Today Malachy, a little Pekingese, won best in show during the 136th annual Westminster Kennel Club dog show Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012, in New York.

I’m a big dog lover, so I was very interested.

I heard one of the judges say that he loved the way Malachy “owned the ground he walked on.”

My life kind of passed before me as I remembered all the times that I did not feel like I owned the ground I walked on, and all the times when I did feel like I owned the ground I walked on.

But for the purposes of this blog post, I’ll stick to how it relates to landlording. 🙂

The first time I felt like a stranger on my own property is when Josh and I bought an 8-plex.  I arrived on a Saturday to clean a vacant apartment.  A little punk tenant immediately confronted me, and told me what he wanted to do to me and how he wanted to do it.

Holy crap!

My blood pressure went through the roof and I decided I better take a walk down the street.

I called my son, who was on the way to help me, and told him what just happened.

Then I wished I hadn’t done that.

So, I called the police and asked them if they would come have a talk with the punk, because my son is 6′ 3″ and the punk was 5′ 3″ and my son was probably going to come and defend my honor!

That was the first time I felt like a stranger on my own property.

The next time it happened was right after we bought an 18-plex.

A non-paying couple decided to try to start a mutiny.

They cornered me on one of my first days on the property and told me how horrible the area was and how horrible the property was…basically all of the reasons they had amassed to defend their position that they should not have to pay rent.

My guess is that these horrible oppressive tenants are why the former owners sold us these properties!!

I served them.  I evicted them.  I renovated the units.  I rented the units to nice people.

Now I own the ground I walk on.

Don’t let horrible oppressive tenants make you feel like you don’t own the ground you walk on!