But as a veteran Landlord will tell you, your tenants are not your friends. They are your business associates. Unless a there was an existing relationship between you and your tenants (and in which case, it may be healthier for everyone involved if they rent somewhere else), don't try to develop a friendship with them.

Landlords who have been in the business for many years sometimes lean on the opposite: they may not be nice enough. This, too, is a logical reaction to the experiences that many seasoned landlords have gone through. After you've dealt with years of late payments, non-stop repairs and requests, damaged properties, dishonesty, evictions, and possibly even a court case or two, you're likely to look at property management from a slightly more pessimistic viewpoint.

To a degree, assuming a more skeptical stance towards landlording can be useful. At the very least, it will almost certainly help you make better decisions during the tenant screening and selection process. But it's important to make sure that you don't let yourself become fed-up, suspicious, or just downright nasty. Nothing spoils the landlord-tenant relationship like unpleasantness.

So which is the best way to go? Should you be the Kind Landlord or the Callous Landlord? Well, like so many other things in life, the best approach to take in property management is somewhere right in the center. Develop an atmosphere of detached, professional civility in all of your dealings with tenants. This is a business relationship, and you should always act accordingly.

Even if the business relationship becomes displeasing as a result of late payments or damage to the property, it's important that you stick to a demeanor of pleasant but detached. If you respond to an unfavorable situation with too much emotion, their response is likely to be very emotional as well, which may only make the situation worse.

For example, if you have commenced collections because a tenant has a balance due for late rent, keep your tone calm and rational even while you continue further into the collection process. This can be gained by focusing on the severe consequences that will occur if the tenant continues to withhold payment. It's much more effective to ratchet up the communication with facts, rather than emotion.

So, the answer to the perpetual question of whether you should play the ?good cop? or the ?bad cop? in your landlord-tenant relationship? Neither of the above is the way to go. Instead, remember that your tenants are neither your friends nor your enemies -- think of them as business associates, and treat them accordingly. Your best bet is to adopt a neutral tone of detached professional civility, avoiding the question of ?kind or callous? altogether.