This Landlord Stuff is Hard Work!

[Jason Clark]

This is just a minor vent session but I got my first taste of real world landlord work this past weekend. And not the good kind. Not the "retire by 40 and travel the world" kind but more of the "your tenant will try and do everything possible to get out of paying rent" kind. With all of the legal BS I see on this forum that many of you go through I know this is nothing in comparison but it still shows the actual work that goes into this business.

For the last few months I have had a tenant that has been nothing but a headache and this past weekend I had to finally schedule an in-person visit to deal with the situation. Long story short is I used the signed lease to say "you agreed here and here and here" and had to threaten eviction. That was not easy but it had to be done.

The night before this whole blow up I was at a church function and got a snide rude text about the rent from my tenant's son. It made me so mad it completely ruined my evening. Instead of enjoying the party I was furious. That night I didn't sleep well and kept waking up pissed off which didn't help my mood when it came time to meet. 

I'll shut up now but I gotta ask all of you who have been at it a long time, how do you deal with difficult tenants? Do you still get anxiety when knowing you'll be facing a confrontation? Hopefully after getting some years under my belt I'll get better at this but the good news is I stood my ground and left with rent in my hand.

Thanks in advance for any replies.