I’ve had many landlords before buying the home that I live in now.  There have been really good ones and not so good.  I’m a nice person and a reasonable tenant.  Whenever I left an apartment I was thanked and told I was lovely.

The placed I lived the longest was in Providence.  I was upstairs and the old Italian couple who owned the house were on the first floor.  In 1998 they charged me $450 a month for an apartment with two bedrooms, a double living room, kitchen, pantry and bath.  The rent included heat!  It was a beautiful place that had the most gorgeous built in bookshelves and a balcony under an oak tree where I put a rocking chair so I could enjoy reading outside on a fall evening.  It had been recently wallpapered and the wood floors refinished because their daughter was supposed to move in, but for some reason I wasn’t aware of, those plans changed.

I lived in that second floor home for eight years.  I had Tupperware parties, tree trimming parties,  sleep-overs with nieces and nephews and friends.  I enjoyed decorating the place for holidays and just in general.  Several holiday seasons I even ran my cheesecake and cookie business from that little kitchen.  It was by far my most favorite place, not including my current home, that I’ve lived.

Only once in those eight years did my landlords raise the rent and did so apologetically.  The cost of heat  had been rising and so they asked if I could afford another $50 a month.  I gladly obliged; there would be NO way I would ever find such a great apartment for that price–anywhere.  So my thanks today goes to Marge and Joe for being such terrific landlords!

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