Ever been the bearer of bad news to your STR tenants?

[Paul Sandhu]

The first time was pretty petty.  A guy had a flat tire, and I took it to get fixed while he worked.  There was a chip on the rim about the size of a quarter where the bead goes.  Had to have the rim tigged before it would accept the tire.

Second time, some of my tenants working day shift called me around 3:00 and said they were all leaving.  The whole crew had been layed off, day and night shift.  Probably 20-30 guys.  I gave a partial refund to the day shift people, then headed over to the big house where 8 night shift guys were probably waking up.  Here I am at the door with several hundred dollars handing out refunds.  The foreman asked me what was going on.  I told him that he was layed off.  He get's on the phone with his boss and I hear "Why the eff am I being told we're being layed off by our landlord instead of you!"  I figured they already knew before I went over there.

Third time.  2 of my tenants were neighbors and turned into good friends.  Eventually one of them moved back home.  The tenant that was left, he eventually died while he was renting from me.  I contacted the ones that moved back home to let them know.

[Luke Carl]

PVC that goes from the house to the septic tank on one of my houses busted and had to cancel the guest. Really not a big deal job and was under a grand to fix, but not an instance where it's a good idea to be pumping more waste down the toilets. 

Told the guest the house had an issue and they'd need to call airbnb to be placed elsewhere (the online platforms offer this service for free as they should. It's a house after all. There are occasional problems). 

Guest threw a FIT! Totally over reacted as if we had the only house for rent in the area in which there are 10,000 of these things and it's easy to find another. 

SO.... I told the truth. Sorry dude, there's raw sewage in the back yard you don't want to be here. 

"I'm an airline pilot for American Airlines and I'm going to post your piece of junk house on the American Airlines Employee Facebook page and tell everyone to stay away from it and no one will ever book your house again. Good luck with your nasty raw sewage." 

I hope I'm never on that dudes plane.