Really all it does is stroke their own emotions as a landlord......

This makes me feel like emotionally I share a lot of traits with those grandparents who used to hoard items due to the pain they experienced during the depression.

Tough love might be the best solution in the long run, but our emotions are in play. 

For me, my family and I frankly are not emotional people, and we do business with each other quite often.

With a house and one tenant the whole cash flow and monthly rent payment hinges on that tenant and what is going on in their lives emotionally and job wise to be stable, keep the property in good condition, and pay the rent on time and in full.    

But it seems it's always the emotional one who has no money and can't buy out the other heirs who can't let go and won't sell "the family home". 

In other words, after you have done your homework and know what numbers make sense, never get suckered into emotionally running up with the numbers simply in order to get the deal.

Be thorough, crunch them, and don't make an emotional decision, make a fact-based one...

I have an emotional stake.  

Even though she logically understood that $450 was better than buying a house with foundation and water problems, the emotional part of her was upset because she had spent years saving for the downpayment and now she just "wasted" 3% of that fund.When I took the real estate agent classes I vividly remember a story told by one of the teachers.