Real Estate, like all investments, can lead to financial freedom. On the flip side, it can lead to burn out, financial stress and endless headaches. 

It is our job as investors to find the balance between paying everyone else to deal with our problems and tackling every problem that comes in ourselves.

There are a few ways the DIY investor can set themselves up for success as they start to grow their Real Estate holdings. Today, we will cover three of the basics.

No time for fluff, three ways to make your life easier as a DIY Real Estate Investor - 

Standardize Leases and Expectations

Creating a uniform lease is easy, setting proper expectations is truly an art. As you grow your portfolio, you will run into more and more items that pop up over and over again that could be avoided if properly addressed up front. Let’s look at a few examples we have experienced - 

Any one of these items on their own is really not a huge deal but when you have a number of units, the amount of regular text messages start to add up, the number of bills multiply, your properties become harder to maintain and typically any work done by a tenant is shit work.

It is very easy to enforce any of these items if they are spelled out prior, for example - 

Emergencies: Phone Calls at Any Hour

Non Emergencies: Phone Call During Business Hours or Email

Landlord Communication Will Come via Email

As important as a good lease is setting proper expectations when you meet someone, when they move in and ongoing as you interact with them. Pick what is most important for you to get across and hammer it home.

For me, it is texting. I absolutely hate to text and do not want my 26+ tenants bugging me at all hours. If it was important, I wouldn't mind but it is always something stupid as hell - 

11:19pm “Wondering if there is an issue with the heat? It 78 in our unit right now and we only have it set to 62” Temp outside - 86 Degrees 

1:00am “I just locked myself out, you happen to be up?” Fuck No I am Not, Call a Locksmith

10:13pm “Someones parked in my parking spot” 20+ Other Spots Open

Because of this, I repeat myself over and over on the first walk through that email is typically going to be our primary means of contact and they can always call in the event of an emergency. Say it enough and it tends to stick.

Automate Rent Collection

This one is about as straightforward as it gets. There are companies out there that would love to do this for you. Most property managers also make their living doing this but for us DIYers, we need to learn to automate as much as possible without handing the reins over and/or breaking the bank.

After a bit of experimenting, I’ve been using Stessa which is a free rent collection platform that allows you not only collect rent but you can also track property values, manage insurance, bills and has in house accounting tools that allow you to run your typical financial statements. 

Full transparency, I think the platform kind of sucks outside of the rent collection features. For this and this along it is perfect for what I need. You may have something in mind that you need to get accomplished to make life easier for you and there may be other platforms that are better suited for your needs. 

This however as a reminder is a section on Automating Rent Collection and nothing else. As you grow, tenants will ask you about paying in cash, some will prefer a check, and some will want to change every month but hold your ground. 

Receiving money can be a nice feeling but don't fool yourself into thinking you are “good” busy when you have to spend 2-3 days a month just trying to meet up with folks to get paid. That just being busy and foolishly busy at that.

Data Retention

Create a system for tracking paperwork that can survive over a lifetime of investing. 

For my wife and I, we have two means of data retention.

By now, we have done this enough times that our three most recent binders look almost identical. Here is how we organize each property - 

Front Cover - Image of Property and Address

Inside Front Cover - All Current NNN Bills

Section One - Business Formation Documents 

Section Two - Business Operating Agreement

Section Three - Closing Documents

Section Four - Current Leases

Section Five - Large Bills Paid/Invoices Worth Saving

The second way of capturing data for us is more important as it can always be recovered in the event of damaged property from water, fire or theft. There are so many ways to do this so please experiment until you find a way that you are willing to stick with for the long haul.

My preferred means is to create dedicated folders in Google Drive to retain this information as I can go back and access documents from our first closing if needed at the touch of a few buttons.

Every single document that makes it into the paper binder should also be scanned in and saved in digital form. Over time, this process becomes second nature. For example, every time an important document comes in via email you can save it right to the specific Google Drive folder of your choice. Every time I send a Commercial Tenant their NNN bills, I save the scanned bills into a folder in the event something needs to be disputed.

These three tips are not rocket science. If you set proper expectations up front, automate as much of the non money making tasks as possible and create a repeatable process for storing information, you will be in a position to grow strategically.