We use the Dream Team Checklist to remind us to continue to expand out and strengthen existing relationships we have with key dream team members that will help us accomplish more as real estate investors.
Unlike many of our other checklists that give you action steps, this one lists some of the key dream team members to encourage you to reach out and make contact with professionals that will make your life easier and more profitable.
Whether you use it as a reminder to ask your existing dream team for referrals or recommendations in those areas or as a list of folks to seek out and interview on your own, you will find the list to be a great resource for improving your real estate investing business.
Here is a very abridged list of key dream team members from our much larger list:
- Accountant/Bookkeeper
- Administrative Assistant
- Appraiser
- Attorney
- Contractors
- Lenders (Traditional Brokers, Hard Money, Private Money)
- Insurance Agent
- Property Manager
- Real Estate Agent/Broker
- Real Estate Wholesalers
- Title Company
Until my next post,
James
Last Friday I shared with you my rough outline of a checklist for hiring an Acquisitions Manager for my real estate investing business and I will sharing lots of additional information about that with you here, but today I want to share with you why I believe it is better to always hire two people (even if it is two part-time people) rather than one person for a position.
In a word: redundancy.
Imagine that you spend, in total 40 hours, to train a new hire and then a couple weeks later you discover that they are either not a good fit or their life changes (divorce, spouse gets a better job and must move, they get a better job or any number of reasons) and they need to stop working for you. What would you do if you just hired one person?
You’d have to go back to the beginning and start over completely (hopefully with a checklist from the training you just did but that’s a topic for another day). However, if instead of hiring one, you hired two… maybe two half time people for one full time position, you wouldn’t spend too much extra time of yours training, but if one leaves you still have another one that you could, more often than not, bump up to full time or at least 3/4 time to help out while you are bringing in another person.
Another benefit is the ability to have the person you just trained train the new person. Believe me when I tell you that you have a far better understanding of your job when you need to train someone else to do it as well, so having your part-timer train a new person (with your oversight and management) at their position will dramatically improve that person’s ability too. They will learn their job much better.
So, if you are hiring an admin assistant to help with you real estate investing business or an acquisitions manager or someone to help sell your properties or keep them occupied with tenants, it is far better to hire two (or more) than just one.
Until my next post,
James
P.S. Upgrade to our Real Estate Investor Bronze Membership to access our checklists, systems and tools for running your real estate investing business including systems for hiring key team members.
I’ve talked before about the important of building your dream team and having a great title company on your team is critically important. In fact, many people do not realize all the different things that a great title company can provide.
While I was putting together the Title Company Interview Questions as an exclusive resource for our Real Estate Investor Bronze Members I was reminded of just how important my title company is to my business. For example, here are some things that a title company may be able to provide to you:
First, they can close your deals and provide you with title insurance to protect your interest in the property.
Second, many are offering to help negotiate short sales for you.
Third, many can provide access to comparable sales data so you can determine the value of your properties before you buy.
Fourth, many can pull up mailing lists from public record including Absentee Owners and Free And Clear–both are excellent marketing lists. Many can pull a foreclosure list for you as they are filed. Some, and this is much rarer, can give you access to probate data if that is part of your business model.
Fifth, many will help you with the paperwork you need when you are using owner financing or private lenders to do your deals.
So, take some time to find a great title company for your real estate investing business and you’ll find it saves a lot of time and money.
Until my next post,
James
In the business world, finding a trustworthy Property Management (links for our Real Estate Investor Bronze Members) company can be a little confusing and difficult. Doing a search yields multiple results, some with ratings and others without. Some companies are shady and others are legitimate. A few might even be going down, business-wise, and are in search of new clients in order to keep their company running. Choosing the right company for your property is essential in keeping your unit(s) running smoothly, with as few problematic areas as possible.
One of the best ways to ensure that a Property Management company is worth a shot is by asking for references. You can request references from the company’s existing and past clients, and if the company is enthusiastic, and legitimate, they will be more than happy to obligate. You should ask for a minimum of three so that you will have enough to be able to gain a better understanding of the desired company.
Before you contact each references, make sure that you create a list of questions pertaining to the company and base your questions on relevance. For example, if your interest is in whether the Property Management company offers discounts, ask the client if this discount applied to him/her, how good of a discount it was, and if there were any fine print they only just discovered after signing with said company. You can also ask if the company has a great customer service department (do they have the client’s best interest in mind?), among other questions. The bottom line is to make sure you have all your bases covered as far as relevant questions go.
However, as good an idea as getting references is, you do need to be cautiously selective. A biased opinion is not uncommon in the business world. Chances are that the Property Management company of interest will submit references from clients they know they have a good rapport with and who will be generous with positive comments. No matter how great a company is, there is always at least one negative reference. So, a good rule of thumb to ensure that you receive unbiased opinions is to request more than three references. This way, the chances of receiving a negative comment increases, and you can use this as a means of comparison. Do not take any comments (positive or negative) at face-value, though. You want to question and research each comment. You just might be surprised with what you find!
Although references are one of the most important, and viable, option in finding the right Property Management company for your property, do remember that it is not fool-proof. As long as you have this in mind, you should be able to come up with good, even exceptional, reference commentaries, further aiding in your search for a company that works with, and for, you.
Until my next post,
James
You will need to find a great local insurance agent that understands what you are doing when you are buying houses “subject to” to the existing financing to make sure that property is properly insured.
An Insurance Agent is a key member of your Real Estate Investing Dream Team (links are both for Real Estate Investor Bronze Members and you must be logged in to access them) whether you are buying traditionally or buying “subject to”, but since the loan remains in the seller’s name, it is important to make sure that your insurance agent writes the correct policy to make sure that you are insured properly.
Remember that insurance premiums can vary widely from company to company for very similar coverage amounts. Be sure to get competitive quotes and to get the quotes BEFORE you buy the property. It is best to know your insurance expenses before you commit to buy a property.
Until my next post,
James
The saying is true: words are cheap. If you are in the market for a property manager, you want one who will do what they say they will do. From the very first time you call to find out about their services, you are interviewing them. It’s not just what they tell you on the phone, but it is everything that they show you about how they do business that you should be considering. This starts from the amount of time it takes to receive the first call back, because chances are you won’t catch them on the phone the first time you call.
But after this first interview, how can you tell who will actually perform as well as they claim to?
I always like to ask them for additional information that requires some action… not just words… but an actual act on their part. This can be a request to see a copy of the lease that they use or the property management agreement that you will need to sign if you are going to hire them. These are clearly documents that you will want to look at anyway, but don’t forget that just getting them to mail, drop off or email you these in a timely manner is a test. If they say they will do it, but a week goes by and nothing, that speaks volumes!
So remember, your property manager (as should be the case with any other professional service that you are hiring) is on interview from your very first point of contact with their company. Sending you additional information that you request isn’t just about evaluating the quality of the lease that they use, it is also about seeing if they will follow through and do what they say they will do.
Until my next post,
James
P.S. Did you know that for a limited time we are offering a free download of our real estate audio course Secret Property Management Tips and Tricks?
