well sorry to barge in here but I have to COMPLETELY disagree with you here Ron. I've had the best relationships with Landlords by being/making friendships rather than just a 'business' mentality get your money and move on. The whole world operates on "all about the money" and screw the morals and friendships, sorry but it does and that sucks. Meeting Landlords that want more than just money is a blessing and half and I have the pleasure to say almost every one of my landlords have been this way except a few, and those few were as greedy and selfish and ugly as could be. To me it's like a boss: you have a greedy selfish bossy boss who doesn't care about his employees and just wants money and power tripping all the time, usually he's got a higher turn around of employees and nobody wants to work for him/her and usually those employees will not be that loyal to them since they are just treated like slaves and irreplaceable peons. You take a boss who cares about his people, treats them with respect and appreciation and shows and gives it to them according to their work and efforts and integrity THAT boss will almost always (for the most part) have very loyal employees, honest and hard working who will invest their time day after day to ensure the best performance for the company and product rather than show up just to do the bare minimum, collect a check and get the heck outta dodge.
I've been a manager of many jobs in my 20yrs of work force and I have experienced this in every single job of weather I was manager or working under them. So this applies to landlord/tenant relationships. Most landlords could care less when a tenant loses a job or car has a major issue that sets them back and they have to be late on rent or partial to take care of the hardship they are dealing with. Those landlords (have had a few) just say "pay or hit the highway" basically and bring out eviction and the law to make that person/family look like criminals for having to deal with unexpected hardships.
When I was a manager of 18 man cleaning crew at ASU for almost 2yrs, when the contract came up for renewal our company lost. My boss and even ASU staff almost assured me I would be able to move onto the new company since I ran the show for 2yrs and was good at it but NOPE, new company came in and would not allow it. They wanted "fresh" system and management and I would have to start out as "regular" guy (HUGE cut in pay, couldn't afford our place). So since I lost my job, that landlord didn't care at all and we left that same week knowing we couldn't afford that place anymore (out of respect for her) and well, she sued me for last 4 months of rent of the lease. This next part is AWESOME: went to court and the judge didn't award her the case. He respected that we left immediately knowing we couldn't afford it since I lost my job and didn't try and stay for "free" like a lot of people do taking advantage of the system and he even called her greedy right there in the courtroom in front of everyone. Don't know if that judge was a believer but sure had the righteous actions of one!
To me a good landlord is realistic and has a heart and compassion for people and understands these things and works with good tenants to the best of their abilities and these are usually men/women of God to be of such character as the world doesn't operate by God's standards and morals and love/compassion for others. My landlord in Boone for 4yrs we were awesome family friends!! They payed for my shop materials, payed for total remodel of inside of the trailer and he invested in the selling cars/jeeps I was doing and not cause he needed to make money but to give me a head start (he actually never accepted any of the profits).
My current landlord is similar, we have made great friends. We have hung out at work, at the house and help each other out as much as possible. As a matter of fact, through this transmission going out in our car he is giving me an 05 Ford Taurus to drive while fixing our car and will let me pay for it later, most likely working it off. This is what happens from having a friendship rather than just "pay and go" mentality. Well there's my 2cents about all this and this is just my experience and opinions. I'm sure most will probably disagree but it's how I view this topic.
