For Rent

We own a couple of rentals. The income from these at some point will be our retirement. We have never had a problem filling our rentals, even in January. This year, re-renting these units has become a nightmare. Both the tenants in this duplex took advantage of Obama's $8000 incentive to become first-time home owners and vacated the building. We reduced the rent on one side by $150 and got a new tenant but the unit was vacant for a month. We reduced the rent by $100 on the other side and are........waiting. One prospective tenant e-mailed to cancel the viewing because she is allergic to cats. She drove by and saw this cute little kitty sitting on the stoop. A young couple came to look and loved it, but then offered us $200 less a month and said God would take care of them. One woman while sauntering around commented, "It's a renter's market, ya know?" She decided the place was too small. When tenants don't pay the rent/mortgage, we do and we have our own money woes at this point. We let the current tenants stay longer than their lease to be "nice". Our kindness gave them time to get into their new Obama-supported house. Probably a mistake for us. With these rentals we always need to keep in mind that they are a business. Being kind will cost us money; money that's hard to come by these days. But, maybe in the bigger scheme of things it was the right thing to do :)