#LifeOfALandlord (with photos!)

Gerald K.

Real Estate Investor · Kirkland, WA · Member since 2012 · 480 posts · 116 votes

12y

Been there done that. When you know you can just do it yourself, even if you prefer having someone else do it for you, but can't easily find someone to do it, I've done the same thing. Just get it solved and be done with it. Seems problems like that always happen during the holidays when you can't get anyone. That being said, I would keep looking for a reliable maintenance/handyman.

James Wise

Real Estate Broker · Cleveland Dayton Cincinnati Toledo Columbus & Akron, OH · Member since 2013 · 30k+ posts · 20k+ votes

12y

@Brandon Turner who'd ya get to take the photo?

Laura Moore

Residential Real Estate Broker · Kingman, AZ · Member since 2014 · 131 posts · 18 votes

12y

Looks like something my hubby would do.... Improvise..until u can get it fixed properly that is lol

Matthew Paul

Severna Park, MD · Member since 2013 · 7k+ posts · 7k+ votes

12y

Nothing more permanent than something done temporary .

Thats all a contractor would have done in the rain until it was dry enough to find the leak and do the repair .

Podcast Guest on Show #92

Brandon TurnerPro Member

OP

Investor · Maui, HI · Member since 2009 · 13k+ posts · 3k+ votes

12y

@James Wise my wife, dry and warm in the car :) #WifeOfALandlord :)

James Wise

Real Estate Broker · Cleveland Dayton Cincinnati Toledo Columbus & Akron, OH · Member since 2013 · 30k+ posts · 20k+ votes

12y

WifeOfALandlord

lol, sounds about right.

Ben Leybovich

Rental Property Investor · Phoenix/Lima, Arizona/OH · Member since 2012 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes

12y

OK - you know I love you; right - you should by now? And I repsect you, appreciate you, and think you are extremely tallented. But, what the hell is wrong with you...? I keep trying and trying, and you are still buying Waldos and putting lipstic on them...

The email came-in informing me of your post. I was not able to respond sooner as I was in the middle of the CashFlow game with Patrisha and a friend. During the game, my handyman came to pick up a check for

DOING THIS KIND OF **** FOR ME SO I CAN BE HOME PLAYING GAMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So - what is wrong with you my man? You have a kind and gorgeous wife and you make her sit in the car, in the rain, looking at you climb on the roof, which is anything but graceful or artful. The whole time she wished you'd taken her to ballet instead. We need to talk!

7 Reply

Henry Nguyen

Wholesaler · Arlington, TX · Member since 2013 · 59 posts · 29 votes

12y

It was worthy of a great post. My initial thoughts was "is that really Brandon?" I clicked the post and was glad I did. Gotta do what you gotta do.

Elizabeth Joiner

Real Estate Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2013 · 24 posts · 3 votes

12y

Thanks for sharing this with us. Pretty ingenious the way you temporarily fixed the singles with tin foil until later on for a more permanent fix. I can't say that I'd enjoy standing in the rain fixing shingles but I would like knowing my properties are well maintained. Thanks again.

Aaron Mazzrillo

Investor · Riverside, CA · Member since 2011 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes

12y

Got out of bed at 10am. Took my wife to Pachenga Casino. Along the way we stopped at the bank to cash a $1,641 rent check. On the way home we stopped and had a delicious dinner at our favorite Indian restaurant. #LifeofaLandlord

You climbed on a roof and fixed a leaky window in the rain while your wife sat in the car. #LifeofaHandyman

I agree with @Ben Leybovich.

3 Reply

Bobby Beard

Real Estate Investor · Panama City, FL · Member since 2012 · 265 posts · 58 votes

12y

a little black spray paint and good to go lol

Christopher Leon

Realtor · Schaumburg, IL · Member since 2011 · 289 posts · 118 votes

12y

I think that's cool you fixed that Brandon Turner I know your looking for a handyman, but, considering there are so many unreliable ones out there, and others that charge horrendously, couldn't your business as a whole, be more profitable if you did your own repairs all the time? (Barring of course, any major repairs that may be way out of your league) not sure how you handle this regularly, but I'm talking about this kind of stuff you did, electric, plumbing, HVAC, etc. thanks for the fun post. I like what Ben Leybovich has to say, always entertaining, sir. But one time I remember early on, I had a contractor come out to basically figure out why my electric baseboard heater wasn't working, and I told him what I thought, I ended up being right, and he basically cut a 3x3 hole in wall, luckily on the first try found the junction box where my wires were (with power) connected wires to wires across the room and charged almost $375 clams for this!? Ever since then, I told myself, I will learn this **** and I can see it has helped me be net more. Thoughts?

Roy N.Pro Member

Rental Property Investor · Fredericton, New Brunswick · Member since 2013 · 7k+ posts · 4k+ votes

12y

@Ben Leybovich

On top of that, if we send someone over to @Brandon Turner 's waldo next Xmas, the shiny tin will still be there ;-)

Podcast Guest on Show #29

Dawn AnastasiPro Member

Rental Property Investor · Milwaukee, WI · Member since 2013 · 6k+ posts · 4k+ votes

12y

First, good of Brandon to protect his property.

Definitely find a good handy-person.

When I first started out, I did almost everything myself. I've been backing off of that and going to making phone calls.

Last year the guy doing the tile floor in the kitchen in one of my properties offered to teach me how to do it. So I learned how to tile a floor, which was cool to learn and to say "I did that." But I didn't like the mess of mortar on my hands so I left him to finish after a bit.

Then another time I had some gutters at a rental property that needed to be cleaned. I've done the gutters on my own house, so I started doing these with the handy-person. But the stuff inside was nasty; water and bird poop and leaves all mixed together. It was kind of funny how gross it was, but after a little while the novelty wore off and I left telling him to finish the rest himself as I had somewhere I had to be. (At home not digging into gross crap in the gutters.)

#LifeOfALandlord

2 Reply

Pat L.

Rental Property Investor · Upstate, NY · Member since 2012 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes

12y

Originally posted by @Joel Owens:

I remember some of those days when I had my 20 unit.

It's an over rated experience ! lol Never again.............. : )

I 'faintly' remember those days ....

My best was a chimney liner install I decided to do myself on a 3 story.

I had a ladder laying horizontal from the roof peak to the top of the chimney & I shimmied across 15 ft with 30 ft of Aluminum liner. No harness, no tie downs etc. Young & dumb just to save the $110 install charge.

Two years later the top 7-10 courses of that chimney simply collapsed due to spalling & age.

......NEVER again.....

Account Closed

Real Estate Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2008 · 1k+ posts · 218 votes

12y

I have to side with @Ben Leybovich on this one. However, there are times that I was in the area, and it would be quicker for me to respond to the tenant's needs and fix it, than to wait on getting the maintenance guy there to fix it. SO I do, but having a maintenance person on call, is CLUTCH!

To many people depend on me buying more properties to spend my time fixing minor things.

With that being said, I 100% believe most people need to know how to fix things. If you don't, contractors will walk all over you and treat you like the way many of of have heard of the "mechanic taking advantage of the single woman".

Glad you made it down safely @Brandon Turner

Podcast Guest on Show #92

Brandon TurnerPro Member

OP

Investor · Maui, HI · Member since 2009 · 13k+ posts · 3k+ votes

12y

Ha this is a great thread :)

Yes, @Ben Leybovich - I know I don't really want to do this stuff. That said, when things go wrong, sometimes it has to be done. Am I working on systems to make this no longer happen? Of course. But right now I'm in transition with resident managers and finding someone reliable on short notice is not easy. Managing 70+ properties without a manager and holding a double-full time job is ... interesting.

That said - this experiences just emphasizes that I need to spend more time looking for a good handyman. I've been more-or-less passively looking, but I'll take more of an active role next week.

Finally, as I've said before - successful people tend to look down on the act of doing your own manual labor. However, I think it's important (to point out to the newbies) to recognize that the idea of "not working" (manual labor wise) is a relatively new concept in the human scheme of things, and I firmly believe hard work is good for the soul. In fact, in every other culture for all time, the thing that most of the successful people in today's world do would be considered terribly lazy and something only for old women to do. How did it become so "cool" today? I blame The 4 Hour Workweek :) For me, I enjoy the satisfaction of taking care of a problem, and would much rather fix a leak in the rain than spend my afternoon in a smokey casino, watching TV, sleeping, or in any other way being lazy. Work is not a bad thing, despite what many in the real estate community would have you believe.

Thoughts?

2 Reply

Joel OwensBusiness Member

Moderator

Real Estate Broker · Canton, GA · Member since 2010 · 15k+ posts · 11k+ votes

12y

My first real job was when I was 14 or 15 ( can't remember now) lol. It was a fruit/plant market across from my subdivision. Rain, storms, sunshine it didn't matter I was there.

It was under agriculture so you could work unlimited hours and not be under the labor laws. This was about 24 to 25 years ago so I have read things have changed since then on number of hours worked etc. at that age.

I would put in sometimes 72 hours a week. I am not kidding. I would get there at 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. and would leave late that night after sundown sometimes 8 or 9. We didn't get an hour lunch and all that stuff it was eating for 15 minutes during a slow down and drinking a coke.

Every job I had after that one which is did for about 3 to 4 years was cake. We would get large 18 wheeler trucks and didn't have the fancy motorized hand trucks. Everything from wheat straw, pine straw, bags of gravel, potting soil, pumpkins, watermelons, plants, bags of potatoes and other foods, etc. We had one person in the truck throwing things off a pallet and the other would catch on the ground and stack up. The rare occasion the owner had a forklift we were in heaven.

I won't bore you with all the details but that was only about 15% of the stuff we did there.

My dad died in a car wreck when I was 15 and lost my grandmother that same year and my best friends dad finally died of cancer month later. I had a hell of a childhood and paid my dues. While most kids were being normal I had to grow up really fast. It did give me some great traits that I carry with me today. I still had fun on occasion with friends and was as close as I could get to normalcy.

When I had my own 20 unit I did a lot of the work myself. I am pretty handy so there is not much I can't do.

I am done with manual labor and have more than put in my share over the years. I like working with my brain more. As my body gets older what you can do physically becomes more limited versus you can keep learning with your brain and get better over time. I think Brandon you are still in your 20's I think. I can tell you between 20 to 30 I didn't feel much of a difference in age. 30 to 39 now for me I feel a much bigger difference in changes and I still stay in shape. My mom is 70 and tells me to quit whining until I get her age! lol

With my brain I can leverage other people but with just me doing physical tasks there is only one no matter how fast or good I am.............. : )

That's awesome Brandon that you now have 70 units between various properties. You should definitely if you bought right be able to afford a full time handyman to cover all the properties.

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Ben Leybovich

Rental Property Investor · Phoenix/Lima, Arizona/OH · Member since 2012 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes

12y

My opinion has not changed since we spoke on the phone 30 minutes ago :) I still think that you are doing a disservice to humanity by deploying your God-given resources in this way. You are one of the most gifted people I know! I love you to death and cherish your friendship. But, I will continue to rip you a new one until you straighten up...

The 4 hour work week had nothing to do with my belief that manual labor is not the space to make an impact any more. You know God, and as a man who knows God you live your life for the benefit of others - so do I. In this economy, in this socially engineered fractional reserve banking system, productivity resides in working smart not hard - you know this! **** happened. You dealt with it. But for the future, believe me when I say that there is a 35 year-old out there who can use the money and will do a good job. It's all he can do - for you it's waste of God-given talent.

I remember 6 months ago talking to @Brian Burke . I called to congratulate him on his 140-unit PPM and to learn. I told him I manage my own properties. He told me he would not touch that kind of work if he had a gun to his head. I know you don't want to listen to me - but listen to Brian.

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2014/02/09/how-to-flip-houses-4/

Travis Fisher

Investor · Salt Lake City, UT · Member since 2013 · 84 posts · 38 votes

12y

I think this is less of a handyman job and more along the lines of disaster prevention. A very over the top example is do you pull your friend from a burning car or do you call the fire department and wait for them to come? I'm sure @Brandon Turner won't be the one to come finish the job on Monday morning.

Also this reminds me of a previous article I read on BP. "Good is better than Perfect" I've been quoting that one all week!

Aaron Mazzrillo

Investor · Riverside, CA · Member since 2011 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes

12y

I closed on a house Friday afternoon. Friday evening, I was taking the wife out to dinner in Palm Springs. The house was on the way and I needed to get the keys from the former owner and drop off a lock box so my contractor could get in there on Saturday morning. (Things an assistant should be doing, but because of the special holiday, weren't going to get done.) I met the seller at the house. I noticed 3 large, broken flower pots in the back yard. Even though I had my truck, I sent a text message to my handyman and told him he needed to go out there and clean that stuff up. It was date night (Valentine's as well) and I don't think it is right to make my wife sit in my truck and watch me clean up trash out of the backyard of a house when I promised to spend time with her. That's not the success image I want my wife to have of me.

Now, I used to do that stuff ALL THE TIME. UNTIL I read a book or heard someone speak, whichever I don't recall at the moment, but it or he hammered home the idea that time spent doing hourly wage work is time wasted that can never be returned. I continued to do those types of tasks, but that message kept gnawing at me more and more like flesh eating bacteria. It would resonate while I was mowing my lawn as I lied to myself saying, "But I enjoy this!" It would echo in my brain as I was hauling whatever with my truck as I lied to myself saying "But I'm saving money!"

One HAS to ask him or herself, "Where do the dollars come from in my business?" If you think you are saving money doing something that can be done for less than $100/hour and you make more than that doing whatever it is that actually brings in the money to your business, then hire someone to do that task and while that person is doing it, do that exact thing that makes you money and nothing else. So, if you hire a guy to mow your lawn, and you are a marketer to motivated sellers, then when that guy comes to mow your lawn, spend the exact same amount of time working on a captivating headline or figuring out a list to mail to the whole time you hear that engine buzzing around your yard. After your first breakthrough, you'll never waste your precious time mowing your lawn again. How much would you pay to have 30 minutes of solitude to sit and think in your evil scheming hatchery? Would you pay more than what you could pay anyone to do something that you regularly do, but know you shouldn't be doing? I bet the answer is 'yes.' Think of all the ideas 30 minutes of solitude and a white board can produce!!

It won't be long before you'll really start to see that you should not be doing 'tasks' and instead be conjuring ideas, plotting implementation, and scheming execution.

3 Reply

Mike D.

Middletown, NJ · Member since 2011 · 108 posts · 22 votes

12y

Gerald K.

Real Estate Investor · Kirkland, WA · Member since 2012 · 480 posts · 116 votes

12y

Originally posted by @Brandon Turner:

1.) I don't currently have a great maintenance guy I can rely on, especially for something like this. I'm looking! (you know anyone?)

2.) It's a Saturday... and NO ONE in my town works on Saturdays.

3.) I had nothing better to do today. Yes, I'm sure I could have spent an hour trying to find someone to go do it, and explain what to do, and hope it was done right. But instead I went into town, grabbed some Starbucks, and climbed up on a ladder and "fixed" the problem temporarily. I'll look for someone to do a more complete fix next week.

So yes, my time is better spent finding deals, finding investors, and other "higher paying jobs." However, today I was just hanging out at home doing some house work. And sometime's a landlord needs to do what needs to get done.

Lots of good responses to this thread and it's been a nice discusson, but a lot of the comments made were the same as Brandon already admitted up front. This was not a fix to save money. He couldn't find anyone easily to get the job done - he didn't have anything going on at the time (even if his rate is $500/hr doing something else) - he probably wanted to prevent additional damage and keep the tenant happy. And hey, maybe he wanted some interesting non-glamorous landlord matieral for BP. So I don't think there's anything wrong with him doing this. However, with as many units as you have now Brandon, you really should have someone you can depend on, and I know you realize that ;-) The older you get, the more and more value you'll place on time. Now go spend some time finding a reliable weekend handyman. You'll be glad you did!

2 Reply

Andrew Whicker

Investor · Ogden, UT · Member since 2014 · 98 posts · 10 votes

12y

Everyone is so money centric on here, it's crazy. It's time. Time is your most valuable asset. Spend it wisely.

If you like hard manual work (and I do too), then do it. I agree with the OP, sitting at your computer and talking on the phone all day is a COST, not a benefit. The benefit is the extra time I hope to gather from being able to spend my cash wisely. I don't pay for my lawn to be mowed because 'I make more money with my talents otherwise,' I don't mow my lawn because 'I don't have much time, I can afford this financially, and I'd rather be climbing, biking, or fabricating.'

Money is the thing that allows you to have time. I don't idolize it. It's just green pieces of paper.

I would agree that if you like manual labor, it would be wiser to find a hobby or create a need that is more fun and maybe less time focused (i.e. it doesn't have to be done today or else).

Maybe I just read this wrong, but a lot of posts seem to be about money and not about the ultimate goal: your own happiness.

BTW, it says you live in Washington.. doesn't it rain there all the time? Do you get extra points for fixing something in the rain when you live in a rainforest? : )

Cheers,

Andy