First Rental Property

Hi There,

I recently wrote an article on the pros and cons of property management.

The article was called:

Property Management Versus Self Management of Rental Property

New real estate investors always struggle with whether they should hire a property manager or self manage their first rental property.

You can now listen to this entire article in a PODCAST.

To listen to the PODCAST, click on the link below:

Property Management Versus Self Management of Rental Property

If you are new to real estate investing, I highly recommend that you listen to the PODCAST.

Happy Investing!

Neil Uttamsingh

I hope you are doing well.

One of the big questions new real estate investors always ask me is this:

“Should I manage my rental property myself or should I hire a property manager?”

My answer to this question used to always be…

“You should manage the property yourself”

After 10 years of buying rental properties, my answer to this question has changed, my answer is now…

“You should do both”

This is what I mean by, “You should do both”.

As a real estate investor, you are a landlord. As such, you need to learn how to be a good landlord. The only way you can effectively learn how to do something properly (in my opinion), is by doing it yourself.

I speak to many new real estate investors who want to buy a rental property and then outsource the management to a property manager without first managing  the property themselves. I used to think this was a terrible idea. Now I don’t think this is that bad of an idea. Here is why:

A lot of people SUCK as landlords.

To be a landlord you have to wear many hats.

You have to be a:

• Relationship Manager
• Collections Specialist
• Book Keeper
• Business minded individual
• An extremely tactful person

…just to name a few.

Not everybody is good at everything. If you naturally do not have the proper skill set of being a good landlord, you should not be one.

If you are a bad landlord, you rental property will suffer.  It may suffer in the following ways:

• You are not good at building relationships with your tenants
• You are not effectively collecting the rent rolex datejust 116244bkmdo herren 36mm perlmutt that it owed to you, and the tenant is falling behind in payments more and more…
• You do not keep track of your expenses properly and you do not keep track of the partial payments of rent that your tenants are paying you, as they are behind and are trying to get paid back up
• You don’t have the vision of knowing what improvements to make to your property in order to attract a better tenant profile
• You are moderately offensive and rub your tenants the wrong way, which reduces the amount of respect your tenants have for you and in turn reduces the amount of respect that they have for your rental property.

If you know that you will not be a good landlord, don’t become one. Hire a professional property manager who is an expert in dealing with all facets of property management.

If you are a new real estate investor and you are choosing to not manage your rental property because you are lazy or you are too afraid of doing it yourself, that is not the right decision.  If you have the skill set, and if you live close enough to loewe 4455 fashionable unisex pants your property to manage it, at the beginning, you should manage it.

You should manage it so that you learn the ins and outs of management.  One day if you become too tired of managing your properties or if your skill set changes and you become deficient in some areas, you should hire a professional property manager.

Investing in real estate is not easy.  It is a long term game that you have to stick with.  If you would like to receive tips from experienced real estate investors for free, sign up for the First Rental Property Newsletter.

Happy Investing!

-Neil

Hi Friend,

I hope you are keeping well.

One of the biggest mistakes that new real estate investors make when they buy their first rental property is:

Failure to communicate with their tenants.

Failure to communicate with your tenants ALWAYS results in a poor relationship with them and potentially future Landlord and Tenant issues.

If you are a regular reader at First Rental Property you know that I always talk about some of the fears that hold people back from purchasing their first rental property.

A couple of the major fears that people experience include:

• The fear regarding managing tenants, and
• The fear regarding the repairs and maintenance of a rental property

Far too often I see new real estate investors purchase a rental property, and then outsource the management of their rental property to a property manager.

There is a constant debate regarding whether or not new investors should hire a property manager or not for the management of their first rental property.

After you finish reading this article, click here to learn how to overcome your fears about purchasing rental property.

I personally am an advocate for new investors to manage their first rental property themselves.

The implications that arise when an investors does not manage their rental property themselves is severe.

When a new investor outsources that management of a rental property to a third party, a property management company, the investor becomes removed from the management of the property.

When you are removed from the management of the property itself, you are no longer communicating directly with your tenants.

Ideally, the property management company that you have hired is communicating with your tenants on a regular and ongoing basis.

Unfortunately, this is not the case in many scenarios.

Due to the nature of property management companies, their time is limited as they are managing hundreds of properties.

When a company is managing hundreds of properties, they often have no time to make warm and fuzzy calls to tenants.

The warm and fuzzy calls is what builds relationships with your tenants.  

As a new real estate investor, you need to be making contact with your new tenants once a month.

I recommend that on the first of each month, you call your tenant in order to touch base.

Do not hide behind email or text.  Actually call your tenant.

Email and text messaging is not as good of a tool when you are trying to build a relationship with your tenant.

Calling them is the way to go.

So there you have it!

As a new investor, you need to be calling your new tenants once a month, on the first of the month.  Touch base, say hello, and see how they are doing.

You will be amazed at how beneficial these telephone calls are in the long run.

This is because very, very few landlords actually do this…

Don’t be afraid.  Call your tenants every month.

Happy Investing!

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

ps: If you are serious about buying your first rental property, sign up for The First Rental Property Newsletter.  In the newsletter you will read about tips and tricks from experienced real estate investors on how to buy your first rental property!