Hi Brain, Jill and Dabbers,
First, thank you Brian for your faithfulness in presenting the word of God everyday.
I have something heavy on my heart that I would like to get some feedback on. I am going to try to choose my words carefully and try to make my thoughts clear and concise.
Background:
My husband and I live on an island in the Pacific Northwest that is very affluent. We did not choose the island, God chose it for us. Period.
My husband and I come from very humble beginnings. My husband was a son of a logger and was raised in rural America. He literally wore the “hand-me-down clothes” of his father and grandfather. His family was dirt poor. His father was told, by his employer, that if he got his sons to work for the company, he would get a promotion. My husband’s father told his boss that his sons would never be loggers and refused the promotion.
Currently my husband has been working in technical support in the Biomedical Engineering field for forty-nine years. He is a God-fearing, humble, caring and loving man.
Long story, I was raised in a very dysfunctional family. I was not taught how to manage money; frankly, I never saw any adult, in my immediate surroundings, handle money responsively. They were basically “consumers” not “acquirers,” or owners, just workers going to a “job” being miserable, making others miserable and just really unhappy unhealthy people. I’ve been homeless three times, but my life really changed when I got “real” with God. I literally cried out to Him, telling Him that I was truly sorry about repeating behaviors I had witnessed growing up and therefore, not being a good steward of my finances. When I confessed these things my life completely changed.
It is amazing what God has done in our lives. We came from humble beginnings. Today, we are millionaires but we don’t let that get to our heads. Why would we? Just about everyone around us are millionaires too, so no big deal. I wear my same gardening clothes and shoes every day; my husband sits at his computers and does biomedical stuff Monday through Friday in a tee shirt and jeans. I cook from scratch and we eat about ninety-nine percent of our meals at home. I prepare food from our garden. We are basically “home-bodies” and like it that way.
Enough of the background. This is the dilemma we need prayer and support about…
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We own properties in different states. Since March of 2020, we and other landlords have experienced tenants that out right refuse to pay rent. We have tenants that have a steady source or sources of income but believe that because we own an apartment, that they live in, we must be rich and therefore, we don’t deserve or need the money that they contractually sign to pay us every month. They believe that they are entitled to stay in our apartments, for free, while we fulfill what we promised in our rental agreement, to pay utilities and provide clean and safe housing for them.
Our property management company explained to us that one of our tenants refused to sign paperwork for us to get paid for back rent because, “…He didn’t want to get in trouble…” Meaning, because he is receiving Social Security every month, he was supposed to use the funds to pay for his housing expenses. However, since he has not paid rent for several months, (Only the Lord knows what he has done with his money…), he thinks by signing the paperwork he is admitting to squandering his Social Security.
There seems to be no empathy or understanding, from the people who refuse to pay rent that landlords have to maintain the property in accordance with local and state guidelines, pay taxes, utilities, insurance, management fees, real estate attorney fees, etc.
Eventually, the moratorium will terminate. I am trying my best to handle this stressor in a way that honors God. I do not want to see anyone homeless; I know what that is like. But, personally speaking, the day the moratorium is lifted, I want our property management company to file eviction papers on every single tenant that had the money to pay rent but didn’t.
Yes, I am angry. Our property management company has talked repeatedly to the remaining tenants that didn’t evacuate their apartments in the middle of the night, to avoid paying rent.
Seriously, it behooves me, that grown people in their 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and 60’s would think that life is “a free lunch” and they don’t have to take any responsibility and pay for anything…just let somebody else pay for them. Truly UNBELIEVABLE!
So, please pray for me… Maybe, I
am too close to the situation to see a different view? I don’t know… Yet in still, pray for other landlords as well. My husband and I were told two Fridays ago, when we went to our banker, that there are MANY landlords who have had to refinances their mortgages that they have on their rental property(ies), pay fees and penalties because they couldn’t make the mortgage payments because tenants wouldn’t pay their rents, sell their property(ies) because they were swiftly getting into phenomenal debt and those who just are hanging on hoping things will get better…soon.
Thanks everyone and anyone who took the time to read this. Once again, please pray for my husband and I.
Thanks
Kathy