Posted by By Oretta Croushore, Property Manager for Home Rental Services
“Growing up is scary because it happens without you knowing it” – Taylor Swift
What Taytay doesn’t know yet is it happens without your parents knowing it, too. One day you’re changing diapers and feeding bottles. The next, you are buying Capri Suns and dino nuggies for a teenager.
I’ve been thinking a lot about growing up lately. Don’t worry, it’s not because I plan to do it anytime soon. You see, my tiny baby, the one I brought home from the hospital yesterday… well, it seems it was a lot of yesterdays ago somehow. In the same week, she started her senior year of high school and turned 18! I’m not crying, my eyes are just sweating.
There are so many ways our children learn about the world and prepare for adulthood.
I feel there’s an incredible benefit to kids when they understand what their parents do for a living. I remember getting to go to work with my mom sometimes on Saturdays. When I was old enough, she started to bring me to help with inventory. I had heard about this mysterious and stressful event my whole life. Suddenly, one day, I was qualified! Turns out, that was not as glamorous as I had led myself to believe, but it was still good experience. For one of my first jobs I was the receptionist at my mom’s job during the summers in late high school. Talk about life experience!
Kiddos in the Office
I appreciate that Kandy has always accepted our kiddos in the office from time to time for various reasons.
When we worked in the office, Poppy would come to work with me during school breaks and various days off. She made move in bags, sorted keys, and learned the joys of filing. She also got to experience some of the day-to-day stuff I do in my job. She could hear me talking on the phone to people. She learned that some calls are fun and easy and others are difficult and require diplomacy.
When we came home to work remotely, she was doing remote schooling. We sort of built a little office dynamic of our own. We’d get together and discuss our days, share silly things we’d heard that day, or roll our eyes at ridiculousness.
As I’ve been thinking a lot about her being at the horizon of adulthood, I started to think about the things she has learned by being immersed in my work world. After all, she was 10 ½ when I started at HRS so a little less than half her life has been spent in the property management world. I asked what she has learned, and was impressed to say the least!
Eviction
We can’t discuss what Poppy has learned about property management without talking about 5th grade Poppy. That was the year she taught her class about evictions.
The class was discussing things they had done recently over the weekend. She said, “I didn’t do much but today my mom is doing an eviction.” Oddly, most of the 5th graders didn’t know what this was. “An eviction is when you don’t pay your rent and my mom comes to your house with a policeman and makes you leave.” This is the most simplified of explanations, but I like to think the kids in that class don’t want that to happen to them. I’ve always wondered if any of those kids went home and asked their parents about being evicted. I can only imagine that confused dinner conversation.
A few years ago, Poppy attended a court trial with me for a renter holding over.
It was interesting to observe her watching the different cases as they came up. If you’ve ever sat in eviction court, you know there are cases where people just don’t care… but there are also those where life has dealt them a rough hand. Poppy has gone on a ride-along to an eviction lockout and waited with me while the sheriff checked the house to make sure it was vacant. She learned why we change the locks immediately, unplug the garage door opener, and check all the windows to make sure they’re locked.
In one of my proudest moments, Poppy spent several days with us at a house helping an evicted renter pack his belongings. She brought no judgment with her. She brought compassion. She and the renter bonded over anxiety and ADHD. She learned that we never know what life might hand to us and circumstances can change on a dime.
Reading is fundamental – even in boring contracts
Leases are long, boring, and full of legalease. You still have to read them. Like any contract, if you sign it, you are agreeing to it.
Poppy has heard me direct renters to certain clauses in the lease. I bet she can quote the late fee clause in her sleep. She learned that grace periods are not a given, and she knows why late fees cannot be waived. Much like the stories you hear in eviction court, the stories about being late can run the gamut from accidental all the way to heartbreaking. Now she knows that a lease is actually protection for both the landlord and the renter.
The landlord can’t randomly raise rent mid-lease, the renter can’t decide to withhold rent because they are upset about a leaky faucet, and the lease trumps anything that happens with the sale of the house. Since she knows these protections are in place, she has been able to direct some friends and their parents to fight for their tenant rights.
The dark side of this knowledge of how leases work is that my kid has a strange fear for someone her age. She cannot imagine committing to a lease longer than 6 months long. “I don’t know who I will be in 6 months from now! I don’t want to be stuck in something.” We are working on that one. I might have to let Kandy address that with her in the near future. Mom can only teach so much.
How much does a house cost?
Poppy knows how much a house costs. Or she at least has a decent idea of how the cost of houses in a particular area tend to be in the same price range. One thing she surprised me with when we were talking about this was her understanding of the housing market. She explained to me that she has learned that there are fluctuations in the market and when houses cost more, rent is going to be higher.
Fair Housing
When I brought up Fair Housing, Poppy told me about redlining and how that affected many communities. What’s important to me is not only that she understands the fundamentals of Fair Housing but that she has used this understanding to make her school make sense. Red lining led to a discussion of ghettos and project housing.
A recent ordinance passed in Kansas City , MO has been the topic of discussion in my house a lot recently. Today, I learned that Poppy has been educating others on this ordinance and explaining the dangers of these kinds of policies. She’s even been accused of making up such a ridiculous thing until she tells them to Google it.
One day I woke up and realized my baby is growing up.
Though it’s hard for a mama to let go, it’s amazing to see the growth our children go through. I do not recommend adulthood to anyone; hold onto childhood in any way possible. Sadly, it happens to all of us. We have to make adult decisions and move forward doing scary things. I am proud that I’ve been able to share some of the knowledge I’ve gained in the world of property management with my child.
My advice? Take your child to work. Let them know what you do and who you work with. The next time you are looking over a contract, share it with them. You will be surprised what they learn and retain from the experience!
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