I am noticing a huge difference in my ‘approach’ to this new home. I treated the last house well and respectfully: no holes in the walls for hanging pictures; I put rugs down in the places Scout was most likely to lie in order to protect the carpet; I handled the fragile blinds with care; (although that last point was more because I didn’t want to pay for new blinds). It was a nice enough house and I was well-behaved.
But this place feels different. I met the owner; he personally toured me around; it was his grandmother’s home; he showed pride in the improvements; and he has checked in with me frequently over the last two weeks of transition. And he was offering me a property he didn’t have to let over the winter, because I was in a bind. Because of all that, I am much more conscious of treating this house well. I made sure the movers were using the mudroom entrance with its lino floor; I have placed castors under all the furniture legs on the carpeting, etc.
So imagine my dismay on the first evening when I realized one of the movers had left little oil stains wherever he had stepped. Crap. What would Shawn think? I scrabbled around in the cabinets and found a bottle of Dr Beckmann’s carpet cleaner. Crisis averted! (It later turned out it wasn’t the mover’s fault, really. The garden here is full of shrubs with berries of some type, and the birds had been eating them on the front stoop. I have since scrubbed the stoop.)
Well, that was all very well and good, until the next morning, when I knocked over an entire cup of hot tea. All over the carpet. Not again. Crap, crap, crap. Tea can leave really bad stains. Out came the Dr Beckmann, down on the floor I went, and 24 hours and two applications of cleaner later, the carpet is as good as new. Thank God. That stuff is amazing.
The learning out of all of this (other than to set my tea on a sturdier surface) is that there is something to be said for getting to know your tenants personally. The real estate agent who rented out my Milton house last year did say, “Try to be as nice as you can to tenants; it makes a difference down the road.” And now I’m seeing the value of the personal touch. I must remember this for my next round of renters back home – maybe a nice card or gift on their arrival.