Being a landlord isn't easy. You will have people lie to you. You will have people destroy your property. Some people will waste your time, call you names, treat you poorly, and try to take advantage of you.
Your skin gets thicker when you have to deal with all these things over the years. You become less empathic and less gullible to victim stories. Your bullshit alarm gets triggered more often, and it's only natural to develop these things for self defense. You have to defend your resources, your time, and your sanity.
It's Not Personal, It's Just Business
It's always personal. Businesses don't exist without people and every business decision has a personal outcome for somebody. This is just an excuse to do something in the best interest of the business. If you are a landlord then you own the business and it's always personal to you and/or your family.
Explore A Different Point Of View
This is very powerful and not everybody can do it. Step out of your own shoes and into somebody else's to understand the situation for them. Everything your tenant does is for a reason. Before you assume they did something negative to spite you stop and think about it. Do they have a reason to be mad at you? Could another event in their life been the reason?
Knowing What You Did
If you and a tenant aren't getting along you could have some fault for it. I'm not saying you should take the blame but stand back and think about the actions that led up to now. How would you feel in their situation? Could they misunderstand how you feel or not know what you expect of them? If you can figure out what is causing the problems you can take steps to correct them and end up with a stronger landlord / tenant relationship.
Be Frank
Not everybody can do this either but the quickest way to a resolution is to come straight out and talk about the issue. Don't hem haw around the issue, ask. Communicate. Be honest. Be sincere. Understanding each other is a win-win and is good for business. I might have to do a future article just on this.
Care
This one is simple. Care about people. Care about your tenants. They are people. They have life and relationships and struggles and dreams. A landlord and a tenant help each other fulfill their needs and as a landlord you should feel good about your part.
-Billy