Investor · O'Fallon, IL 62269 · Member since 2021 · 134 posts · 44 votes
Hey, bigger pockets family. I'm really struggling and getting burnt out with trying to own 3 rental properties on my own with no experience and trying to manage and learn every aspect myself. How can I reduce this stress I'm taking on with the least cost possible? Thanks.
@Jayden Hamilton if you think it is stressful being 23 with $100,000 in the bank and at least one paid off property, none of that is normal. At that age you should have boundless energy and be happily working your @ss off to build a future. I am not sure what skill, blessing or luck you had in life that got you so much net worth at such a young age, but you should be thankful instead of stressed.
Buying an apartment building will 10X your stress and problems. If you get married and have kids, that will 10X your stress. Based on the limited information you provided, it seems you need to hire work done and maybe even hire a property manager. That is the only way to reduce the burden and scale to the next level.
As far as respect, it has nothing to do with age. Respect is earned by how you treat people and the expectations you set.
Get a property mgr or at least a virtual assistant. If you sell, some strategies that require less tenant and property time are notes, apartment syndication, private lending or lease options (you are just the bank). Definitely DM me if you just want someone to talk it through with.
@Jayden Hamilton you need to put them under property management. As you said, you need to focus on acquisitions not management. Certainly with a paid off house and Dulles with less then $120k debit you can find a way to afford property management right? It’ll cut your cash flow a bit but we’ll worth getting ride of the hassle.
@Jayden Hamilton I'm really curious about these 3 properties! I know that everyone is very busy these days... but 3 properties shouldn't be that large of a burden on anyone... even a new investor/property manager. My guess is that either these are the wrong properties... or the wrong tenants... and hopefully it's not both!
It sounds like you need to do something different.. and that probably involves either hiring a PM or selling one or more of the properties.
@Jayden Hamilton I mentioned in my previous post that you have to be bigger than your problems. Let me expand. You need to grow yourself. When you grow yourself you can then start dealing with more and more problems. Keep growing. Problems make you money. The more problems you can handle the more money you make. I started out with 1 tenant, then two, then three where you are. Now 11. I kept growing myself. I grew myself by listening to podcasts, reading books (like Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, The Richest Man in Babylon, The Millionaire Next Door, and soon to read the 10X Rule etc), networking with other investors, listening to motivational YouTube videos etc. If you can manage 3 tenants, why not 300? It’s all the same. Grow yourself and fix problems. Stay in there. You don’t need a property manager. Congrats on your success at an early age. I wish I started at your age. Best regards.
One aspect of reducing some of your business workloads from owning multiple properties is using the right software. Instead of using several kinds of software to do different aspects of your business, there is other software that can take care of all that work for you - which could reduce your stress and workload. Here is a blog regarding the type of software you could use to help manage and grow your real estate business.
Stress is normal in the beginning- little things seem like a big deal....when I first started managing my rentals each problem was new and I would "freak out" a little bit whenever an issue came up...This went away within maybe six months though- I realized everything was just a process and I established processes to deal with each issue-
1 .IE- there are vermin in house- call exterminator
2. People shooting up in back yard- install security fence
3. Pipe backing up into the street- (Yuck....) big plumbing job-time to dip into that reserve
4. Tenant can't pay rent due to COVID- get him out ASAP and get new tenant
I have had a roller coaster 3 years with some of the weirdest and grossest problems in Philly but I am at a stage now where nothings really phases me anymore- and I am juggling a FT job, heavy family demands and more... I just literally don't let myself obsess anymore I just do what I need to to keep things moving :)