I was just curious how many people here used to rent and if so did you have bad experiences with former landlords? If you're willing to talk about it, I'm curious if it made you a better business person and how did it affect your networking? Did it make you hesitate to start in real estate in any way?
I rented a few times, but mostly with small individual landlords. I really enjoyed them and it was all a good experience. The only problem I ever had was lawn maintenance. One landlord told me he had a lawn maintenance company and it was a key reason why I chose to live there. 6 months later he cancelled the contract and told me I now had to do it. This was problematic as I was installing mailbox sites all over western Canada and could be gone for weeks at a time.
The only thing it taught me is not to change terms on tenants. I ended up unhappily arranging friends to stop by and help me out when I was gone. When the lease was over, I was gone even with him offering a rent reduction. Do what you said. Integrity is bedrock for me with my small portfolio.