"NoGood Deed" Revisited

I have a very strict rule that I treat my rental business as a business. Mixing business with good deeds is usually an invitation to be punished. I've learned that lesson over and over again, but I still apparently haven't been punished enough.

At the beginning of June, I rented one of our one-bedroom apartments to an older gentleman (70+ year old guy) that was living in a rooming house. He checked out fine with our screening and receives a government check each month. When he moved in, he literally carried all his belongings in a few grocery bags. We don't have any furnished apartments and I had no idea that he didn't have any furnishings. The guy has literally lived in this apartment for the past 2 weeks with nothing: no couch, no chairs, no bed, no air-conditioning - NOTHING! We do provide a stove and refrigerator, so at least he could prepare food (if he has utencils).

Although I have the reputation of being a hard nosed landlord, I try to be a Christian (not easy when you deal with bad tenants). I feel very bad for this man who is living in an absolutely empty apartment. Just after he moved in, I put out the word that I was looking for furniture that anyone was giving away. I told all my family members and told our small group at Church. A couple of people thought that they were going to have things, but so far nothing had happened.

Today, I felt that I needed to get him some furniture, even if I had to buy it. As it happened, a local village near me was having a community yard sale day. I almost never carry any personal cash (more than $5-$10). Therefore, I made a trip to the bank to get a little cash for the furniture. On the way to the bank, I drove through the yard sale and saw a couch that would be appropriate. I got the cash at the bank and drove straight back to the yard sale with the couch for sale. As I pulled in, three men were loading the couch into a pickup truck. UGH!

I drove around the rest of the village looking for another couch. As I turned onto the next block, I saw another couch and as I pulled up I saw the sign on the couch: FREE TO A GOOD HOME! Wow! Maybe this was meant to be! The couch was in good condition and a man helped me load it up.

I took the couch to my tenant's apartment. Since the tenant is elderly and frail, I asked the tenant in the front apartment to help me carry the couch to the elderly tenant's apartment. When the front apartment tenant realized that the elderly tenant was living without air-conditioning or a fan, he donated two fans that he had saved when a previous tenant had been evicted.

While I was at the apartment building, I stopped in to fix a drawer in another apartment. This young coupe had moved from a larger apartment to save money. As I entered the apartment, the first thing the tenant said was that they still hadn't found a place for all their stuff and that they were getting rid of a matress that was right in the middle of their living room! I explained the situation with the elderly tenant and they offered to give the elderly tenant the mattress.

I was quite excited about the way this worked out! I planned to buy a couch and found one for free. One tenant donated two fans and another tenant donated a mattress. In addition to the elderly man being very happy, the two tenants who donated things to their fellow tenant felt good about themselves. All in all, a good day!

Unfortunately, my instincts tell me that I'm going to pay a price for doing a good deed. EVERY TIME that I have done a good deed in the past, I've been screwed by the tenant. One tenant even tried to fake an injury and tried to sue us! I'm hoping things will work out better this time. I'll keep you posted.