What I Learned Living In Hotels for 4 Months in 2017
I love to travel and my job allows me to travel a lot. This year I have been on several trips for work and out of town for over 4 months. It has been great fun and I have made a lot of money. Still I have this passion for real estate that burns within me and I was unwilling to sit on the sidelines and wait. I decided to share a few of the things that I learned.
Time Management
My real estate investments in Arizona are managed by property management companies, but I own properties in Omaha as well. When I was preparing to go out of town I realized that I wouldn't be able to mow the grass myself and decided to hire a lawn service to cut the grass at both of my houses. This was the first time in my life that I have done it, but it was like a light went off in my head. $60 every two weeks to cut the yards at both houses was not that much, and it saved me hours of time that I could have been using more productively. I vowed to never mow grass again and use lawn service at my properties (including my primary residence) from now on.
Doing Deals Remotely
Even though I am working 12-14 hours a day, 6-7 days a week, I used every free moment I had as productively as possible even if it meant that I was sleeping only 5 hours a night. I was forced into the position of trying to do deals remotely from out of state, even though I live there. I think it would benefit a lot of investors to learn to do this. I did a ton of work via the internet and telephone. I had my fiancé and my real estate agent visiting deals for me and taking photos. I got a house under contract using combination of snail mail and phone calls. I started my direct mail campaign. There is no reason why you have to sit and wait. The one thing that I should mention is that I had a knowledge and understanding of the market where I was investing that allowed me to invest from a distance.
Improving My Skills
This is the one place that I vowed that I would continue to work hard even if I did nothing else. I continue analyzing deals even when I am out of town. Thank goodness for the Bigger Pockets calculators, it makes it so much easier. I listened to multiple podcasts on investing, watched a lot of videos, and read a ton of information. I think I probably doubled the amount of info that I normally absorb just because I had fewer of life's normal distractions.
What Disaster Taught Me
Interestingly enough, I was in a hotel in Jacksonville when Hurricane Irma hit. We lost power and internet during the storm, so I had a lot of time to think. I saw firsthand that there was a lot of destruction and a lot of investors were not going to make it out unscathed. I don't believe that we should limit ourselves to a single market. I know that a lot of people on Bigger Pockets say you should invest local and near where you live but I disagree. I think that not only are you greatly limiting the opportunities available, but you are putting yourself at far greater risk.
Overall, I was able to learn and do a lot while living out of hotel rooms across the US and overseas. I think the experience has made me a better investor/businessman and helped keep me motivated towards achieving my goals.