Concluding my Landlord Blog.
Sunday, June 1, 2014 @ 4:36 PM
For the last year, three Nigerians and a white English man have lived at Hill View, and so far so good. They're quiet, they're tidy and they pay the rent. We'll enjoy the peace while it lasts. I'll also enjoy not writing about this life as a landlord and shall try to switch off more from the dreadful way some people behave. It can be a lucrative profession, but it can also leave a sour taste in the mouth.
As more and more people think about buy-to-let as an alternative to a pension or alternative to working for someone else, they would do well to read a few accounts such as these, so that they can be aware that it is not always an easy living.
Over the course of my three books on our lives as landlords, I have tried to not only give a description of the potential difficulties, but also in doing so, revealed some of our worst mistakes. I hope others will learn from these.
I serialised two of these books on the Eye on Spain site over the last year and a half, thereby reliving the hassles and sometimes outrageous behaviour of some of our worst tenants over the years. In the course of this I was sometimes on the receiving end of abuse from readers. I shall be including some of these comments in the appendix to this book.
One thing the whole experience has taught me is to sympathise with others in this world when they get tricked, cheated or treated badly by others and not to hit a person when they're down. Some people seem unable to sympathise with others unless they have experienced the exact same problem themselves. What a shame.
Finally, the exercise of writing has been very therapeutic. After baring these experiences for all to see, and after having analysed what was being done to us as landlords, I have now come out into the light. I can honestly say I will never again be so affected by what bad people do to me. I can see that although we have dealt with some immoral people, there are a lot worse things that happen. This is the power of writing. (If any of you out there feel overwhelmed by problems in your life whether these are related to work, home, family, friends, you could do worse than writing about it. It really helps.)
Finally, thanks to all those who have read and made positive and/or constructive comments over the last 18 months. Wait and see - your name and comment will be in print!