First Rental Property

Hi Folks,

There is an old real estate saying that goes something like this…

“It’s time in the market, not timing the market that counts”

Today is May 4th.  Star Wars Day.  This is the day that fans celebrate Star Wars created by George Lucas.

You might be wondering what Star Wars and rental property have in common…

The truth is, they don’t have much in common.

However… since it is the most important day of the year for Star Wars fans, let’s have a little bit of fun.

Imagine this…

It is May 25th 1977.

This is the date the movie Star Wars was first released…

You excitedly travel to the movie theatre with your friends to watch this epic film for the first time, expensive (and salty) popcorn and soda in hand…

That very same afternoon, you also closed on your very first rental property.

Fast forward to today’s date…

It is May 4th 2016.

39 years have passed since the day you watched Star Wars for the first time, and since the afternoon you closed on your first rental property.

You still own that property today… 39 years later.

Not to mention, you have also successfully rented out the property over this period, and you have become an effective landlord over the years.

How much would your property be worth today?

Let’s assume that you purchased the property for:

$100,000 on May 25th 1977.

You purchased the property in a relatively decent real estate market (major North American City) that has experienced approximately 5% appreciation annually.

The value of your property today (May 4th 2016 – Star Wars Day), 39 years later would be…

$670,475.12

Imagine you bought more than one rental property back in 1977….

Happy Investing!

Neil

PS: Do you have, or know someone that needs to sell a  property?

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Hi There,

If you are looking to purchase your first rental property, the location where you buy it is extremely important.

I recently had a conversation with an aspiring real estate investor who was interested in purchasing his first rental property.

He was asking my for my opinion on a location that he had heard about that was a good place to “buy” a rental property.

I had a lot of advice for him.  Here are 5 GREAT tips I gave them:

TENANT PROFILE

I asked him how WELL he knew the city he was interested in investing in.  His answer to me, as “not very well”.  This is one of the first questions I ask aspiring real estate investors because I want to get a sense of if they are being realistic or if they are living in “FANTASY LAND.”

The reason I ask this questions is because I want to gain an understanding from them if they know anything about the types of people in the particular city they are interested investing in.

In this potential investors’s case, he was not familiar with the area at all.  As such, I explained to him that the City that he was looking to invest in was very different from the city that he was currently living in.

The city that he was living in has high demand for rental properties, and there is a large tenant pool of young professional tenants, with excellent credit, and high paying jobs.

The city that he was interested in investing in, has a large population of multi-generation renters with poor credit and lower paying jobs.

He had no clue that there actually was a difference in the tenant profile from his city versus the city he was interested investing in.

This is one of THE most important factors when you are looking to buy your first rental property.  You have to have a very good understanding of the tenant profile that will be renting from you.

CHEAP HOUSE VERSUS EXPENSIVE HOUSE

This aspiring investor was attracted to the city he wanted to invest in because the prices of houses were CHEAPER than the city that he lived in where the prices of rental properties were more EXPENSIVE.

I told this new investor that just because the price of homes are lower, does not mean that they are a good investment.

There are other thing to consider, such as:

a) What is the future potential for property appreciation for the rental property

b) Why is is so cheap?  Is the property location in an undesirable area, or is the property in poor physically condition?

c) Does the property cash flow on a monthly basis, despite it being lower in price?

BEING ON A BUDGET

Everybody is a on a budget, no matter what it is that you are buying.  Purchasing a rental property is no different.  You are also on a budget.  However, you have to be realistic with your budget.

Meaning that, if you are looking to purchase a rental property in City A, and the average cost to purchase a rental property is $100,000, however, you have only been approved for a mortgage of $50,000, and all you are willing to spend is $50,000, how are you going to buy a property in City A?  The answer is, you are not going to buy a property in City A, because you are not being realistic with your expectations.

If you budget is $50,000, and the average cost of rental properties in City B is $50,000, you will have to re-shift you focus and look at buying a rental property is City B, where you can afford it.

WINNING THE APPRECIATION GAME

In a number of cities across the country (not all) there has been good property appreciation.  Who doesn’t like it when you buy a rental property and it appreciates in value from the moment you purchase it, to the moment you sell it?  That is fun and exciting and a great way to make money.  No one wants to buy a rental property that will depreciate from the moment they purchase it, lose value, and that sell it for a loss. That is not fun at all…

My point here is that no one has a “Crystal Ball” as to how much a rental property is going to appreciate from the time you purchase it to the time you sell it.

If people could predict the future, they would not be purchasing rental properties, they would be buying lottery tickets.  (Buy One Lottery Ticket, Get One FREE! Buy Now!)

This leads nicely to my next point…

BUY FOR CASH FLOW

The truth is that most new investors have no idea what they are doing.  The fellow I was speaking with, simply wanted to buy a property to rent out, in a City that people (with no real estate investing experience) had told him was a great place to buy.  So far, he was unrealistic with his expectations in what he could purchase in that City.  His budget was $50,000, however, the average price of rental properties in the city was $100,000.

Having said all of this, even if he could afford the $100,000, he did not even know whether the property, once rented out to a tenant would Cash Flow or not.

Take a minute and stop and think.

Why would anyone buy a rental property, that does not cash flow?

For the property appreciation maybe?

But what if you cannot predict how much a property is going to appreciate?

What then is the purpose of buying a rental property?

Here is a hint…

Actually, here is the answer:

CASH FLOW

As a new investor, if you act on impulse and purchase a rental property in a City that people have told you is a great place to buy, you are unfamiliar with the tenant profile, do you think you are making a wise decision?

Let’s say you get lucky and you obtain a tenant that is paying you on time every month.

If you have not done the numbers in advance, and if your rental property is NOT cash flowing (property expenses are greater than monthly rent provided by the tenant), how long do you think you are going to be able to sustain this, and continue to keep this rental property by providing money out of your own pocket in order to pay for the monthly expenses?

The reality is for many, not very long.  I see a lot of new investors make this mistake, and then find themselves in a position where they are forced to sell their rental property within a year’s time.

SUMMARY

If you are looking to purchase a property, but don’t have enough money, or if you have bad credit, you should consider The H.O.P.E. Program.  The H.O.P.E. Program has assisted more than 12,000 people get homes who NEVER thought they would be able to to.  The Program has even helped those with BAD credit get qualified.  It is one of the best Rent To Own programs as it gives access to thousands of listings for Rent To Own homes.  CLICK HERE to enrol in The H.O.P.E. Program or to get your credit fixed.

Happy Investing!

Neil

Hi Friend,

I hope you are doing well.

Over the past several years I have helped many people buy their first rental property.

During this time, I have also noticed that there are a series of common questions that are asked by new real estate investors.

One of the common questions that always comes up by new real estate investors is:

Do I need to check the tenant’s credit?

The answer to this my friend is, yes.

Any experienced real estate investor will tell you that if you are not careful with determining a tenant’s credit history, you can find yourself in a world of trouble.

In the early days, I made the mistake of not checking a tenant’s credit once, and it did not result in good things.  The tenant did not pay rent, was troublesome, threw parties at night, smoked weed, disturbed neighbours, piled up garbage in the yard, and swore at me.  Needless to say, I ended up evicting the tenant.

All of this could have been avoided had I simply checked the tenant’s credit before hand, as this would have given me a further insight into the tenant’s previous habits.

Beginners make mistakes.  I have made mistakes myself and I know countless experienced real estate investors who have made these same mistakes.

I run a lot of workshops for new real estate investors and I have found that the question regarding ‘checking a tenant’s credit’ always comes up at these workshops.

A while back, I had to take a step back and ask myself why this question kept on coming up.

After some careful thought, I concluded that this question came up time and time again by new real estate investors simply because:

They did not KNOW HOW TO check a prospective tenant’s credit.

The fact that they did not know how to check credit, prevented them from even attempting to check credit.

The bottom line here is that people are generally lazy.  If there is an easy way out of doing something, people will take that easy route.

The easy way out for a new real estate investor to NOT check the credit of their tenant is by NOT CHECKING IT!  Simply put.

The good news here my friend is that checking a tenant’s credit is not difficult.

Now, there are countless Credit Check companies that you can search online via Google.

You can try finding credit check companies by typing in things into the Google Search bar like:

• credit check companies for tenants
• credit check companies in {your country}
• how to check a tenant’s credit

Hi Friend,

I hope you are doing well.

If you are looking to purchase your first rental property, you may have a question or two about rent collection.

If you do, that is normal.

A lot of new real estate investors have questions regarding this topic.

I often get asked by new landlords how they should be collecting their rent from their tenants.

There of course is a variety of ways in which you can do this.

In this blog post, I am going to outline for you a number of these methods as well as some of the potential pros and cons of collecting rent in these various manners.

Here are the methods in which you can use to collect rent from your tenant.

1) Post Dated Cheques

When your tenant first moves into your rental property, you can ask them at the beginning of their lease term to provide you with a series of post dated cheques.  Many landlords do this, because this is a method that works.

This mode of rent collection is both easy for the landlord and easy for the tenant.

It is easy for the landlord because, they do not have to make monthly trips to the rental property to pick up the rent.

It is easy for the tenant because they do not have to arrange their schedule and make time to meet their landlord each month.

There is also a big downside with collecting rent in this manner.

Since the landlord is not travelling to and meeting with the tenant each month to pick up rent, there is reduced opportunity to meet the tenant face to face and build a strong relationship.

2) E-mail Money Transfer / Bank Transfer

In this day and age, technology is awesome!  There are new options available to us in the world of banking than ever before. An example  of this is the email money transfer.    Tenants can now transfer to their landlords their monthly rent in the form of an email money transfer.  This is an efficient way to collect rent and it saves time for both the landlord and tenant.  Scheduling a time to meet to pick up rent in person can sometimes be challenging.  This mode of rent collection solves that problem.

3) Pick Up Rent In Person – Cash or Cheque

Although not practical in every case, this is my favourite mode rent collection.  This is my favourite mode of rent collection because it allows you as the landlord to build a strong relationship with your tenant on an ongoing basis.

Not only does it allow you to build an ongoing, strong relationship with your tenant, this strategy allows you to check on the property on a monthly basis.  If you have great tenants, you get to see each and every month how well they are taking care of the property.  On the flip side, if you have tenants that you are not too sure about, this method allows you to carefully observe the condition of the property.

So there you have it.  These are three modes of rent collection.  There are other ways in which you can collect rent, however, as a new real estate investor, you should focus your efforts on one of these 3 methods.

Happy Investing!

Neil Uttamsingh

ps: If you are looking to buy your first rental property, sign up for the First Rental Property Newsletter.  You can do this by providing your name and email address at the top right hand corner of the blog.  If you do, in the Newsletter you will receive tips and tricks from experienced real estate investors on how to buy your first rental property.

pps: I am a Licensed Realtor in Ontario and I help people like you buy their first rental property everyday! I personally own Hamilton real estate, Oakville real estate and Toronto real estate.   If you need help purchasing your first rental property or your next rental property, write to me at NEIL@FIRSTRENTALPROPERTY.COM. I will help you negotiate the best price, terms and conditions on your rental property. Buying in the US? No problem!  I will refer you to one of my trusted partners.  Happy Investing!  🙂

Hi Friend,

I hope you are doing well.

In today’s blog post, I am going to share with you the most important secret that all new real estate investors NEED to know.

However, before I reveal this BIG secret, Let’s take a step back and go over a few items first….

ITEM NUMBER ONE

If you are just starting out as a real estate investor, I would like you to know that investing in real estate is NOT EASY.  

Many people talk about it, but very few people ever end up taking action and buying a rental property.

Over the years, I have coached and guided many people as they purchased their first rental property.

You may be surprised to know that probably 1 person in 100, ever end up buying a rental property.

Of those people who end up buying a rental property, many are under prepared or not prepared at all.

When the going gets tough, they end up selling their rental property.

They may encounter difficulty with their tenants or they may be faced with repairs and maintenance to the property that they haven’t planned for.

The conflict with their tenants may be unsettling and the best way they know how to deal with it is by selling the property.

The repairs required on the property, may cost them more than they have available.  As such, they might be forced to pay for the repairs and maintenance to the property by using leveraged funds.

Using these leveraged funds to repair the property makes them nervous. They become so anxious that they end up selling the property as a result.

So as you can see, purchasing, owning and effectively managing rental property is not easy.

However, it is not that hard either.

It is not that hard if you:

Never sell you property!

This indeed is the number one secret that you need to know.

If you never sell your property, you win as a real estate investor.

From the time in which you purchase your rental property, there is a good chance that you may face  conflict with a tenant or have to perform unplanned repairs and maintenance on your property.

That is a given if you are a real estate investor.  These things are going to happen.  There is no avoiding them.

The reality is that many people will sell their rental property when things become difficult.

They key thing for you to remember is to never sell your property.

That is the number one secret to buying rental property…

Never forget that…

Happy Investing!

Neil Uttamsingh

ps: If you are interested in buying your first rental property, sign up for the First Rental Property Newsletter by entering your name and email address in the top right hand corner of the blog.  If you do, you will receive tips and tricks from experienced real estate investors on how to buy your first rental property!

pps: I am a Licensed Realtor in Ontario and I help people like you buy their first rental property everyday! If you need help purchasing your first rental property or your next rental property, write to me at NEIL@FIRSTRENTALPROPERTY.COM. I will help you negotiate the best price, terms and conditions on your rental property. Buying in the US? No problem!  I will refer you to one of my trusted partners.  Happy Investing!  🙂

Hi Friend,

I hope you are doing well.

If you are looking to buy your first rental property, you need to understand very quickly the importance of finding great tenants.

By far, your tenant is your greatest asset, and not necessarily the rental property itself.

Having respectful tenants that pay you rent every month will make your life as a real estate investor much easier.

Not all landlords are good at attracting quality tenants.

That is because, not all landlords are good!  🙂

There are a lot of horrible, confrontational landlords out there.

Being confrontational with your tenant, in a destructive way is one of the worst things that you could do as a real estate investor.

Starting conflict with your tenants when problems arise is not a good strategy, because this will never benefit you.

As the saying goes, “You attract more bees with honey”.  Try it!

Let’s now address the question you are asking yourself:

How do you find quality tenants that pay rent every month?

Well my friend, there are quite a few strategies to achieve this.

However, the one strategy that I would like to share with you is:

Obtaining referrals from existing tenants

This is a strategy that very few landlords every try, but it is a strategy that works great.

Your existing tenants are a great source to tap into in order to obtain referrals for other great tenants.

This is also a great method in reducing the length of vacancy you may have with a given rental property.

For example, let’s assume that you have 2 rental properties.  You have great tenants in both of the properties, and one of the sets of tenants have decided to move.  You are now in need of new tenants.

The first step that you should take is simply asking both your sets of tenants if they know of anyone who is looking to rent.

In the majority of cases, your tenants would be thrilled to refer you someone they know who may be looking to rent.

In addition, if you have treated your tenants with respect and been kind to them over the course of the tenancy, they will serve as an advocate for you in helping you find another quality tenants.

There you have it!

The best way to find quality tenants that pay you rent on time is by asking your existing tenants for referrals!

Happy Investing!

Neil Uttamsingh

ps: If you are looking to buy your first rental property, please sign up for the First Rental Property Newsletter, by entering your name and email address in the top right hand corner of this blog.  By doing this, you will receive tips and tricks from experienced real estate investors on how to buy your first rental property.

pps: I am a Licensed Realtor in Ontario and I help people like you buy their first rental property everyday! If you need help purchasing your first rental property or your next rental property, write to me at NEIL@FIRSTRENTALPROPERTY.COM. I will help you negotiate the best price, terms and conditions on your rental property. Buying in the US? No problem!  I will refer you to one of my trusted partners.  Happy Investing!  🙂

Hi Friend,

I hope you are doing well.  If you are a regular reader to the blog First Rental Property, you will be well versed on the methods people use to find a rental property.

If you are a new reader and you are in search of buying your first rental property, today is your lucky day.

Whether you are a new or returning reader, in this blog post I am going to identify one major that people are  using to find their first rental property.

Here is the method:

1) They use An Investment Savvy Realtor

If you have done any reading at all on how to buy rental property, you will know that you must find and use a Realtor who is well versed with investment knowledge.  It always serves as a good reminder to always seek out the services of a Realtor with investment knowledge and experience as a real estate investor.  The reason you do this is because at the beginning of your real estate investing career, there are going to be many things that you do not know. A good Investment Savvy Realtor will be able to fill in these gaps of knowledge for you, and provide you with guidance based on their first hand experience.

Here is an example of how an investment savvy realtor can help you:

Many new aspiring real estate investors believe that when buying a rental property, it is wise to buy a property in which there are currently tenants residing in the property.  They feel that if there are already tenants in place, there will be no risk of vacancy during the initial first few months of ownership of the rental property.

Some might believe that this is a wise choice.  However, there can be major problems with this type of approach.

A Realtor who has experiencing owning and managing rental properties of her own, can provide the new real estate investor with guidance in this matter.

The guidance in this situation from the Realtor could be as follows:

Realtor:

“It might be a great idea to inherit these existing tenants when you purchase this rental property.  This might be a great idea because it will save you from having a few months of potential vacancy when you are in search of new tenants to reside in your rental property.  However, there is a downside to inheriting tenants when you buy a rental property.  If you are going to inherit these tenants, I recommend arranging a time to meet with the tenants at the house in order to introduce yourself.  Let them know that you are considering purchasing the house and that you are interested in potentially keeping them on as tenants.”

“Ask them about the current landlord and if they are currently having any problems with him or her.  Listen to them talk, and let them give you all the details.  When you are speaking with them, and if they are having problems with the existing landlord, this will be one of the first things that they bring up (indirectly). “

“If they are having problems with the landlord, this is not necessarily a bad thing.  The current landlord may be a poor communicator and overall a bad landlord.  The bulk of the problems could be a result of the landlord and not the tenant.  Hear them out and listen to everything they have to say. “

“After meeting with them and speaking with them in detail, you will have a very clear idea in your mind as to whether or not you would like them as your own tenants.  By meeting with prospective tenants face to face, you learn a lot about them, and it allows you an opportunity to see if you would like a long term business relationship with them. 

So there you have it.  Leverage the knowledge and experience of Investment Savvy Realtors when you are trying to find a rental property for yourself.  Investment Savvy Realtors with experience as investors know all about what it is to be a landlord.  They will be able to provide you with valuable insights that you will not be able to get anywhere else!

Happy Investing!

Neil Uttamsingh

ps: If you are looking to buy your First Rental Property, sign up for the First Rental Property Newsletter.  If you do, you will be able to read about tips and tricks from experience real estate investors, that will aid you in purchasing your first rental property.

pps: I am a Licensed Realtor in Ontario and I help people like you buy their first rental property everyday! If you need help purchasing your first rental property or your next rental property, write to me at NEIL@FIRSTRENTALPROPERTY.COM. I will help you negotiate the best price, terms and conditions on your rental property. Buying in the US? No problem!  I will refer you to one of my trusted partners.  Happy Investing!  🙂

Hi Everyone,

Hope you are all doing great.

One of the most important things you need to consider when you become a real estate investor, if not THE most important thing to consider is how you are going to pick the right tenants. (wow, that was a long sentence!)

When most people first begin investing in real estate, they have no idea what to look for in a tenant and how to select the right tenant.

There are 2 simple rules that you MUST follow when you are selecting tenants for your rental property.  If you fail to obey these rules, you could end up in big trouble. When I say big trouble, you name it…

If you chose the wrong tenants you could have:

• Vandalism to your property
• Drug use in your property
• Non payment of rent
• Loud parties held at your property
• Random people moving into your rental property without your permission
• Failure to move out upon eviction
• The list goes on…

That is a scary list, isn’t it!?

Well you know what?

You don’t need to be scared if you do things the right way.

The following 2 rules that you will obey EVERY TIME you are selecting tenants will help you in selecting the right tenants.  The rules are…

1) Do Not Settle

Do not settle for the first prospective tenant that comes along.  Just because your rental property is vacant does not mean that the first people that come along are the right choice.  Don’t feel rushed.  It is truly better to have your rental property sit vacant for a few more months than to pick the wrong tenants.  If you pick the wrong tenants, because you want to fill your unit, this move will surely cost you more in the long run than if the property was vacant.  For example, if you rush the process and pick the wrong tenants, they could move into the house and immediately stop paying your rent.  You would then have to go through the eviction process with your local Landlord and Tenant Board.  Save yourself this aggravation.  Don’t rush the process.  Pick the right tenants from the very beginning.

2) Meet your prospective tenants in person before they move in

I cannot stress this point enough.  This is an absolute MUST!  You need to meet with your prospective tenants in order to see how they are in person.  If you cannot do this yourself, you can have a trusted thrid party do this for you.  I caution you here, as it is very difficult to find someone who can do this as well as you would.  The bottom line is that if you don’t meet your tenants in person, and you end up not getting along with them, of if they turn out to be a poor choice, you have NO ONE to blame buy yourself.

The biggest mistake I have ever made as a real estate investor was when I did not meet a prospective tenant in person.  I outsourced this job to a property manager.  The tenant moved in and it was a disaster.  Obviously, those are all the details I can give you due to privacy.  However, in this scenario, I did not blame anybody but myself.  I was the one that was supposed to screen the tenants. The buck stopped with me…and the buck will stop with you!

In summary, these are 2 very simple rules that you must obey when selecting tenants for your rental property. By following these rules you will ensure that you are doing everything in your power so that you can have the right tenants for your rental property!

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

ps: First Rental Property is going to be making a HUGE announcement in September. Check back in September for details!

Any real estate investor with experience in managing tenants knows that non-payment of rent is an issue that has to be dealt with from time to time.

If you are thinking about buying your first rental property, good for you!

Owning a rental property is a lot of hard work, and the experience may not be as glamorous as what you see on TV. However, if you have the discipline and stamina to deal with the issues that come up, you will be well on your way to success.

As a new real estate investor first starting out, you should know that at one point in time, you will encounter problems with collecting rent.

Non payment of rent can come in different forms.  Here are some of the different ways…

1) The rent is due on the 1st of the month, and your tenant is late in providing you the rent. (cash, cheque, or electronic transfer)

2) You deposit a rent cheque on the first of the month and the rent cheque bounces (is returned by the financial institution due to non sufficient funds)

3) Your tenant does not have the money to pay rent, and does not provide you with the rent money for that particular month. 

There are so many factors as to why tenants sometimes don’t pay their rent on time.  Some are real, legitimate reasons, where as other times, the reasons are not sound and in fact are very flaky.

As a new real estate investor you must know that you have to…

“Prepare For The Worst”

Meaning…

Be ready for the first time that you do not receive your rent on time from one of your tenants.  It will happen to you at some point.  The only question is when.

We all learn our lessons from different life experiences.  Some of us learn faster than others.  Whether you learn slow or fast doesn’t matter.  What matters is that  you learn, and evolve and make changes in your real estate business so that you are prepared for the next time when one of your tenants does not pay rent on time.

How to prepare for late rent payments

Get familiar with your local Landlord and Tenant Governing body.  In each City, State, Province and Country the legislation regarding how Landlords and Tenants can interact with one another differs.

Get familiar with the forms you need to serve to your tenant when non payment of rent occurs.

The point that I am trying to make is that you need to become familiar with these forms before a non payment of rent issue ever happens to you.

You need to be armed with knowledge for when you do encounter a situation in which one of your tenants is not paying their rent. You need to be comfortable with the forms, you need to be able to understand them, and be able to navigate them easily.  You need to know how to fill them out properly.  You also need to know the rules surrounding when you are allowed to submit the forms to the tenant if they are late with their rent.  You need to know how many copies you need to retain and how many copies you need to present to your Landlord and Tenant Governing body.

Practices that I have Incorporated

It has taken me over 6 years as a real estate investor to learn one very important rule. This rule is to always have printed out and on hand the necessary forms and paperwork that needs to be served to a tenant in the event that they do not pay rent on time.

I have these forms printed out and I keep them in my ‘real estate’ binder, so that I can quickly access them.

I have learned with experience that I have to do this because I have been involved in multiple situations in which rent was not paid on time.

When I look back, the longer that I waited to collect the rent that was owed, the more problems occurred as a result.

As such, I have learned from my own experience to be proactive and to be prepared.  That is why I now carry these forms with me.

I have learned to prepare for the worst.

In preparing for the worst, I am becoming a better real estate investor.

How have your experiences been with collecting late rent payments? If you do not own a rental property yet, what scares you the most about non payment of rent?  Leave your comments below.

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh.

If I could share one piece of advice with aspiring real estate investors, it would be this:

Get a good handyman.

On the surface, this sounds like really useless advice.  However, it is probably the best advice that you will ever receive, and here is why…

I have witnessed with my own eyes many real estate investors come and go. Thee new investors get excited and buy a rental property, only to end up selling it a short time after.  They sell their property because they are overwhelmed with all of the work involved in order to maintain the property.  These novice investors are generally not handy people and cannot keep up with it takes in order to maintain their property

One secret that I have discovered over the years is that a very good, reliable and trustworthy handyman can help to keep you in the real estate investing game for the long haul.

They help to keep you in the game in the sense that, you can outsource all repairs and maintenance to them.

This essentially means that you are outsourcing all of your stress and worries to someone else.

By doing this, your level of anxiety decreases, and as such, the idea of owning a piece of investment real estate becomes more bearable.

This ultimately results in an investor being able to hold a rental property for many, many years.

Very recently, I was faced with a large amount of repairs and maintenance on a number of properties.  There were so many repairs to be completed on the properties, and there was no way that I could have done any of this work by myself.

I would not have been able to do this work because:

1) I am not handy

2) I would have had no idea where to begin.

Because I have an awesome handyman that I work with, I am able to call him whenever a property needs some work, and he gets to it right away.

In summary, I have realized the following.  In order to be a successful real estate investor over the long term, you need a good handyman, that you can outsource all of your repairs and maintenance to.

All the best,

Neil Uttamsingh

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