Monday, March 15, 2010

Family Loyalty Vs Reliable Client

One of my relatives phoned to ask if she could rent a specific property from me. She's downscaling so she can save money to start her own business, and the price range for the flat is perfect for her. The only problem is that, I already have tenants in that place and they've been living there for over 3 years now.

They're ideal tenants - pay on time, live very quietly and I have no complaints from neighbours about them. They keep the place very clean and even undertake minor repairs and just give me receipts for whatever they had to buy to fix something. ( no handyman costs). They have really made owning this property a pleasure. So in an ideal world, I would be praying like crazy that they never think about renting somewhere else or buying their own place.

Except, I like my cousin, and she has never asked me for help before. And in general, my cousin is very reliable too. So I'm hesitant to just say no to her without thinking things through first. But I do know that the arrangement with her will be short term - a couple of years until her business is up and running.

What do you think would be the smarter biz/life decision?

3 comments:

po said...

Erk. Difficult decision. I know I would prefer to keep things the way they are, but would probably help the cousin cos of family ties etc.

Tamara said...

Tough one. I'm not close to my cousins, so I'd probably go with the current tenants because I'd feel bad asking them to move, and then I'd help my cousin look for a spot. I'm always nervous of mixing family and money because things tend to get complicated.

Damaria Senne said...

@tamara, po - I still haven't come toa decision and vaccilate between yay or nay everyday. And you are right tamara; one has to be careful about mixing family with money/business. But somehow, it's hard to say no when the person asking has never asked for any kind of help before. I know it was hard for her to ask

Copyright Notice

With the exception of entries specifically credited to individual authors, the content on this blog is copyrighted by Damaria Senne and may not be reprinted without permission.