A Landlords Tale

 

‘Twas the night before Thanksgiving and all through the house,

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

Now you know that’s not true, cause children of four have we,

And there’s nary a moment of silence, especially in the evening.

 

At 8 o’clock my daughter was baking cookies for the next day’s feast,

And the two littles were roaming the halls making sounds of some sort of beast.

The fourth was stowed away in his own room nice and tight,

While Ashley and I sat on the couch trying to chill for the night.

 

“Armageddon” was on, and Bruce Willis was there to save us all,

When suddenly I felt a vibration letting me know I was getting a call.

But there in my pocket there was a sudden stop to that clatter,

And that made me wonder if it had been a mistake or if something was the matter.

 

I pulled out my phone and on my screen was the sign,

That a tenant had just tried to contact me via Facetime.

I pondered that for a second, thinking that may not be good,

An actual call came in and then I understood,

That a relaxing night would not be on the menu for me.

So I answered the call wondering what it could be.

 

The tenant sounded as if something was bleak,

And she let me know a pipe had burst under the kitchen sink.

Water was gushing all over the floor,

She informed me the water company was not available to come to her door.

She was asking for guidance on what to do,

So a Facetime call with her quickly ensued.

 

As we looked at the pipe the water was flowing quite free,

And no sort of valve that would stop it from gushing was there that I could see.

Even under the house, a main shut off was not there,

And they hadn’t the proper tools to turn it off elsewhere.

 

So I quickly got ready telling Ashley there was no time to peter,

Cause I needed to get out there and shut off the water meter.

She wanted me home; it projected from her core,

But I looked at her and said, “Babe, it’s pouring out onto the kitchen floor.”

Twenty five minutes later I was onsite,

And we got the water turned off in mere seconds alright.

Inside I found a family of five,

The children had ages that mimicked mine.

And I knew I needed to get water back on,

Cause Thanksgiving without water would just make things all wrong.

 

At that time of night, all the supply stores weren’t open,

So I went to my plumbing box just hoping,

That I’d have a part, a piece or something I could use,

And after a few minutes I walked back in with some good news.

I could get the water back on till Friday at the expense of the dishwashing machine,

And they all smiled knowing what that could mean.

Fixed in less than an hour, water would be on for Thanksgiving Day.

With service like that what kind of landlord do they have would you say?

 

They thanked me again for fixing things so late and bid me farewell,

And as I walked to my truck, I thought this would make a good tale.

So here I am passing this on to you,

Because if you take care of your tenants, they take care of you too.

As I opened the truck door, on my walk boards I stood up high

And said, “Happy Thanksgiving to All, and to All a good night.”’ 

 

I always tell you that we never get calls about leaky toilets in the night. And that is true. I have never received a single one of those calls. But we do periodically get water pipes that burst, and they tend to happen at the most inopportune times like this one.

 

Now imagine if I did not have the skill set to take care of this issue. There’s a high likelihood I would not have gotten a plumber out on Thanksgiving eve that late. But if I could have located one, how long would it have been before they were on site and how much damage could have happened before they go there? Even the water company was not available until much later.

 

Not only did this save damage to our house, but it saved Thanksgiving for our tenants. Water was restored and I was on my way back home 50 minutes after receiving the initial call. That was fast.

 

Something else that happened was we sent out “Thankyou baskets” to all of our tenants. And it got delivered while I was there fixing the pipe. They were floored that their landlord thought to send them a thank-you present.

How about that?

 

These tenants have been in that house for going on four years now and have never missed a payment. They communicate well, are good neighbors and they take great care of the house too. And I promise you that because of little gestures and great customer service like this, our tenants will continue to perform and be great to us as well. Remember, it is a tenant-landlord relationship. Make sure that it is not one sided. Take care of them, and they will take care of you.

 

I hope you all had a great and happy Thanksgiving!

 

Joe and Ashley English buy houses and mobile homes in Northwest Georgia. For more information or to ask a question, go to www.cashflowwithjoe.com or call Joe at 678-986-6813.