You can invest in real estate anywhere in the US. You can be thousands of miles away from it and still manage the property yourself. So, why not invest in the highest cash flowing markets? Or even the highest appreciating markets? Don’t allow the limiting beliefs of others slow down your investing journey. All you need are the right processes in place to take your real estate to the next level.
Building Your Team
Now, in order to invest long distance, someone is going to have to be in person. This person, however, is not you. So who is it? Well, it’s your team. The people who will perform the day to day work on the property. The people who will be your eyes and ears, providing feedback on any necessary items.
It all starts with the cleaner of your property. Once you’ve identified and vetted the cleaner, you will plan to have them takeover the regular cleanings of the property. Your cleaner will be the one to stock your cleaners closet and make sure the house is full of supplies and never running out. Your cleaner can also be someone who looks out for damage or missing items. They don’t just have to fulfill the role of cleaner, so understand just how much your cleaner is willing to do.
Now if you noticed, I mentioned a cleaners closet. This is a space for your cleaner to store excess linens and supplies. This closet needs to be locked off and inaccessible to your guests because they will use up all of your excess supplies if you let them. Guests are a lot like wild animals in that way.
Lastly, when it comes to having a cleaner, make sure you have a couple backups once you’ve identified your primary cleaner. There’s nothing worse than an injury the cleaner suffers causing your property to not be cleaned. Also good to have options if prices get raised and you aren’t willing to raise it.
The main question you should really be asking yourself is, “how handy are you?”. If you aren’t a handy person, the path forward is actually quite simple. Use other people who are professionals to take care of the handy work for you. If you are a pretty competent person with your hands, you need to let go of your ego. Allow yourself the opportunity to use other people’s time. You can always talk about the problems you are having with the property over the phone, so there’s no need to even be in person. Interviewing your handyman, having a list of questions, sending them a W-9 to sign is how the process is done.
This is one of the biggest hurdles people have when it comes to long distance investing and managing of their own properties. It’s always, “what if something happens with the toilet in the middle of the night” or “How can I trust it’ll be done the right way?”. These are both poor thought processes because you’re assuming you won’t have processes in place and that there’s no way to prove the work performed.
Instead, create a plan for these emergencies and what steps you will take when an issue comes up. Additionally, force the handyman to take photos and video of the issue and the fix. You can also rely on other professional servicers in the area if the extent of the work is too much for your handyman. For instance, identify a plumber you want to work with beforehand so you have levels and categories of the fixes you will need to make.
Call to Action
You should also considering identifying the subscription button below. All these insights came at a lot of expenses, so I’d greatly appreciate it!
Automation Software
Understanding the technology we have in todays world is only going to benefit you. Tired of cleaning your Airbnb? Then utilize someone else’s time and find a way to pay them. This can be done through using the app Turno, where you can find a cleaner and pay them through the platform. The next step is charging the cleaning fee to the guest, causing the entire experience to be completely pass through. This means you pay nothing and your property is serviced.
Story time
- Starting with Airbnb through house hacking
- Had to move to Denver
That’s it for today, if you found value in this video or have questions, please leave a comment down below. Please don’t forget to subscribe… and until next time, peace!
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