Remember how positive I was about our experience with renting to a friend? Well, the old proverb proved to be true after all.
Our tenant friend told us last week that he will need to move out before his lease is up. He’s in nursing school and would like to devote more time to study and less time to work. We shouldn’t worry; he will do us a favor by staying until January 1st.
Grrrr. Thanks—but no thanks.
So, let me recap for you. We have one vacant unit that is rent ready November 1 (later than expected), and now an impending vacancy after a 3-month occupancy. If I don’t get these units occupied ASAP, I could be footing the mortgage with $0 cash flow for a couple of months. No. no. no….
It makes me anxious.
So, I told our tenant friend that we would start marketing the property immediately. He seems flexible enough to move mid-month if I find a tenant with the desire to, but he would need a couple of weeks’ notice to move his things.
Oh, and we have to prep the apartment of course. Remember those custom colors he requested for his living room? What a mistake!
Needless to say, we won’t be renting to friends again. I’ve found that I can’t be blunt or forthright about how this is not acceptable. I’m so friendly that I will most likely refund him part of his security deposit, which of course would be out of the question for the average tenant.
Where is that silver lining you ask?
It could have been a lot worse. He did give us ample notice, and he has taken care of the place. I don’t think I would say that it worked out to our benefit though. Even though we were able to gain cash flow earlier than we would have, we reorganized our work schedule to get that unit rent-ready first. That was probably a mistake—along with buying custom paint.
Commence face palm:
- Know where your palms are.
- Take your palm and move them towards your face. (Speed of contact varies from situation)
- Take 10 seconds to breathe and recuperate your thoughts.
- Slowly slide your palms down your face.
- Give evil glare.
