Many real estate investors start off as a one-man business. While it's helpful to know how to do it yourself, it's often not the best use of your time. In fact, in most cases performing the labor in your real estate business is a really bad idea.
Here are the top things that you need to stop "DIY-ing" today and the important reasons why.
Repairs on Your Property
If you've never worked on a home before, assuming that you know the scope of work that needs to be performed is a great way to rack up costly repairs. In fact, you can actually end up doing it wrong which means that you'll only have to pay someone to do it again at an inflated cost (the cost to remove your shoddy work and redo it).
This is no different than a person who knows nothing about car repair trying to replace a broken door handle or a dented bumper. If you have no idea where to start, good luck getting to the end of the project without wasting a lot of time or making the problem worse.
Understanding how a home is constructed, what materials are required, and how to install and replace various items makes it easier for you to make good decisions when it comes to choosing a contractor to do the work. However, you should not be learning these skills by tinkering with your own property that you are trying to use to make a profit.
If you really want to learn the basics of home construction, here is an easy solution: volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. Not only will use get to learn from experienced builders and build relationships with people in the real estate industry, you'll also be giving back to your community in a meaningful way.
Managing Your Rentals
A real estate investor is not a property manager. While working with tenants and learning how to effectively manage feedback and complaints is a value-add to your business, you're taking time away from growing your real estate portfolio if you are doing this from day-to-day.
Instead, use professional property management services and turn the management of your property over to them after you have done it for a bit. The early days of managing the property yourself will give you the insight you need to find a good property manager you can trust.
The right time to turn your property over to a property manager? As soon as possible! While your own personal timeline for doing so might vary from other investors, you have to let go if you want to grow your real estate business.
The main sign that now might be the time is if managing your property is causing you stress. Giving up just 10 percent of your profits is well worth the major reduction in stress you'll enjoy once you've made the move. Learning to manage managers is where the real growth comes from in the real estate business.
Scale Is How You Grow Your Real Estate Business
Working on your business and being an employee of your business require two different skill set. You can scale up working on your business. However, you can't scale up being an employee as there are only 24 hours in a day. The skills you need to learn are those that scale and this is where you should place your focus. Any tasks that you are unable to scale are the ones that you should outsource.