A Happy Landlord Story

Mr. Partner is refinancing two homes. I should mention that I have been asking Mr. Partner to do this for years. A few months ago he looked at the interest rate of one of his mortgages and decided it might be worth pursing. This is a home we bought in 2005 and things were a bit different then.

Fast forward to about three weeks ago. The underwriter of these mortgages asked for some very common items, leases, bank statements, tax returns and the like. Most of this paper is kept at my house so I needed to provide it. Which, I did. However, two of the leases: one for Ms. Angie's home and one for Mrs. Sherwood's home have expired. Like years ago. I was absolutely floored when I realized Mrs. Sherwood has been living in this home since 2007.

Anyway, because they are such awesome tenants and rarely call me before 6 a.m. (though Ms. Angie did text me at 4 a.m. my time last week), I haven't really done anything with their leases. This arrangement has worked out fine for all parties involved until the underwriter got hold of everything two weeks ago. At that time she wanted explanations as to why I don't have current leases. She also wanted something in writing showing they were still living in the homes and paying the rent.

Mr. Partner asked me to handle this two weeks ago. I got sidetracked by some personal issues in our lives and completely forgot. However, the ever-diligent Mr. Partner did not forget and reminded me 10 p.m. Sunday night when he told me he needed it first-thing Monday. 

Monday morning I left frantic messages for both Ms. Angie and Mrs. Sherwood telling them I needed their help, would they please check their e-mail, sign the letter I wrote for them and get it back to me in record time. I also pathetically explained to their voice mail that: 1) this needed to happen immediately--just in case I hadn't stressed that enough and 2) there was nothing wrong and this would not affect them.

Both of them obliged without batting an eye. In fact, Ms. Angie went so far to call me and I believe she may have asked if I was ok and to tell me the letter she needed to sign should be back in my inbox at that moment. And, if I needed anything else, just say the word. Or at least that is what I gleaned through her extremely thick drawl. Mrs. Sherwood didn't say anything at all. The letter just appeared in my inbox fifteen minutes later. However I did text her and say thank you. I got a quick reply, "You are very welcome." 

And this is why these two tenants are not in property management.