An Ode to the Seasoned Landlord

[Julie Hassett]

I’ve always been amazed by the self-assuredness of seasoned landlords.

They appear so confident, capable and cool. So alpha.

Landlording is no business for the neurotic… the reactionary… or the timid.

I thought maybe this was an inherent personality trait.

“If you are driven, focused and unshakeable, then a good landlord you shall make.”

But, as a landlord myself, I’ve learned that those steely traits can be developed over time.

That in fact, they must be if there is any hope of long-term success.

Because you quickly learn that if you can’t steel yourself against the regular onslaught of events that the average person would consider catastrophic, you cannot grow a rental business.

Once the work was completed on my first buy-and-hold rehab, there was a horrendous leak. It caved in the newly drywalled ceiling, filled the carpet padding with mold and buckled the hardwood floors.

I stood there in the midst of the devastation while my property managers stood next to me in the midst of an unexpected afternoon project.

Perspective.

As the years go by and my experiences mount, I have begun to see what this perspective is born of...

Landlords have witnessed it all.

Landlords find dead bodies.

Landlords hear stories that would make Mother Teresa weep. Some of them are even true.

Landlords are immersed in the human experience every day.

Landlords are required to be a strange amalgamation of amatuer mathematician, contractor, lawyer, counselor, arbiter, designer, landscaper, mediator, administrator and bookkeeper.

Landlords have watched the deal of a lifetime turn into an infinite chain of problems after the ink is dry and the money is long gone. Sometimes this happens more than once a year.

Landlords have things like floods, rot and pests on their to-do lists.

Landlords are steeled against hardship because what we’ve made it through to get where we are now pushes us to believe we have the power to handle whatever surprises lay ahead.

We’ve been shocked by the unforeseen enough times to account for it every time the phone rings or we open the mailbox.

Even though we really would like to just. catch. a break. this month.

I’m not yet a veteran. I still get knocked down and wiped out regularly. Mostly by the weather and its impact on my aging properties.

But at least I know now that grit and determination will eventually develop into surehandedness and coolheadedness, if I can just come out standing each time.