I just completed another weekend hosting a booth at the home and garden show. Having a booth at the home show is another way of marketing our business, to get our name out there and let people know what we do. Home shows typically are places for companies such as builders, landscapers, cabinet makers and anyone who has anything to do with improving your home or garden. So when people pass by our booth and don’t see a display of carpeting, cabinets, or cookware, they will ask “what is it that we’re peddling?” Our response is, we’re a real estate company that specializes in working with real estate investors. We help them find rental property to buy and can manage that property for them. Some people are polite, take our giveaways, some ask more questions and are truly interested in what we have to offer.
Then there are those that get this troubled look and walk away saying they have no interest in being a landlord. They normally walk away quickly and don’t give me a chance to talk to them as to why they feel that way. I can only guess they feel that way because they’ve heard horror stories about being a landlord. Three things come to mind. First, where are they getting these horror stories? Usually they’re getting them from unsuccessful landlords. People who got into the business without a good education, probably gave up and got out of the business. Then they spread their horrible experience to anyone who will listen. Second, they’re afraid of getting that dreaded call from a tenant late at night or over the weekend with a problem with the plumbing or heating and cooling system or whatever else the tenant thinks is an emergency. My reaction to this is “Really?” Someone is making your mortgage payment, paying your insurance and taxes and an occasional call from that person is a problem? Come on…. they’re buying you real estate. The inconvenience is minimal versus the return you’re getting. Of course there are ways to minimize problems with your property, but that’s for another time. And the last thing that comes to mind is they don’t realize that there are companies like us that can manage everything for them from finding tenants to making a property ready for the next tenant and everything in between. That means we get the inconvenient calls, not the property owner. Yup, that’s right. Those people who walked away are missing out on an opportunity to invest in real estate without knowing the truth about how to generate income and increase their wealth.
My research indicates that there are around 3,000 landlords in just one of the counties I service. If being a landlord is that bad, what are these people thinking?
Here’s to keeping cash flow positive,
Dave
