Tuesday, December 23, 2008

The Kind of Gift We All Want to Receive


I always feel that Christmas is the Second Thanksgiving. So many wonderful things happen at this season that I am thankful for.


Today I am thankful for my landlord. I am well aware that many people have little reason to be thankful for a landlord, and I am extremely fortunate. When I was about to retire I really wanted to rid myself of the house that I owned with its various financial and physical burdens. I asked a realtor friend what sort of rentals might be available. He came up with this little house, and the rent was surprisingly reasonable. That is when I asked one of my daughters if she would be interested in buying my house. For her, it was like going home, since she had lived there for a number of years herself before finding her apartment. After some time with a trial arrangement, she decided to buy it, and I was happily settled in this little place.


My wonderful new landlord assured me that if I had any kind of problem, I should just call him and he would come right over. He has kept his word. I have
n't called often. If there is some small thing, my son is glad to take care of it for me. In eight and a half years, I have called the landlord about a new roof, and about the back deck which was really in rather desperate need of replacing. I called when the neighbor's tree fell into my yard and said neighbor was not about to do anything about it. Once, when he was forced to raise my rent by $50, he apologized to me. Has that ever happened to another renter? Not likely! He always assures me that I am the best tenant he has ever had. I think that really means that I pay my rent on time, and don't do anything to destroy his property.
He's had some pretty bad tenants in the past.


The other day I did call him again about a plumbing problem. He not only arrived promptly and repaired it, he brought me a gorgeous pointsettia.


I love this man!

6 comments:

Sylvia K said...

Oh, you are blessed indeed! But so is he to have you as a renter! Still, how many landlords give their renters a Christmas gift! I do hope you have a wonderful holiday. Unfortunatly, for me the weather has not only prevented my son from coming at all now, but the other surprise for my Christmas was that my daughter from CA was going to come as well! So, now I don't get to see any of them! but it's better than having them stuck in some airpor, somewhere and not here anyway! I'm still one of the most blessed people on the planet!

Anonymous said...

How wonderful that you have such a good landlord/tenant relationship. I'm sure many of us have had the landlordspfrom-hell at some point in our lives, so it's great to hear such a nice story!

Kay said...

Gosh, Bobbie! You are so lucky and so is your landlord. That's wonderful!

I'm glad everything worked out with your daughter buying your place.

We agreed to sell our place to my daughter and her family with the agreement that they would buy after they sell their condo.

The market then tumbled and they haven't been able to sell their condo. If we'd sold when we intended, it would have been a lot easier.

The problem is that we were then supposed to take that money from the sale of our place to buy my mother's home. Now everything is at a standstill in this economy. Sheesh.

Dawn Fine said...

what a great landlord...but u must be good tenant..
have a wonderful holiday

Dianne said...

I had landlords like that in Brooklyn. They are something to be grateful for

as are tenants like you! :)

Daryl said...

Its good to be looked after and know that somethings can be counted on... no matter what time of year .. what a mensch your landlord is!

:-Daryl