Good property management is an absolute necessity of real estate investing though, on a day-to-day basis it can be time consuming and just downright maddening. Not everyone has either the skills or the temperament to do the job. If you're not a "people person" with strong communication skills, this is not something you're going to like to do. Not liking what you're doing generally leads to procrastination. Putting off needed management tasks is not the way to get and keep good tenants.

However, it's a huge mistake to think that if you hire a property manager you're not going to be involved with the property -- and a bigger mistake to actually not be involved. Yes, in theory, with someone else overseeing the place all you really have to do is:

●     …

2487 Views, 4 Comments

Read Full Post

Last week we spent some time talking about the favorable investment and business climate in Texas with an eye toward having conversations with potential partners and financiers. The goal of most of us who are in investment real estate is the next "big" deal -- no matter how you might define "big" in the context of your personal plans. One of the things I find myself hashing around with business associates is short-term versus long-term opportunity.

After several decades of "boom," the "bust" that has plagued the American economy since late 2008 has many people leery -- especially people in real estate -- and especially anyone with a mortgage. It's tremendously important in these discussions to be able to make the case for long-term investment…

1803 Views, 4 Comments

Read Full Post

Just recently I was asked to explain to some potential clients why Texas has one of the best business and investment climates in the nation. It wasn't an issue of finding something to talk about, but figuring out when to stop talking. This is the kind of information real estate investors need to have at their fingertips to negotiate conversations with financiers and potential partners.

First, and I especially like this statistic, Texans are entrepreneurs. The Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activities is a measure of entrepreneurs per 100,000 adults in a certain area. Nationally, the number is 340. In Texas, it's 400. We have a large and growing economy, and we are actively seizing the opportunity to leverage that into an even more diversified…

1693 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post