If you don't want to practice your "firm diplomat" skills, lol, you might want to stay away from dealing with residential tenants.I worked for a PMC where the owners owned the PMC. 

I would add that the end is not in sight now but history is on our side in that every crisis has ended and every pandemic has ended.

When a tenant has a life crisis event, like a serious personal illness or death in the immediate family, we send a card with a love gift. ($50)During extremely cold weather or extremely hot weather we make a personal visit to each tenant to make sure they are prepared for the weather and are keeping safe.Our "All Star" tenants are those that pay their rent on or before the first of the month consistently over time, take care of the property and follow the terms of the rental agreement and our property rules.  

So, if all I got were welfare recipients with horrible credit and iffy co-signers - it was time to raise the rent.If I got high end tenants who weren't biting, after viewing the apartments, the rent was too high.My apartments were in a great location, well maintained, full of quiet tenants - but - it was converted to apts during the housing crisis during WWII, and they had not been upgraded much, except for new cheap carpet LOL. 

Many people, and especially elderly people, or people from another culture, can be afraid of having to learn something new and feel or look stupid.My job as a resident apartment manager, was to be a diplomat - as well as an enforcer. 

What did you mean by having great timing by selling in February before the crisis?

. - laws that were put in place because of the lender insanity during the mortgage crisis during 2008 crash. 

The trick is to stay calm and diplomatic and friendly, but say "I can see that you're not happy, but I'm not able to accommodate you.  

If you call their bluff, but remain calm and diplomatic, in my experience, they give it up.

And you can do that in a diplomatic way, while smiling (genuinely).