Be ready to comprise for a lower amount ($500) even since you do like them and to build goodwill.

You are buying this business, which includes real estate, along with the "goodwill" of the existing customer(s). 

It is an opportunity to build good will and our tenants don't abuse it.

By responding to the human need, we have built good will and loyalty.

It would give me an opportunity to look around and make sure that the home is still in good condition and cause goodwill with the tenant.

We add a little "Welcome Home" note with reminders about contact info, trash pickup days, etc.We spend less than $20 on this generally and it goes a LOOOONG way in establishing the initial relationship and creating a little goodwill.  

It is a modest use of my time and the expenditure is minor but I find it helps in building goodwill that comes in handy with subsequent issues as they arise.

It will buy some goodwill (if you even want to retain this tenant), give you some control over the aesthetics, and it will cost you a lot less than the time it takes to argue with him and write this post does. 

Re-frame in your mind that the money you're spending now for the tenant's electricity, prior to the separate metering of their unit, is the right thing to do and a small price to pay to establish good will.

The food is going to a local church and the clothes will go to Goodwill.