What would it be? What is that one thing that is giving you headaches/ problems over and over again? :help
Better yet, what is the biggest hassle in your RE business you wish you didn’t have to deal with on an ongoing basis? :help
Is it managing all of the different leads, properties?
Is it calling all of the leads and following up?
Is it marketing to find motivated sellers?
Is it doing comps, repair estimates?
Is it supervising your subcontractors to do the job right?
Is it managing everything in your business, leads, marketing, tenants, prospects, properties, comps, and everything in between?
Or is it something totally diffferent?
Vent here guys, it will make you feel better! :biggrin
That is so true. I deal with subs all the time and they can be a real pain in the you know what. it is hard to find a good contractor that is going to do a good job and on time.
Thats one of the first few good relationships I want to obtain. A good relationship with a general contractor whom I can call for help with repairs no matter what it may be. I wouldn’t mind him subbing stuff out that he couldn’t do, but would like to have him avail at all times.
1.slacker (non-paying) tenants
2.loan brokers who promise the world and don’t delivery squat
3.workers/contractors who seem to show up to the jobsite at random times (as opposed to the beginning of the work day)
1.slacker (non-paying) tenants
2.loan brokers who promise the world and don't delivery squat
3.workers/contractors who seem to show up to the jobsite at random times (as opposed to the beginning of the work day)
I agree with that. I eliminated 2 of the three headaches by never using loan brokers and almost never using contractors (except HVAC, which I haven’t taken on yet).
Do screening services (that run a credit report and such) help filter these people out?
Yes, screening the tenants does help greatly, but that won’t eliminate them. Tenants can go bad while living in your apartment and they can allow their druggie friends to move in. In addition, people lose jobs; choose to become lazy; get involved in domestic situations; etc - all of which causes them to become deadbeats. It is just a normal part of the business.
I guess I am the odd duck in this thread. I don’t have any headaches because I outsource all my labor (OK, not all, I still do my own tax returns but I enjoy that).
I am a buy and hold guy. I just make all the problems (headaches) of rental property ownership someone else’s challenges. Professional property managers take care of the tenants and toilets for me.
A real estate broker automatically sends me foreclosure leads every month in one of my farm areas. I have a cash flow model on my computer that tells me quickly whether a particular property will meet my investment rental criteria. My mortgage loan payments are set up on the lender’s autopay programs. I use direct debit as much as posssible with my recurring bills such as utilities and HOAs.
I have mild bursitis, so my shoulder hurts a little with heavy lifting. I eliminated the pain from carrying all my money to the bank each month by having my managers do direct deposits to my bank account.
The bottom line is that you don’t have headaches if you put systems in place that make your business operate pretty much on auto-pilot.
I agree with a lot of this because its similar to what I do. However, I come from a manufacturing/engineering background so I always look for continous improvement. For example, I now have 5 property management companies and clearly they are not all A performers. Also, some properties will “sleep” for years and then become a pain. I probably tend to over-inject myself in those situations which cuases me to work super late hours (like tonight).
In summary, I think real estate at its core is really about project management in many ways. Transfer, mitigate or avoid risk, communication, solid processes. Its the old 80/20 rule. With good systems and processes, 80% of your issues can be mitigated, avoid,etc and you can focus on the 20%. If you don’t have that, well…your hosed becuase things go crazy.
THANKS Dave. That’s what I am trying to get at here. You clearly had some headaches early in your business and you found solutions to those headaches. Now, most of them are gone. You created systems for the different portions of your business. This frees up a lot of your time, let you count your money :), and do what you enjoy to do most.
Not only have you developed systems for the external factors that are affecting most people here, but you developed them for your internal business as well. That is some great stuff.
Do any of you feel that having systems like that be beneficial to your business success? I do.
The last few posts remind me of what I read in the book “The 4-Hour Work Week.” Automate as much as possible, find long-term solutions to problems and leverage your time as much as possible. Thanks for the posts!
I have been told to do a contract with the contractor agreeing on payment depending on when he completes a satisfactory job. If he/she is done early, he gets a little extra. If he/she is done late, he/she gets less. Agree on everything in writing with a deadline before they start. Also agree in writing to any problems that could arise.