My landlord's 3-minute speech about my moving out stuck with me harder than any exit interview

Last month I left a 5-year apartment in Austin to buy a condo, and the landlord, this older guy named Ray, came by for the final walkthrough. I expected him to nitpick the scuffed baseboards or the 12 nail holes in the living room. Instead he sat on the kitchen counter and said, 'You're the first tenant who actually treated the place like a home, not a stopover.' Then he told me about how he'd watched 3 other renters move in and out without ever learning his name, and he admitted he just wishes one of them had asked him about the oak tree he planted in 2009. Nobody warned me that the person with the lease has their own life bet on the same walls you're leaving. Has anyone else had a landlord or boss say something that made the big change feel heavier instead of lighter?

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sam1710d ago

Read a study once that said landlords grieve tenants like coworkers.