BiggerPockets

80+ HRS. I manage my own rentals.

10% Deals and Networking
60% Construction and fixes
20% Paperwork
10% Email, Education, and BP

i'm in the same boat as jeffrey..i was gonna say at least 80 hours as well...i manage all my rentals, do most repairs, and GC the rehabs that i flip....it ain't all sunshine and rainbows :D

What, no one is working 4 hours?

Come on guys . . . it's really an easy business! Surely we've got a few people who are getting rich by sitting on their backsides, right?

:mrgreen:

The amount of time I spend on RE varies during the year. There are times I easily put in 60 hrs a week and then there are times it is more like 10 hrs a week.

Haven't heard of to many real investors that get to sit by the phone and watch TV all day and can say they make a living at real estate. Might be one out there though.

My schedule is extremely cyclic. Okay, maybe "Manic" is more the correct term.

Some times I'm sitting around on my thumbs, going to every darn networking meeting there is because I'm waiting for a buyer to buy a rehab, or waiting on an architect to get done with plans. Times when the phone don't ring and I feel like nobody needs me.

These periods are offset by the rest of the year, when I'm frantically working my ass off and the phone won't stop ringing.

So during the down weeks, I might not get in 8 real hours of work.

During the busy weeks, I pretty well stop sleeping while I try and stay ahead of deadlines. (Right now is one of those times)... so easily 80+ hours. Easily.

The breakdown depends greatly. Right now I'm working a contract and overseeing the construction of a house. So probably 85% construction oversight and 15% contract attention.

When I'm in the search cycle, looking for my next deal, I spend days of boredom refreshing the MLS system and going to networking groups laughing at the poor deals being peddled there.

Followed by 5-6 straight hours of SHEER TOTAL PANDEMONIUM when a house hits the MLS, or I get a call for a promising lead, and I'm off to the races driving like a bat out of hell, gaining access, running projections, and making calls while writing offers in the driveway.

So in conclusion - there's definitely times when the job is boring and not a lot is happening. That's offset by the periods of time when I wish there were 3 of me.

I would guess 60 -70. How it breaks down is never the same, and I'm always "on".

On the flip side of things, right now I have 2 flips under contract for sale that are waiting to close, 3 flips for sale, and 1 flip in construction. I am trying to find more flips to buy. Inventory of good REO's is low right now, so I'm looking at just about anything. I put up several craigslist ads every day to advertise my for sale flips. Then there is answering phone calls and showing the houses. Then I have to work with the buyers and lender to see if we can get them qualified to buy.

On the rental side I have 1 vacancy which was filled yesterday. I have 2 more coming up next month. I went to eviction court last week (which accounts for 1 of next month's vacancies). I had 1 section 8 inspection last week and 2 more this week. Of course there are always service calls for rentals. I don't do my own work, but I do inspect most repairs before I pay the bill.

I am also trying to buy another apartment building right now, so I did go look at 2 buildings last week. That's worth a few hours right there.

With that said, none of it feels like work, in the cubicle jockey sense of the word. It feels more like I'm playing a game. It's not all fun, but it is all part of the process.

And just to clarify for those new to this business who might think it's easy to just work 10-15 hours/week and flip 10-15 houses per year...

The first year I did this business, I worked about 100 hours/week, and spent most of that time putting in places systems and processes that would allow me to mostly extract myself from the day-to-day aspects of the business. In addition, I have a full-time employee who is well-paid and can pick up most of the other 40-50 hours a week that I would otherwise be allocating to the business; of course, this ultimately impacts our bottom line having to pay salary and benefits.

So, while I only spend 10-15 hours, it took a lot of work to get to that point and I'm giving up some profit by having a full-time employee...

For me, this was a worthwhile tradeoff, as I have a couple other ventures that I spend some time on, and I just started a family that I like to devote some time to. If not for those things, I'd likely be in the 50 hour/week category...

I agree with Financexaminer, that just looking at the shear hours can be misleading. When you are into this full time and the food on the table depends on you selling that house or finding the next deal then you can work 80/week easy. But then again I found it so enjoyable that I was running my own business and that I could call my hours that those 80 hours felt VERY different than 80 hours of corporate grind. :roll:

Like most every one I agree that the hours can vary wildly. Probably the busiest is when doing 1 or 2 rehabs at a time. Even though I don't do any of the work and hire everything you still have to manage the crews, get materials, meet the inspector, shop around for floors, doors, fixtures and on and on.

Then once the rehab is done and house is in the market it could easily wind down to 10 hours per week of just following up with agents and marketing.

At least 60-70 hours per week.

Full time RE sales agent (including weekends) and full time real estate investor.

When I'm done in the office, I meet with contractors, etc.

I am similar to Jason's schedule except that I am not down to 15-20 hours per week. When I first started, it was easily 80 hour work weeks. Now it is way down.

It is hard for me to say exactly as I spend lots of time just talking shop with other investors and friends, if that counts, then my hours are even higher as I can relate eating breakfast with RE. Since it is something I love so much (as Bill stated), I really dont count many of the hours as "Work". I do count hours spent at job sites, hours spent here on BP, hours spent getting and contracting deals and selling deals.

I too also have other ventures going and a family so my time each week is divided between all of that.

I am a control freak, or better explained "want a job done right, do it yourself" so I have yet to hire that assistant to date, but plan on it very soon. Like Jason, it will impact my bottom line initially, but over time, it will free up much of my time for my other venture as well as devoting more time to getting more deals and perhaps wholesaling more.

Thanks for the question/thread. This was a great conversation starter.