First Rental Property

Hello Friend,

I hope that you are doing well.

I have a short post for you today, but a very important one.

I first learned about state management from the very famous Anthony Robbins.

I attended one of Tony’s live events in New Jersey, USA, called Unleash the Power Within.

State Management is a very important concept for you to know about if you are going to purchase your first rental property.

More importantly, if you are going to be successful as a real estate investor over the long term, you need to know what state management is and how to master it.

The important thing to realize about state management is that as a real estate investor, if you do not develop the ability to control and master your state, you could very well fail.

Without state management mastery, you can fail very easily…

With a lack of awareness of state management and how it effects the human mind, you could decide to quit real estate investing once and for all, and sell all of your properties after one bad day.

With real estate investing, you will come to learn, if you have not already that there are many ups and downs that you will go through.

It is your responsibility to manage those ups and downs.  Overall, it is important to not remain too excited when experiencing the highs, and not to remain too down and out when experiencing the lows.

If you are feeling down and out on one particular day, and you don’t know how to snap out of it, you could be moments away from throwing in the towel once and for all with real estate investing.  You may make a rash decision when you are feeling too low.

Therefore, the importance of state management is critically important for you the real estate investor.  You need to maintain a level and balanced state throughout the duration of your real estate investing career.  There will be happy and sad experiences that you will go through as a landlord.  Whether it is a happy or sad experienced, it is important to maintain a consistent state.

Check out the videos below on State Management.

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

ps: First Rental Property will be making a big announcement soon.  Check back into the blog frequently for the upcoming news! You don’t want to miss it!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6V75B_K2kM[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0XE8-pcy1Y[/youtube]

Hi Folks,

Hope all is well on your end.

At times, real estate investing can be a lot of fun and very fulfilling.  This is of course when things are going well.  On the flip side, real estate investing can be very worrisome.  During these tough tiimes, you wonder to yourself, if it makes any sense to contine investing.

There is one important lesson that I have learned over the years as s real estate investor.  This lesson is to ‘treat your tenants with respect’.

For some of us, being respectful to others comes easy.  Whereas for others, it is a bit of a challenge.

I will give you a quick breakdown of some of the things you need to do in order to show your tenants respect.

1) Speak to them politely

Don’t be aggressive with your tone.  If you do, they will be aggressive right back to you.  If you speak to them in a good manner, chances are  that they will return the favour to you.

2) Respond to them promptly

If your tenant contacts you, return their call, text or email quickly.  It is your job to ensure that everything in their home (your rental property) is in good order.  If your tenant is contacting you and it is not in regards to paying rent, there is a high probability that it will be in regards to a maintenance issue in the property.  Respond to them quickly.

These are 2 simple things that you can do in order to show your tenant respect.

If you treat your tenants with respect, you will have fewer problems as a landlord.

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh.

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are doing well.

Today I would like to share with you some observations that I have made with regards to land lording.

Many people looking to invest in real estate never end up doing so because they become terrified of the concept of becoming a ‘landlord’.

Some of these aspiring real estate investors believe that once they become a ‘landlord’, they will become a hated person.  A hated person by their tenants, and perhaps a hated person by their friends and family (so they think).

There is a belief out there that all landlords are unappreciative, wealthy Land Barons, who do not have their tenants’ best interests at heart.

I can dispel that myth for you right now.

As with any walk of life, there are bad apples out there that ruin the reputation of the good.

Of course there are some terrible landlords out there that do the unspeakable of things.

We do not care about that group of people, because we are the ones that have to focus on ourselves, and what we are doing in order to create and maintain a good relationship with our tenants. After all, we cannot control other people’s actions, we can only control ourselves!

Personally, as I look back over the past 5 years, in which I have been a landlord, I can confidently say that I have taken serious initiative in order to maintain a good relationship with all of my tenants.

Becoming a landlord that your tenants both like and respect is not hard…

…It does however take effort and consistency.  You also have to be coming from a place of authenticity.  If you are not genuine in what your are doing, it is better to replace yourself with someone who is.

Here are some of the actions that I have taken over the past 5 years as a landlord.  I am continually learning myself and adjusting and tweaking what I do as time goes on.  You can use this list as a guide. Use this list as a resource as well.  These are things that have worked for me.  Maybe you can add to this list, or speak to other experienced and good landlords who will be able to add to the list.  Also, feel free to make recommendations to me as well, so I can add these to my list!

How to become the nicest landlord your tenants will ever have

• When interacting with them, listen 80% of the time, talk 20% of the time
• Do what you say you are going to do
• Return their phone calls and e-mails promptly (same day)
• Smile
• Be proactive — (contact them on a regular basis)
• Don’t let maintenance issues get out of control – deal with them. (now)
• When they first move into your property, give them a nice welcome present (I give a Welcome Basket)
• Around Christmas (a.k.a. ‘The Holiday Season”), drop off to them a present (again, I like giving a good ‘basket’ or a gift certificate)
• Don’t be reactive — (if you are a reactive landlord, in my opinion, you are not doing your job)
• In order to gain respect, you have to show respect.  –(show respect to your tenants)
• It is better to over communicate with them than under communicate

So there you have it!

The above list is by no means an exhaustive list, however, these are the things that I have done over the past 5 years, which have helped me to continually become a better landlord.  Again, feel free to add to the list with some of your recommendations!

To keep up to date with my blog, you can enter your e-mail address on the LEFT hand side of the blog.  In order to receive The First Rental Property Newsletter, you can enter your e-mail address on the RIGHT hand side of the blog.  In the Newsletter, experienced real estate investors will share with you how they bought their first rental property.  They will also share with you some valuable tips and tricks on how to get started as a real estate investor!

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

What’s up Everybody,

It is the first day of the month today.

The first day of the month is always a very important day for real estate investors.

If you are a real estate investor, then it is more than likely that you have also acted as a landlord for some period of time.

It goes without saying that there are good and bad landlords out there.

As a new real estate investor, it is important that you become a good landlord, and not a bad one.

But how do you become a good landlord?

Well, I will share with you some key points that I believe help to contribute to someone being a good landlord.  These are all things that I do, that I believe have helped me to stay proactive as a landlord.

Here is my list.  Feel free to add to the list in the comments section below…

How to be a proactive landlord

• Contact your tenants at least once a month.

I always make it a point to contact my tenants on the first of each month.  I do this because I understand that I am in the customer service business as a landlord.  My tenants are my customers, and I want to ensure that my customers are happy.  If there is anything that is bothering my customers, I want to know about it, so that I can proactively take steps in order to fix this.

• respond to customer requests promptly

Don’t you hate it when you have a customer service issue, you need something taken care of right away, you call a customer service rep, and you never get a call back? Or maybe you do get a call back, but the call back comes a week or more later…  During this time, the issue that you had called about has been frustrating you to no end!  I hate it when this happens to me.  That is why whenever, I have a request from one of my tenants (customers), I do my best to address the issue as fast as I can.  It may be that I personally won’t be able to solve the issue for them, but what I do is ensure that I give them the necessary resources so that the problem can be addressed and quickly solved.  One of my greatest resources that I can provide to my customers is my trusty handyman.

• maintain a good working relationship with your handyman

If you are not using the services of a property management company, you will have to have a trusty handyman that you can rely on.  Whenever you have an issue come up with your customers, that you cannot handle yourself, and that requires the services of a handyman, you need to contact your handyman right away so that he/she will be able to fix the problem in a timely manner. Thanks to our partners, you can find online to suit every preference and budget, from budget to top-of-the-range super stylish models.

• Provide periodic gifts to good tenants to show your appreciation

Providing periodic gifts to tenants/customers throughout the year is a great way to show them that you appreciate them.  I am a fan of sending something out to my customers during Christmas time.  In addition, sending a gift to them at certain anniversary dates (such as the one year anniversary date) of them renting from you is a smart idea.  This generosity on your end is essential in maintaining a high level of customer service.  Just as large corporations acknowledge their valued customers, so should you be acknowledging your valued customers.

Add to the conversation.  Let me know what things you are doing in order to be proactive as a landlord.  If you are not a landlord yet, what are some of the things that you will implement once you do become one?

I have included a short video clip of a property that I will be closing on later this year.  Check out the video below.  You can also subscribe to my You Tube Channel, where I will be posting more videos like this one.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6cArIuN2F0[/youtube]

Keep up to date with my blog.  Enter your e-mail address on the left hand side of the blog.  Or you can click on the orange RSS button on the top right hand corner of the blog.