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When Landlords Go Missing

Another landlord has gone missing. Happens all the time. You see messages from distressed tenants posted in the Yahoo forum: “My landlord has disappeared, what do I do?” 

Chances are, there’s a logical explanation. The building is being foreclosed and the landlord skipped town. Or, he’s so wealthy he forgot to stop by and collect the rents. Or, he simply got tired of fixing all those drippy faucets. 

Still, whenever I hear about another missing landlord, my imagination spins.  Abducted by space aliens?  Hiding from hit men? And when these things happen, how do tenants cope?

Such questions are fodder for fiction like this: Mystery of the Missing Landlord >

Renter's Remorse

A landlady's greatest joy is a gleeful tenant. After weeks of painting and scrubbing, nothing is more satisfying than the words, "Thank you! The apartment's beautiful!" But, despite my best efforts, there's no escaping renter's remorse.

Landlord Love: John K. Freeman

Some landlords just collect the rents and (maybe) fix the faucets. Others change the world. A gold star goes to real estate developer John K. Freeman who transformed a seedy apartment complex into a thriving community with educational resources for struggling families.

Landlord Love: David Berry

Oh to be loved like landlord David Berry of New South Wales, Australia. While so many landlords (and landladies) are feared and scorned, Berry won the affection of tenants who erected an enormous granite monument in his honor.

Moving Walls Changes Lives

Adolfo Hohenstein: poster for Madama Butterfly...

Image via Wikipedia

In Madama Butterfly, rice paper walls slide open and closed and in a wink rooms are reconfigured for the next scene. A bedroom becomes a living room becomes a veranda. Life is as fluid as an aria.

I don’t live in an opera, so when I want to enlarge a kitchen I have to swing a sledge hammer and hope the wall isn’t the load bearing kind.

Bathroom Refacing

Image via Wikipedia

Call me crazy, but whenever I prep an apartment for new tenants, I spend a little bit extra accessorizing the bathroom. Tenants like a bathroom that's bright and appealing, but that's not the point.

These finishing touches are must-have for preventing damage and avoiding emergency calls.