The 90/10/100 rule

I hope everyone enjoy their holidays. I am back in Birmingham from my vacation in South Florida. I was there two weeks with 3 days in Key West. First vacation in 2 years! I lived there 15 years and while I miss my friends, I do not miss living there. Why? Investors falling over each other trying to make a deal, hurricanes, and sky high taxes and insurance rates. Could I make a living there? Sure, but not what I am doing here in Birmingham.

First week back and already slammed. I have 3 closings scheduled for Monday. Going to contract on 3 more houses. 3 renovations on high end houses starting. 1 inspection on Tuesday. In the middle of three renovations while fighting with city inspectors on two of them to get permits closed. One was vandalized that will cost me an additional $3200. At least 3 more closings on Friday.

So, I am busy but promise to post when time permits. I read through several of the forum postings in the evening when I have some downtime and I commend the pros with helping the newer investors gain some insight into this business.

So here's my insight. Every action I take leads to a check. I do not waste time with things I can not personally control. I rely on my project manager, property managers, leasing agents, etc to carry that load. I don't micro manage. When you are doing 10-15 houses a month, you have to take an assembly line approach. 90% of the process does not change. 10% of the process are the moving parts that require 100% of my attention.

The 10% includes evaluating and pricing the ARV of a property, negotiating contracts, estimating renovation costs, attending closings, and building local relationships that will lead to more deals. That's it in a nutshell. On occasion, I re-adjust to set property expectations of my team members but once they understand the process and do not deviate from it, it runs itself. Wash, rinse and repeat.