PeterB wrote:I used to live a hippy life , but I dropped out. You soon start to get used to the simple, good things in life once you abandon a craving for austerity.
Incredible!!!! This is the story of my life too!!!! No more brown rice for me!!! Now I eat white rice, fresh straw mushrooms, fresh corn on the cob year round, frogs, crickets, cow placenta.....all the best.....
chownah
As a landlord, I have seen it all. In regard to laundry, here are a couple of extreme examples I have witnessed:
A man wore the same shirt and pants everyday, for years. One day when he had to move-out to go to a nursing home, he left some furniture and clothes in his unit. When I opened the closet, I couldn't believe it. Inside were over a hundred suits, nice shirts, pants, and other clothes. Some were still in their original plastic packing. Yet he wore the same dirty shirt and pants everyday for years.
The other extreme:
This couple with no kids called me that their dryer was broken. It was Sunday afternoon, so I couldn't get an appliance company out to deliver a new one until the next day, about 24 hours later. This couple showed me their laundry pile. It was about 4 feet high. I said, "all of that is just from one day without a dryer?" They replied in the affirmative. Apparently they shower about 3 times a day, each use clean towels after each wash, change their clothes more than once a day and wash after each time.
I wanted to say that there has got to be a 'middle way' but kept silent.
chownah wrote:Do you think that maybe the other extreme was running a laundry business?
I know what you mean, but in this case they were just ocd clean freaks since they didn't have that many guests, I don't think they were running any business.
In other cases, though, yes it does seem like some run a business from their apartment or at least allow friends and family members who don't have access to washer-dryers in their home to come to our apartments where we have individual washers and dryers in the apartment.
PeterB wrote:I suspect that your tenants are unusually fortunate in their landlord David..
Thanks!
I know most landlords get a bad rep for being stingy and greedy, but I have found that it can actually help to be compassionate and understanding, as much as possible. You have happier residents and less headaches. There was one incident, for example in a building we owned in Denver that was an older building with no air conditioning. My wife and I had a/c units put in every apartment. After it was completed one of the residents asked how much his rent was going up, for the new a/c unit renovations. I told him that I considered a/c a standard item, that there would be no rent increases. He was so happy and then said that he would recommend our apartment buildings to all his friends.