I've blogged about our rental house before. We are reluctant land lords, because this is not an investment property. This is the house we used to live in, and put up for sale when we moved almost four years ago.

We've had three different renters in the house. The first was an interim pastor, who didn't pay very much for rent. My thoughts in renting the house to him for well below market value was that it was some income, plus he would maintain the house (which he did), and pay the electric, water, and heat bill (which he did), and keep the snow shoveled out of the driveway (which he did very well). He also paid his rent a day or two before it was due. But, (I thought) the best reason to rent to him well below market value was that if the house did sell, we could ask him to leave, no questions asked. Well, the house didn't sell, and he left when his interim period was over.

October 2010, new renters moved in. They paid substantially more than the previous renter. They were OK renters. They always paid their rent, just not on time. It was always paid three or four days after it was due. They made a few complaints along the way, and we always felt that they did things to undermine our efforts to sell the house. They moved out last June.

In July, our new renters moved in. They are paying a bit more than renters #2, and they pay on time. We don't hear much in the way of complaints from them. We still wish we weren't land lords, but if we have to be, this is better than a couple of other alternatives.