we gave him one years rent upfront when we moved in in 2006 for a discount. i figured he’d hold on to the place for at least a year. this was pre-crash, but i still had potential landlord defaults on my mind, even in 2006.
i was kinda early.
i think he gave us 15% off or so, which I figured was better than a 20% return on the 20 odd thousand I was giving him, tax-free. not bad, really…
we really started to seriously save for a house around then, sincei didn’t have to pay rent for a year, and we could really see our savings add up fast. became a habit. next thing we knew we had over 100k in the bank.
then when the year was up, he continued to rent to us at the discounted rate…
we were there 4 1/2 years and i paid early every month.
on the other hand, i didn’t complain about little things. IMO, i was a reasoable, cool tenant.
my wife occasionally wanted me to complain about smallish things but i never did.
he did necessary repairs, like a leaky gas burner, quick. he was a good calm dude.
