Ughhh, I cannot believe what a headache it has been to be a landlord... and we've only been at it for a few months! When we bought our new house, we decided that the best thing to do in this economy was to rent out our townhouse and sell it eventually if housing prices go back up. A ton of prospective renters came to our realtor, but were all rejected because of low credit scores -- too risky. Finally, we found a single woman who worked at a pharmacy and seemed totally legit. Praise God, someone who might be able to pay the rent on time!

Wrong! It has turned into a complete nightmare. Her very first check bounced already -- the security deposit! This month beats all though. When her rent didn't show up on time, I called her a week later to remind her so she wouldn't incur any more late fees. She told me that she had already mailed it and it must have gotten lost in the mail. A red flag went up, but Tony and I decided to show her mercy since it was the first time rent was late. So we said OK -- just send in another one and we won't charge you late fees. Another week passes. Still no check. So I called her again. And AGAIN, she said that she mailed it and it must have gotten lost in the mail AGAIN!

Now getting lost in the mail once I might buy... but twice?! In all my years of using the USPS, none of my mail has ever gotten lost. The USPS is highly, highly reliable.

So then we arranged to have her drop it off at our house the next day, Saturday. I waited at home all day... no check. I have tried calling her work, her cell, and emailing... no response! This is becoming ridiculous. We even threatened her with eviction. Of course, I don't even know if she got the message...

Just now, I tried to call her work again... FINALLY, someone answered and said very professionally, "okayholdon." I held... and held... for freaking 10 minutes. Then I hung up and called back. I was greeted by a nice automated message that said "The pharmacy is closed. We will reopen at 2pm." It's 1:30pm! WTF?! I'm actually very suspicious that the person who answers the phone every time I call actually her... and she's just pretending that she isn't available. Because she always says "she isn't here" or "she can't come to the phone." And it totally sounds like her voice! That would be sick.

Sigh. We honestly don't want her to be slammed with all these late fees... I just want to help her get the rent in on time. Is that so hard? She's a freakin' pharmacist! It's not like she doesn't have the money. Well, I guess I can't know all her circumstances, but it's hard not to be frustrated in this situation. Maybe God is trying to teach us about grace and mercy.