Praise - Finding new Tenants

direpath

Member
I own a rental home with two suites. We have had decent luck with the upstairs, but a non-stop stream of bad tenants downstairs. First one was three young guys (first mistake) who trashed the place and sold pot out of the suite. Second was a young Christian couple with a young daughter. They still owe us $5000 after we bent over backwards trying to help them out. Third one was a single mom who insists that no one likes her and that she has a raw deal. Again we did all we could to help her out but in the end her screaming and antagonistic approach with the neighbours, plus late rent, led us to evict her. Needless to say, our faith in people has been scarred a bit for it. I think at this point I have heard just about every excuse for late rent that I could think of.

So...we put it up for rent again after cleaning up (still about $7000 in arrears from now two tenants ...sigh). Then we wait.

We had a young couple that seemed interested but wanted lower rent as they could not afford it. We were about to rent it to them but they found another place. The only other tenant option was three guys, two in their late teens/early twenties, one who is 40, all of them in Construction. We have a young family upstairs and something about the three guys with that age range just unsettled me. I asked my wife to not rent to them. It felt like we were just taking the first person to come forward and I wanted to be patient and wait for the right person/family.

So we sent a posting of our rental out to several of the churches we have connections with in town. We really wanted to find someone who wants to be a good tenant, might need a place, might need help. So she calls me today (my wife) and tells me that there is a lady we know at one of the churchs, going through some stuff and she needs a place for her and her two children. Three bedroom. Now she can only afford a little less than what we were about to rent it to the other couple for. Done, I said. Lets do it. I felt God move in me to accept this as his will. We were patient at the risk of not being able to make the mortgage payment and He came through. Praise God.

I feel especially awesome about this lady because even though we benefit from having a new tenant, she will benefit greatly from the quiet environment and neighbours. I pray God continues to move through this situation and brings some healing to her and her family. Also, praise God for not letting us get drowned in debt despite the sheer amount of back rent owing.

Anyways, I was excited about this and wanted to share some of God's awesome timing with the lot of you.
 
I too have rented out property, and helped parents, in-laws and friends with rental, so know how precious good renters are. Will say Praise The Lord with you for finding a good one.
 
Thanks. I'm really hoping this one works out. We have done everything we can to ensure tenants are decent but at the end of the day you don't know until they move in some times.

One thing we have learned is how lopsided the system is in favour of tenants. Our hands are so badly tied when it comes to getting our late rent and evictions, it is ridiculous. That and I have learned that the small courts system up here in BC is devoid of accountability. Quite a shame.
 
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