Broken appliances are annoying and costly, but nothing's worse than an appliance that breaks halfway. When a stove or dehumidifier shuts down completely, you fix it or replace it and that's that. But appliances that stall and then start up again cause no end of aggravation, costing money, time, and sanity.

A landlady is not a landlord. She does so much more than fix drippy faucets. In fact, she might not fix the faucets at all, choosing instead to work on the troublesome people who try to use them.

"Hardwood is tricky," I told Pat. I suggested we hire a pro to refinish the floors upstairs. But Pat, who also owned the building, thought we should give the job to our local handyman, "Rex."

OK, I’m finished kvetching about filthy, dirty apartments. No more nagging, no more cranky memos. I just found out that for some tenants, a dirty apartment can be a source of pride—and hefty cash prizes.

"I'm not your mother," my co-owner Pat used to tell our student tenants. She was tired of nagging them to hang up their clothes and make their beds. Anyway, the nagging didn't help.