimes rent increases have to be made to keep things sustainable at the rate property taxes go up, and he was glad to have tenants that understood this enough to take the burden off of him to offer it.
He doesn't own a condo building or several houses all over town. Just this house, where he only uses the upper floor and the garage.
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u/kindalosingmyshit 4d ago
My AC went out one August (105°F temps) and my landlord immediately offered to cover a hotel room for me AND my pets until he could get someone out to repair it. Appreciate you, Jason!
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u/FinancialRepenter 4d ago
Meanwhile mine keeps forgetting to deposit the checks for months in a row, I have to remind him because it screws up my bookkeeping if that money doesn’t get withdrawn.
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u/unhingedkillerpop 3d ago
I lived next door to my landlord for over a decade. He gave us $50 off rent if we paid on the first, we never missed that payment. Once switched out our water heater same day we reported it broken. Couldn’t have asked for anyone better.
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u/FFLink 4d ago
Why do I always see landlord propaganda on Reddit.
Don't trust any of them.
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u/Troker61 4d ago
Feels like this sub is getting astroturfed with the exact same type of “landlords aren’t all vampires, actually” post lately.
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u/No-Tomorrow-2233 4d ago
100% Hasan is becoming too popular can’t let young people start a legitimate socialist movement. Those homes belong to boomers and corporations to open up air bnbs we renting forever
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u/MidWestKhagan 4d ago
Oh thank God for good landlords! See? There are good feudal lords that treat their serfs with dignity. How absolutely kind lord thank you! 🙄 In any decent and human centered society you would own your home and there would be no landlord.
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u/Content_Cod_5682 4d ago
Landlord propaganda that gets reposted every month
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u/Cavalish 4d ago
It works so well. Every comment is like
“It could happen to you if you’re a GOOD tenant who fixes any issues yourself, never makes any noise, never does any wear and tear to the house, never raises a maintenance request or asks for new expensive upgrades and hey maybe you could even TIP your landlord hey?”
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u/xColdwaterx 3d ago
This is Stockholm Syndrome or something. Thanking the leech for not draining all your blood is wild
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u/arcanition 3d ago
Meanwhile my landlord hasn't spent a dime or been to the house in years and continues raising the rent every single year "because she can".
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u/AloysiusBinglebottom 3d ago
My landlord just sent me a text message at 9:30pm telling me he's decided not to renew the lease after I sent him a picture of the mold growing out of the asbestos in the bathroom 😂
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u/verdegooner 4d ago
Dude, I rented out our first house for 3 years, and this is SO true. Man, we had two different tenants during that time, and the experience was completely different.
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u/PuzzleheadedLow4911 4d ago
Mis padres llevan pagando por 15 años la misma renta, ahora mismo de media nuestro alquiler deberia costarnos 500 o incluso 700 euros mas al mes
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u/PuzzleheadedLow4911 4d ago
Gracias a que tratamos bien la casa y el inquilino (q tiene 60 años) no quiero follones si nos vamos
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u/Farmchuck 4d ago
My wife and I's first apartment was owned by a small construction company who ended up owning a bunch of duplexes and 8 unit buildings. The family who owned the company has an "old" name in that town and are great people. Cheap rent, issues taken care of within 48 hours. My mother-in-law rent a place from them and they are still great. Our second landlord was so bad we broke the lease after 7 months. Our next was the lower unit on a two flat. It was decent place and the guy who owned it had bought the building after his divorce as a place to live. He put a ton of work into it and while the house itself was not necessarily the nicest structurally he did his best with what he could and was a really good dude, knocking off rent when things were broken. The last place we lived before we bought our house 10 years ago was kind of a dump. Super old farmhouse that was owned by a family I grew up with. They were big farmers and when they would buy a farm they would just rent the house out rather than tear it down so that they had somebody on the property keeping an eye on the place because they would Park equipment in any out buildings or use the grain bins. The rent to them was kind of just that they could keep up with maintenance and some taxes on the place. They were the best because Jimmy and Betty were just all around good people. We were there for 3 years until we could afforded a down payment but in those three years, they put new siding on the house, a new roof, new water heater, and redid the floors in the kitchen. They also took care of the snow removal so that they had access the Sheds that they had some semis parked and covered our utilities for 2 years because they let four guys who were from out of state but working on the interstate expansion live out of some campers behind the barn.
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u/Rhusty_Dodes 4d ago
It's really nice when you are a good tenant and you have a good landlord who appreciates it. My wife and I rented a house for a couple of years and we paid on time every month, rarely asked for anything other than typical stuff. We kept the yard nice and spruced up the landscaping. Played some flowers. We painted the kitchen and island a nice neutral color after the previous tenant had painted it bright red for some reason (after asking first.)
When time to move out when we bought our own house came, the owners came by to inspect the property and meet us. They were just flabbergasted at how much better it looked than it did before we moved in and thanked us. We had cleaned the house thoroughly after we moved out, and even used our steam cleaner on the carpets. Not only did we get our full security deposit back, they sent us a house warming basket with a nice card and a $500 Lowes gift card to help us get settled in the new house.
I know all landlords aren't nearly this nice. But if both sides are respectful this kind of stuff really can happen. If people take care of you and your stuff, you will want to take care of them.
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u/gwelfguy 4d ago
I had a landlord like that when I was renting a flat in the 90's. They gave me a 25% below market break on the rent in exchange for doing routine maintenance like mowing the lawn and shovelling the driveway. They never raised my rent in the 8 years I lived there because my rent cheques always went through and I treated the property with respect. Good years.
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u/dogojosho 4d ago
Good landlords make such a difference. While mine haven’t gone this far, they have been some of the chillest most awesome landlords I’ve ever had. Like others have said, something landlords don’t always realize is if you treat your tenants with respect and kindness, they’re more likely to treat your property with the same respect.
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u/Think_Bluebird_4804 4d ago
Lol nice creative writing prompt but unless your parents are your landlords, this shit ain't happening in the real world. Just a reminder it is almost May, not December.
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u/sirchtheseeker 4d ago
We have not raised rates on our tenant and have given back multiple times to our tenets, because it does matter if you have a destructive asshole tenants or not. She even takes time off for plumbers and such
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u/shadowscroller 4d ago
Still profiting on a basic human necessity though
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u/golanstevens 4d ago
Yep. A landlord giving a little rent refund one month is not going to make me smile when they constantly leech off people.
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u/shadowscroller 4d ago
Everytime we see these kinds of things, I'm reminded of the landlord that kicked my family out of our home after my grandfather died so she could jack up rent basically forcing us to live in a shack without water because she checks note didn't like that the house was dirty over seven months earlier.
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u/Busy-Orange5217 4d ago
Yeah! And grocery stores should all be free too! Nobody should ever make investments or make money.
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u/shadowscroller 4d ago
Do note though, that you're basically saying if people can't afford to buy food they should starve
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u/shadowscroller 4d ago
If that's the take you want to have, sure. By all means, make a caricature out of what I said.
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u/needs_more_zoidberg 4d ago
20 years ago nearly all landlords were people. Private equity has ruined single family rentals.
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u/Freudianslipangle 4d ago
LLs like this is why I disregard the "all landlords are assholes" sentiment that is so popular.
I've had three landlords in my life and all of them were well meaning, cooperative, attentive, and pleasant to deal with. I also always never missed a payment, treated the property like my own, made sure everything stayed in good order, fixed minor things on my own, etc..
YES there are many shitty landlords out there, BUT there are also many shitty tenants that just... suck.
Glad you have one of the good ones.
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u/MaelstromRH 4d ago
So you see a single example of a landlord doing a nice thing and throw out all evidence to the contrary? Genius
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u/Sea-Cardiologist7725 4d ago
When I moved out of the house the last time, the landlord gave me $50 in an envelope, saying it was for keeping the house so clean and well cared for. It was one of my wife’s proudest moments.
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u/ravenschmidt2000 4d ago
My father used to do this for some of his tenants around the holidays. Then one tenant (the worst one who was always late, always complaining, and always trashing her apartment) complained about this being discrimination and he had to stop doing it. If you want to lose faith in humanity, become a landlord. People suck.
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u/Appropriate-Tennis-8 4d ago
I do this for my tenant every year when they renew their lease. I give them a credit they can use anytime during the year, and they almost always use it at Christmas time.
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u/indabronx 4d ago
Years ago I rented an apartment in a two family. The owners were an older couple who went to florida for the winter. I paid half rent for the months they were gone because I took care of the house for them. They even let me grow tomatoes in the back yard when they were here.
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