Home is Home

During the past 2 days, I've been touring some properties that have been taken over from the bank. The deffered maintenance in them was overwhelming, the owners had clearly giving up on the property.

It just so happened that we used to manage some of the properties and knew the previous owners very well. Unfortunately we were not surprised by the state of the buildings.

The mould, the smells, the garbage .... yes all of this got to me but what stuck out the most during these past 2 days was something that one of the tenants told us.

We had just visited an apartment that literallly had a busted pipe leaking out water into a bin. It had to be emptied every 4-6 hours in order for it not to overflow. The floors were soaking wet and the smell was horrible.

This tenant lived next door to this unit. When asked why she was still there, here answer gave me chills.

THIS IS MY HOME

This is my home she said. I've been here over 20 years, I don't have anywhere else to go.

In an instant, I felt sad and then I was furious at the owners for letting this happen and putting these people through this.

Being a property manager or an apartment building owner, you have a duty to provide your tenants with acceptable living conditions. If you can't do this, you have no business owning a building.

We often forget or overlook the human element to this industry. We must never forget that we are dealing with people and people's homes.

A home is something very significant and special to us all.

Home is home ..... no matter where you are or your living conditions. Home is what you make it to be.

This was a powerful experience for me and something that I will never forget. It makes me appreciate what I do even more.

What we do matters and I'm proud to be a great landlord!