All things being relative

Our neighbors across the street are our favorites. They are a wonderful family and we just love 'em. Their house is a 2 family and they own another in Hackensack that they bought from a family member after renting from her when they first married. We walk our puppy over to their house for play dates with their dog who is a little older but the same mix of breeds. They are BFF's and play like mad. Yesterday, their upstairs tenant of 20 years was moving out after buying a house down the street. Their 2 family in Hackensack though has given them a lot of grief in the last 5 years. It has suffered damage from tenants. They had to evict several and are in that process again. They have had to sue for unpaid rents. It is not easy being a landlord and even though I have had some jerky tenants in the past, I have never had the problems they have had and never needed to go to court or got beaten out of months of rent. Steve was beside himself yesterday. Normally a funny guy with a ready joke and smile, he was morose like I'd never seen him before. I think they are seriously thinking about selling that house now. (I've thought for years that they should swap it for a 2 family closer to us in a better area so they'd get better tenants.) I know that if I was going through the same thing, I'd be losing sleep and irritated too. Even if you sue someone, there is no guarantee you will ever see the judgement paid to you. Owning real estate SHOULD be a good way to get ahead but people can really screw you over and there are more laws protecting them than you. I was upset myself when I came back from their house. These are good people who are being taken for a ride by yet another bad tenant. The idjit had a broken toilet and never told them and they just spent 2500 dollars in water bills. Then I thought, "ya know, ya gotta put it into perspective." He and his wife both have good jobs and incomes. So many in our area have lost their jobs and houses due to the economy. They are healthy, as are their 3 kids. They will be investing a little into fixing up the apt. in their house and then re-renting it for ALOT more money. They are solvent and none of their problems are going to break the bank. They own two 2-family houses in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country. I know everyone's problems are VERY real to them. It's hard sometimes to stand back and look at the big picture, especially when you are right in the middle of a tumultuous time. But all this will pass. They will get everything straightened out and re-rented. It's hard to learn over and over just how untrustworthy people can be, but there are lots of folks today that would trade problems with them. As a matter of fact, I would give up both our houses and everything we own if someone would just tell me that my husband does not have cancer. Even so, the family in the next town that just lost their beautiful 7 year old daughter to brain cancer would probably trade places with us in a heartbeat. It's all a matter of perspective.