Good Morning from beautiful Montana:
We are remodeling a rental unit we own in another town. Because we won’t be close by, we need to have renters we can trust to send the rent on time and treat the house with respect and care.
While we have been there painting (see last blog about how remodeling strains a relationship) Dwain with a camel hair brush and me with an old roller, many people have dropped by to inquire about renting.
One gentleman (not) said, “Well, my old lady got knocked up and now we got to get a bigger place.” I turned on him, roller in hand, paint dripping and said. “I am sure you would never refer to the mother of your child and your partner with such disrespect to her face would you?”
The two teenage helpers just stood there, mouths agape. After he filled out the application and left, Nathan said, “Well he doesn’t stand a chance of a snowball in hell does he? ”
Then there was the woman who tried to convince us she had only 1 and a half dogs, because both had just three legs. Her hobby was rescuing abused animals and nursing them back to health. Noble, but No.
Or the young man from the half way house who told us he was “practically clean.” He explained that while he still used weed and beer, he was no longer using the hard stuff on a regular basis.
We have narrowed the applicant families down to two. We are pondering, praying but still checking references. Neither of the applicants are perfect, but they told us the truth about their past and went the extra mile in reassuring us they respected themselves and us.
We do have a housing shortage of affordable homes in America and as landlords we want to offer safe, attractive, comfortable accommodations to families who cannot afford to buy right now. But, the reason we bought housing units was to have an income and we need to protect our investment.
Our goal is finding renters is to establish a mutually respectful triangle; the renters, the landlords and the house. We want them to be able to call this rental house their home.
We try very hard to be nonjudgmental and fair, but sometimes people make bad first impressions.
Thanks for letting me vent today.
Love, Judy H. Wright
PS: Be sure to check http://www.ArtichokePress.com for the schedule of radio shows and teleclasses on family relationships. They are designed just for you.
