Landlord vs. Friend w/ Cancer

[Matthew Olszak]

This came up as a suggested link on a story I was reading, courtesy of the Chicago Tribune and Amy Dickinson:(http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/askamy/ct...)

I think this makes for good discussion. Not only about renting to friends, and on top of that for under market rates, but also when major medical problems come up in a tenant's life.  What is everyone's thoughts here?

Me personally, I try not to mix business/pleasure to avoid these types of situations, despite how much I value my ability to help my friends/family when in need (and I value their reciprocation equally). I know how it should be handled, but when one is in that position, will that "business decision" actually happen?

This story demonstrates in many ways how the business can get tough, and I'm reading into a lot of "classic" tenant tricks being played by the friend in this situation.

BTW: Amy's answer should have been..."Get on BiggerPockets.com!" It wasn't :-(.