I'm a cop, and my best tenant (and now, friend) is a black activist

I call her Ms D. We met about 4 years ago at my open house. She immediately fell in love with apartment 2.

It's a unique home spanning the entire second floor and parts of the first floor and basement in our 3 family building. It comes with exclusive access to a landscaped backyard, a real luxury in NYC.

She alone lives in the 1800 sf apartment. She is a single, older black lady who is a retired university professor and currently an award winning writer and black activist, including being an active part of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Ms D is frequently out of town, giving lectures and doing book tours all over the country, and sometimes outside of the country.

Her apartment is filled with art, awards, statues, tons and tons of books, and all kinds of souvenirs from her travels.

She loves the apartment, the building, and the way I take care of it so much that she was planning to stay for at least 10 years.

But, things change. My workload changed. My daughter's school situation has changed. And, I decided to stay on the job after finishing my 20th year instead of "20 and out." 

So, we decided to sell the building in order to lessen my workload.

It's a great time to sell, regardless. We bought the building before the neighborhood gentrified, and it's changed dramatically in less than 4 years.

Dilapidated houses have been torn down and replaced by brand new units. There are even 2 condo buildings being built on the block at the moment. (But, don't worry. I'm sure you can still buy drugs on the corner, if you look hard enough! Lol)

You wouldn't recognize it as the same block.

I told her about my intentions before putting it on the market.

She was clearly upset, but understood our situation.

Shortly afterwards, she announced that she would not be renewing her lease, and actually wanted to get out of her lease early if I wasn't going to be there to look after the building anymore. She even offered to pay an additional month as compensation for the early lease termination.

Of course, I'm not going to stop her from leaving. And, I'm not taking any additional rent for the early termination.

I confirmed that again last week when she saw me making my weekly maintenance visit, and we had another long chat.

We've built up an excellent relationship over the years, and I'm not going to ruin that for a few thousand dollars.

Ms D, along with another single lady who lives in apartment 1, have been my best and most loyal tenants. I have taken care of them like customers should be taken care of, and they have treated our building like their home.

Apartment 3, however, was a bit of a headache as it was always a collection of young, newly graduated college students. There was turnover every year, but they never failed to pay the rent and have never been disrespectful. I have a very thorough vetting process.

All in all, it's been a great experience for me. I'm going to miss Ms D (and the other tenants, and the building when it sells). But, I'm not going to miss the extra work, especially now that I've decided to stay at my day job for a little while longer.

So, what is the main lesson I'm taking away from this experience?

*People who hold totally opposite ideologies can get along very well if we are respectful about it. She may not agree with the ideas that I hold, and vice versa. But, we've listened to each other over the years and truly tried to understand the other's point of view.

We respect each other and see each other only as individuals. That's it. Nothing else matters.

We recognize that we both have jobs that we have to do, and we're trying to do them to the best of our abilities.

(I need to remind myself to do that with other people/ideas, too)

Of course, as a businessman, ultimately, I did what I did in large part to turn a profit every month. But, I never thought about being compensated with an extra bonus in the end for treating my customers with respect and for having an open mind about buying in a "developing" neighborhood.

So, for you, if you aspire to become a landlord one day:
It can be a very rewarding experience, both emotionally and financially. If we manage to sell anywhere near our intended number, we would've more than quadrupled our initial investment, and in less than 4 years.

That's over 100% Return On Investment every year (not typical), not counting the monthly cash flow and tax write offs, which probably add another 20% (more typical).

What's your bank account paying you?

Keep reading, keep learning, my friends. And, keep an open mind.