Do It Yourself Real Estate
When you invest in real estate, money is made or lost behind the scenes, not when the final deal is made. For example, you may have turned a $10,000 profit on the sale price after one month, but if you paid an attorney $1,000, your contractors $5,000, and your real estate agent $5,000, you lost money on your deal.
There’s a lot of common sense involved once you invest in real estate. Improvements to your property, such as new cabinets, landscaping or tiling are things that can really add some value. Hire professionals to do these things for you only if you need the help.
For instance, changing locks, putting in new plants or painting the walls are things you can likely do yourself. You certainly do not want to do something you are not capable of doing – that can become even more costly than just hiring a contractor. In your deal, consider the skills you have and what really needs to be done to get the place up to par.
In terms of other professional services, perhaps you should avoid hiring a rental agency that will take 10% to 15% plus the first month’s rent; you can place classified ads and answer your own phones.
You may be surprised to find out that you can do many tasks you used to pay for far more efficiently (remember the old adage, if you want something done right, do it yourself). If you absolutely must remain hands off on everything, make sure that you budget accordingly so you do not chew up your profits paying service providers.
Related posts:
