How many of us have heard of horror stories of tenants from hell? First up, they do not pay on time. Secondly, some do not even pay and yet refused to move out! Third would be those who messed up the place and we only got to know about it when they moved out. Next would be those who unreasonable and unbelievable requests. Somehow almost every time we rent out the place, the problem repeats itself. Think about it. When all these happens, it could be due to the tenant, the Fengshui (if you believe in it) or YOU.
Haha. Yea, it may just be the owner, maybe. Yes, I do have ONE (1) case where I had to go through a lot of hassle to move that tenant. However, other than this one case, we could also look at some of my tenants as below. This is just my personal experience. No idea of it is true for all owners yeah.
One tenant (Malaysian Indian engineer) rented from me until he bought his own landed property in Penang. Tenant bought a home which was 4 times more expensive than the home he rented for 4 years. He has managed to save a lot of money I guess because of low rental which he paid and he drives an Iswara 1.3 He was never late in rental and the home was clean enough when he moved out.
Another tenant (Malaysian Indian) is now a corporate legal advisor and helped to look after my home and my other tenants too! Yes, he is still a friend today. He rented the master-room and acted like a leader of the home where two other ladies were also fellow tenants.
Another tenant (Malaysian Indian) is a doctor. I have NEVER ever reminded him to pay the rental even once. It’s always in and once he banked in on the 3rd of the month, he said sorry for being a few days late. Once, the door knob was spoilt. He told me and I said I will pay for it, just need him to liaise with the contractor. A few days later, he told me he bought a new door knob and replaced it. He paid for it in advance and when I wanted to tt him back, he said, he will just deduct it from next month’s rental.
A group of Petronas University students (3 Malay ladies) stayed at my place for 8 months. When it was the last day, I went to take the keys and on that day the mother of one of them came and chit-chatted with me and even helped to sweep the floor! Haha. Rental was always on time.
There are more of these but I think it’s enough as a sample. Perhaps I am just so lucky. Somehow my tenants are always so good to me. Actually, when I really look back, I think one of the main reason why they were good to me was because I was good to them. When the Malay university ladies said the washing machine was giving problems and it was already 5 years, I went to order a new washing machine and have it sent over within 48 hours. I also paid RM30 to the lorry driver to remove the old washing machine.
When the doctor (the door knob case) said the air-conditioner was not cold, I immediately suggest that he call the air-con technician to check and just replace if needed. I will tt the money directly. Just send the bill over to me. It was an immediate response and the air-con was replaced within days.
Whenever I visit Kelana Jaya when I was still based in Penang, I would drop by my condo which was rented out to the Indian legal advisor and I would buy some fruits and even invited all the tenants for a good lunch where we chit-chatted about the world and everything.
Yes, I deliberately mentioned the race because to me, everyone is equal and I do not choose my tenants because of race. I believe good people will always attract good people and I will always remember this story I read a long time ago.
A man who was about to move to a new city arrived at the train station. He asked the train master about the people in that new city. Are they good people? The station master asked him, “how about all your friends here in this city, are they good people?’ The man answered, “oh… I will miss all of them here. They were all so nice to me.” The station master said, “The people in that new city are also very good people…”
A few days later, another man who was also moving to that new city asked the station master about the people in that new city. Station master asked, “How are the people in this city which you are currently staying?” The man replied, “Oh… I hated the people here. No one is friendly at all.” The station master replied, “The people in that new city are the SAME as the people in this city.” Happy understanding yeah. Cheers.
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