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You Can’t Do it All: Why You Should Hire a Real Estate Assistant

Leon Yang
3 min read
You Can’t Do it All: Why You Should Hire a Real Estate Assistant

I’ve always been a big proponent of doing everything for yourself when you first start investing in real estate. You have to wear many hats in real estate in the beginning, so you at least get a sense of knowing what’s going on.

So when I first started in investing in buy and holds, I became my own property manager. When I started flipping my own properties, I began painting the house myself and even learned how to tile a floor. It was a great learning experience, as I got a hands on experience from managing properties to rehabbing a house.

Related: Five Steps to Finding Focus in Your Real Estate Business

I may not be the best tile installer nor the best painter, but when push comes to shove, I can get those things done. On the other hand, because I have been so reliant on myself, I have forgotten at times that I only have 24 hours in a day. I cannot do everything by myself. When my real estate portfolio began to grow, I couldn’t handle everything because problems pile up, and I only have so much time. So in order to grow, I really needed to learn how to delegate.

The Importance of Delegating Work

The concept of work delegation is very important when it comes to managing my own properties. I know, I have said it before that I can manage properties while I’m stumbling around South America or Hawaii or something.

But I find it extremely distracting when I have to deal with the occasional tenant issue that comes up. I hate to try to coordinate my handyman or a contractor and have to think about that while I’m snorkeling in the sea or something. And I haven’t been able to provide the best property management experience for my tenants because I am not always available on the spot to take care of their needs.

It becomes a very frustrating experience for them to get me to do something while it has been frustrating for me to coordinate someone to take care of something for them. While I could find more reliable contractors, it still takes me time and efforts to find someone.

And more importantly, I’ve come to realize that I am a real estate investor, not a property manager. I am not getting paid to manage properties; I am getting paid by acquiring good properties at good prices with good financing involved. I needed to know most effective use of my time, and then I can put my best foot forward.

Rather than trying to be a painter, a tiler, a property manager all while trying to do what I really wanted to do, I should outsource all these aspects of real estate to people who can do a better job than I can. I should be spending more time thinking about how to grow my real estate business instead.

Hiring My First Assistant

So by the time this article is published, I may have just hired my first real estate assistant already. I’ve taken the plunge to take on help and I honestly think this will improve my life tremendously. Not only that I no longer have to worry about dealing with tenants, but also that I can have someone who specializes in that and frankly, can probably do a much better job than I can. His or her job is to provide the best service to my tenants and coordinate everything for me. I won’t be hurting my business, but instead I will be improving my business, as now I can devote more time to finding more deals and building my business.

Related: How To Train a Virtual Assistant in Three Easy Steps

Furthermore, I understand that everyone can have a budget, and hiring someone can possibly be a financial burden for you. The key is that I am hiring someone on more so an ad hoc basis. I am guaranteeing the assistant a certain amount of hours per month where they will be the point of contact for my tenants, but I don’t pay any more beyond that.

It is very reasonable and allows me to not have to scale big enough just to hire someone full time. Real estate investors who need help can also hire someone part time, like a bookkeeper, who doesn’t break your budget, but allows you to have enough time to build your business.

So now I am working hard to focus on building my real estate business further, and that, of course, includes providing some quality content for you BPers out there. For you investors out there who are getting overwhelmed, don’t be stubborn like I used to be, and go out there and get some help!

I know I have waited too long, and now I am trying to get into that mindset that I should really focus on what I am good at and let go of things that I may not be that good at it.

Are you at a place in your business where an assistant could help you out? Have you hired an assistant already? How has your experience been?

Let me know in the comments below!

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.