This morning, I woke up thinking about a conversation I had last night with the man who occupies our rental home.
He is moving out.
When he announced this, my first thought was one of blind, colon-constricting panic because even though we have a negative cash flow of nearly four hundred smackers a month on the place, the bulk of the mortgage is being paid. In this economy, finding a new tenant is not a given and having that house sit empty would seriously impact our monthly budget.
So, as I was congratulating our renter on his job promotion to Niagara Falls, I was making mental notes about our next steps and desperately trying to find the silver lining in the news. I didn't get there right away. Instead, I recalled all of the certifiably insane people that I spoke with the first time we were searching for a tenant. And I must have an aura that screams, "tell me your life story", because they do. Ad nauseam. Then, they point out the flaws in the home and try to negotiate a lower rent, which causes me to twitch like a tweaker needing a fix.
Perhaps we will get more for the home, I thought. Not likely. Maybe there are decent people out there affected by the mortgage and banking crisis who no longer qualify to buy a home but who still want to raise their kids in a good neighbourhood without breaking their bank account. We could be the answer to their prayers! It wasn't that long ago that I was a renter and I haven't forgotten how horrid the whole process can be.
We do have to face the possibility that we will have to lower the rent to get the place leased but no matter, we'll be grateful just to have someone move in an help offset the cost of the mortage.
The FOR RENT sign went up last night and today begins another chapter in the landlord tales. I'll keep you posted.
3 comments:
Ugh - I remember the weirdos from the last time. Hopefully you've already reached your quota of them, and you'll have nothing but nice, normal people apply!
Oh, boy, more weird on it's way. I'm close but not quite close enough to just move in and solve both of our problems. Not that I'm not weird, too, but I'm the other kind.
Crossing my fingers for you. My parents in retirement have had to rent out rooms in their home. Sometimes they get super nice people and other times...shiver. I hope the best for you in your search for new renters.
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