348/365 – people to thank who have had an impact on me. In my mind, I feel I live a slightly charmed life. For all that I’ve been through, I still see the positives and I think for the most part I have been thrown back positivity in most anything I take on. As a teacher, salary-wise, we are adequate. We will never be millionaires and would live a decent life. Before the inheritance I received upon my dad’s passing, I decided to get an investment property to get ahead of the game. I bought at the height of the market in 2008 and what happened – the market crashed. I “lost” $50,000 on the condo I purchased in that all the others in the building were then priced that much lower 😦 Hmmm, maybe I don’t live that much of a charmed life on second thought 😉 I kept the long-term goals in sight and rented out the revenue property in highly sought after Yaletown. My first tenants were fine. Then that’s where it went to hell. The next tenants went out to work and left the bathroom sink running which flooded my unit and leaked into the unit below costing me thousands. Then the next tenants ended up housing up to 15 other students in a 725 square foot apartment unbeknownst to me. Guess what that cost me in strata bylaw infractions! If those tenants were not bad enough, I then ended up with the tenant from hell – well, actually his mother. Since he was 21, she paid and caused me no end of grief – phoning me day and night, screaming at me, threatening to call lawyers, the police etc as he had lost his keys, lost his fob, window was broken, it was too busy in the city etc etc. Oh man! I should rethink if I live a charmed life. Unfortunately for me, I manifest stress in the worst way possible – alopecia areata – yup, chunks of my hair on my head or in my eyebrows, or facial hair fall out. That year, I had horrible hair!! Having to evict and subsequently go to residential tenancy arbitration, I finally ended up with decent tenants. The first couple stayed for two years and were amazing. The current couple is at the end of their two years – fingers crossed that they stay. I didn’t realize the value of good tenants until I had the nightmare of years previous. With these current tenants, the fridge had to be fixed or a slight problem with the laundry machine but that is so minor in contrast to what I had to go through. I’m also feeling assured that they are taking care of my place. I didn’t ever want to be a landlord but here I am trying to create an inheritance for my own kids and I’m learning a great deal. I have to thank both the good tenants and backhandedly the bad ones because the learning curve of being a landlord was steep but I have begun to figure it out. Am I ready to invest in another property – hell no but I have the life lessons I have taken away are amazing and would definitely help me if I were to contemplate a similar situation in the future.
randysangha 