Have you recently landed your first investment property? It’s an absolute thrill to receive your first rent check after spending months, maybe even years learning and saving money.
The best part about buying your first rental property is developing the confidence and skills required to do it a second time, followed by a third, and so on. Building your rental property income over time is the key to long-term wealth.
But owning a property doesn’t come without work. In order to make the most out of your property, and set yourself up for future success, you need to always be thinking like a real estate investor.
Keep reading our rental property tips below to ensure you don’t get stuck in the trap of being a landlord for the rest of your life.
Think Like a Business Owner and Not Like a Landlord
At the beginning of your real estate investing career, it’s tempting to try doing everything yourself. While managing your property by yourself, screening tenants, and performing repairs can provide an initial education, you should move out of this stage as quickly as possible.
When you are an active landlord, you are working a job. It takes time. But the big problem with this job is that it’s not helping you acquire new properties.
You need to decide for yourself if you want to give yourself a job as a landlord, or if you want to think like proper investors and business owners. If it’s the ladder, you need to. stop thinking like a landlord and ask yourself what an experienced investor would do.
Hire a Property Manager for Your Investment Property
One of the most important investment property tips is to hire a property manager as soon as possible. Doing so will free up your time to focus on earning the income needed to acquire a new property, or actively search for, renovate, and rent out new properties.
A good property manager will handle tenant screenings, applications, leases, repairs, and everything else related to managing a rental property. That way, you can still collect your rent check, albeit, a smaller one, and focus on other things.
This is called delegation, or outsourcing, and it’s key to multiplication and growth. Click here to learn how to hire a property manager.
Build Your Network
Rather than fixing toilets and flipping through applications, your time as a new investor should be spent making new connections. You want to know other investors in your city.
You want to know business owners who have lots of money and are looking for ways to earn interest.
You want to know contractors, bankers, lenders, and real estate agents. Figure out where these people spend time and go to them. After all, your net worth is determined by your network.
Never Stop Searching for Deals
With a property manager in place, you are all free to spend your time searching for new deals. Your wealth grows only when you acquire more properties, own more equity, and collect more rent. Focus on growth and let your manager focus on your properties.
Choose Your Path
Now that you know the easiest way to handle your investment property, it’s time to decide how you are going to manage your properties. Do you want to be an active landlord, always on call for your tenants?
Or do you want to outsource this task so you can focus on growth? The choice is yours.
Looking for other tips like this? Check out the rest of our blog today to keep reading.