Sometimes I like being a landlord...

[Brian Hunt]

Yesterday was not one of those days.  I'm a truck driver by day through the week and Tuesday I got called out on an overnight run.  I woke up about 7:30 Tuesday evening, got everything ready to go, showered, gathered all my stuff up, put my little girl off to bed, talked to my wife for a few minutes, and took off about midnight.  Drove to Mogadore, OH for an 8 am delivery, then turned and headed back to Springfield, OH for a pickup to come home with.  All and all about 760 miles. Anyway, I got home and plopped down on the couch, peeled my shoes off, was watching a tv show when the back door doorbell rang.  You have my attention...no one rings my doorbell at 9 pm.  I walk out to my neighbor standing on my porch.  He says, "Hey, a big limb just fell out of one of your trees."  I go to investigate and half the tree had broke off and landed on top of one of my rental trailers.  I survey the damage to the back side and don't see anything too bad, just some cosmetic stuff.  Then I walk around to the front.  I shine my flashlight up and see a branch about 4" in diameter sticking straight up on top of the trailer.  This can't be good.  As it turns out...it wasn't.  A 7' long, 4" diameter branch javelined itself through the roof, through the ceiling, and into the living room of the trailer.  After about 20 minutes, a chainsaw, a hammer, a prybar, wire, and pliers, we got it out of the roof.  This was much more entertaining when I was on the other end of the renting spectrum.

[Account Closed]

Landlords work 24/7 and yet people say to us when they find out we are landlords, "Oh is that all you do", and my reply with a grin is, "Yep, that's all that we do".  

Vacation time, phone still rings, tenant calls, and that is where you have a dependable handyman handle the repair for you, via your instructions. 

3:00 am phone rings, yep a fire in one of the rentals.  Sleepy in the head, several phone calls to make, and out we go to access the damages. (Fires always seem to happen in the  wee hours of the morning it seems)

Christmas Eve, always Christmas Eve, why on Christmas Eve, is there always a problem at one of our rentals.  (Since we owned 40 rentals it kept us hopping most times).  It seems this is the time the furnace goes out.  Why is that?  Furnaces must believe that on Christmas Eve it is the time to break down. I truly feel it is a conspiracy!!!!

Winter comes, pipes break, water leaks, basements flood. 

Heavy wind storms come, trees on roof, holes to patch, and tenants complain. 

Yep, sometimes it's good to be a landlord and then there are those times when you wonder how you ever survived it. 

And I won't get into evictions, that is another story.  Ah those were the days!!

Nancy Neville