Responding to tenants

[C Rutherford]

Small landlord here.   I just have 5 units and am doing other work to help pay the bills in addition to doing all the property management myself (upkeep, repairs, cleaning in between tenants, mowing, finding & interviewing tenants etc).    It can be a lot of work at times but its definitely not enough to live on because I don't put enough money back for the big stuff- things like say a new roof, new carpet, fence, painting building, HVAC repairs, etc.   I do all this alone and have no family support.   All of the tenants have to pay in order for me to keep afloat, so it can also be stressful.

The tenants have a number that they text I check, and I have found this works as I can have a written record of all correspondence from each and all our conversations (what they said and what I said back) are all right there to keep track.
Yes, they will lie or say they said things when they didn't.   This is just a reality.   But I prefer texting over phone calls also because its a step back and you can always think about how you will respond before sending.

My problem is that some tenants find this texting on their phone too easy, and like to have someone to gripe and complain to.  In this case I have an older woman who no doubt would gladly go back and forth all day long complaining about everything day after day, and into the evenings.   Of course blaming me, complaining about other people, talking about her medical issues and son and how they need a place without stairs and need to move, and on and on.

How are other landlords handling this?   I get the 'professional silence', and have been told imperiously by other landlords that I should just not respond and ignore rambling, and responses definitely encourage more.
However I find I have tenants that demand attention, if I don't answer they continue to get louder and angrier, and begin trying to come up with ways to force me to answer and get involved.   They may make unreasonable complaints about me and then I find myself patiently explaining the terms of the lease again and why things are the way they are.   And you get drawn in to long conversations with them.   I totally do not want this, I have other obligations and things I need to do.

Right now she is complaining about a new tenant I just signed, a single younger man who is in a studio apartment.   She has decided he is using her trash cans, even though there is no proof.    I tried just letting this go and got more texts, this time saying "If you aren't going to do anything I'm going down there and will handle this myself".   She also threatened to report me whatever that meant.
Of course if they start fighting one will likely end up moving out, which is another month more work for me renovating and cleaning and re-renting.   Groan.   Thanks for people's thoughts and advice.    Please be nice, unless you're there, you can't judge.