SS21: What Tasks Should You Outsource When Self-Managing Real Estate?

Charles discusses outsourcing tasks when you are self-managing rental real estate.

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Talking Points:

First off, realize that this is going to cost you money; outsourced tasks do not run smoothly from the beginning – you need to invest time training new hires – I was told years ago to plan on spending 30 hours to train and fine-tune a task that takes an hour
When you are looking to purchase a property, you should have a team in place, some of them will also be utilized when managing the property.
- A broker – that specializes in working with investors; in your area and with the size of properties you are focusing on
- Lenders & brokers – handling loans that cover the spectrum of properties you are focusing on
- Real estate attorney – preferably one that handles evictions as well
- Inspectors
- Contractors – construction, electrician, roofing, plumbing, HVAC
- Title company
After you have purchased a property you are going to want to start putting together your management team:
- Landscaping
  - probably the easiest to outsource; see who neighboring landlords use and speak to them; (grass vs. snow)
  - handling fall and spring cleaning
- Janitorial or cleaning
  - cleaning common areas regularly
  - cleaning of apartments during a turn
- The most important people are handymen (reliable handymen)
  - Handling small repairs
    - Plumbing clogs
    - Minor leaks
    - Replacing fixtures
  - Handling the turning of apartments (minus cleaning)
    - Painting – repair damaged walls
  - Virtual Assistant
    - Property/rental marketing – receiving leads
    - Updating availability across websites
    - Possibly receiving repair requests and submitting them to the handyman and yourself
    - Keeping a list of non-urgent repairs
    - Answer phone inquiries from potential tenants
    - Help you verify the rentability of properties
    - Help you conduct market research
    - Help you create a rental appraisal
    - Post new rental listings
    - Vendor invoicing
    - Call owners based on bought leads
    - Find ways to promote listings
    - Track rent progression for competing properties
    - Update your company’s CRM
    - Research insurance providers
    - Expenses management support
    - Take care of repetitive tasks
    - Test new property management software
    - Find ways to promote your property management company
  - Bookkeeper
    - Recording all deposits and payments
    - Setting up online payments for tenants
  - The real estate agent that focuses on rentals
    - Handles setting up appointments – collecting leases and application fees
    - (You will make the final choice on applicant approval)
    - Paid a straight one-time fee
  - Contractors for major repairs and repairs requiring a licensed professional:
    - construction, electrician, roofing, plumbing, HVAC
  - Accountant
  - Real estate attorney that handles evictions regularly
- So, what is your role as the owner once these tasks have been outsourced?
  - Write the initial rental listings – copywriting
  - Keeping track of non-urgent repairs and setting up handymen at a few hours of work
  - Collecting rent or setting up online bill pay
  - Approving new tenants
  - Engaging attorney when required
  - Speaking to tenants
  - Reviewing the property and any projects

Transcript:

Charles:

Welcome to Strategy Saturday; I’m Charles Carillo and today we’re going to be discussing what tasks you should outsource when self managing real estate. So it was important. First off to realize that it’s going to cost you money to outsource. And when you’re outsourcing tasks are not going to run smoothly from the beginning, you need to invest time training. The new hires I was told years ago to plan on spending 30 hours to train and fine tune the tasks that takes only an hour. And maybe that’s a little overkill, but it shows you how much time you need to invest for a new task to be offloaded off your plate. When you’re looking to purchase a property, you should have some team in already in place. And some of them you’re going to utilize when managing the property as well. So a broker that specializes in working with investors in your area and with the size properties you are focusing on.

Charles:

Second is lenders and mortgage brokers, handling loans that cover the spectrum of properties. You are focusing on a real estate attorney, preferably one that handles evictions as well. Inspectors contractors, construction, electrician, roofing, plumbing, HVAC, and a title company. After you’ve purchased a property, you’re going to want to start putting together your management team and landscaping is probably the easiest to outsource and how I would find them is see who neighboring landlords are using and speak to them. And there’s a little difference depending on where you are in the country of, if you’re looking for landscaping, just for say grass and hedges versus snow removal as well. So when you’re doing grass, having grass cut and hedges cut you when you’re looking for someone, if it’s we’re supposed to be there every Friday and they come say on Sunday, you’re not going to have a problem.

Charles:

If your grass is cut in nine days versus seven days, however, with snow, if someone it snows on Friday and they don’t come until Sunday, that can be a huge problem because snow and ice are huge litigation headaches. When it comes to owning rental property, I’ve lost insurance companies before because someone has slipped on ice at one of our properties, they didn’t even live there and they slipped on ice. And after the, the claim was paid, the insurance company dropped us on renewal. So it’s not just what costs goes out of your pocket. It’s also the hassle with how long it takes you to reinsure a property and try to reinsurance for the same rate. So it’s very important to know that when you’re dealing with snow and ice, that you’re getting some of those licensed and insured to do that other tasks you can have landscape or do other than just grass and snow is handling fall and spring, clean up.

Charles:

That’s a huge thing. And it’s a huge weight off your plate, janitorial or cleaning. And this is another thing that you want to outsource right away, cleaning common areas regularly. And depending on the size of property, large complexes, this is probably done every day and smaller complexes. This is probably done every month and cleaning of apartments during a turn. And a, what I feel is the most important person when you’re self managing that you need is a, is the handyman reliable handyman, and they are going to be handling all types of small repairs around your complex, from plumbing, clogs, minor leaks, replacing fixtures, handling, and turning apartments, and minus to cleaning. You’ll have the cleaning people do that. Painting repair, damaged walls, and these are all tasks that you will need a good handyman for. And in most places, sometimes it’s going to be a, an emergency.

Charles:

So you need someone that’s also available, not someone that just is available. A weeks in advance. It’s someone that’s available, maybe within a 12 or 24 hour window as well. The next person would be a virtual assistant and they can help you with property rental marketing, receiving leads coming in from that marketing, updating availability across websites. So when you’re, there’s some, there’s some websites out there that will handle going to Zillow and apartments.com and all the other ones. But you know, someone has to put on those ads, someone has to take them off. Someone has to edit those ads. Someone has to respond to any inquiries that come through on that website on that platform. And this is where you can have the virtual assistant do possibly receiving repair requests and submitting to handyman news. So this could be something maybe down the road that you add to their plate.

Charles:

And this is where if they are, Hey, there’s a plumbing clock, had one a, they send it to the handyman. They probably send it to you as well. So you have an idea of what’s going on. And in that way, you’re able to kind of keep eye on what’s going on with your property. And you can use a different system other than like, say text messaging or something like this, but something where you have an idea of what’s happening. And you’re able to not be in the middle when a an emergency or repair request comes up. They’re going to also possibly keep a list of non-urgent repairs. So there’s a, someone has a a, a door handle that’s loose, or a a re a screen that’s ripped Lee’s things, aren’t emergencies. And that virtual assistant can add that to a document where once you get to a certain estimate in hours, you send that to the handyman, and then they come out and spend five or eight hours at your property answer phone inquiries from potential tenants.

Charles:

So if there’s any kind of questions or anything, that’s happening, have it all go to the virtual system, they’re going to help you verify the rentability of property. So if you’re looking at buying a property, what can you rent it for them help you conduct market research? What can you rent properties that you own, or your own, maybe rents increased in the area, and you can increase rents on renewal or with the new tenants. They can help you create a rental appraisal, post new rental listens. They can help you with vendor invoicing and they can call owners based on leads. So that’s a, that’s another big thing as well that you’re going to be doing when you’re working with them, find ways to promote listings. So if you’re not getting the traction that you need, maybe have to look outside the box for promoting listings.

Charles:

That’s something that you can use a virtual assistance to do, and research, track, rent progression for competing properties. So see what’s going on, what neighbors are selling properties for, and see along those listings, stay up for update your company CRM. That’s another big one with new vendors, with new contacts that you have research insurance providers. So you need insurance property insurance for on your properties. Let them go out and get the bids. They can handle expense management and support, take care of repetitive tasks. Anything that you have at keep on doing every day that’s that can be done, virtually test, do property management software. So if you want to start using a new property management software, have them set it up, have them test it. You can find ways to promote your property management company. So if you do have a property management company, and you’re offering that to services, those services to other investors in your, in your area, that’s something that you can have the virtual assistant help you with.

Charles:

The next one I would say is a bookkeeper bookkeepers, great are recording all the posits and payment setting up online payments for tenants, and that will really streamline, streamline your process and make it much easier. At the end of the year, when submitting all this information to your accountant, a real estate agent that focuses on rentals. This is very important handles, setting up appointments, collecting leases and application fees. And of course, you’re going to be the final choice on the for the applicant approval, but it could be something where the virtual assistant is verifying. Everything’s fine. And then sending the leads to you or directly to the agent and the agent is setting up those appointments so they can show it. And that agents can be paid a straight one-time fee. So it’s, it’s great. You can be depending on what kind of relationship you have with the agent, and if they’re really, if they really, their specialty is renting, you probably can get a really good, great on that.

Charles:

So next would be contractors for major repairs and repairs requiring our licensed professional. So for example, you’re doing any type of construction project, right? Or you’re renovating decks, and you need for electrician or roofing or plumbing or HVAC, you’re gonna need someone that’s licensed. The next one would be an accountant and a, a, so a real estate attorney that handles evictions regularly. It’s very important. You don’t want to be paying litigation attorney pricing when you have an eviction. So what is the role as the owner, once all of these tasks have an outsource? Like, what are you going to do once you get all these tasks off your plate? Well, you can write the initial rental listing the copywriting, right? So all the listings you can make sure they’re done. They look nice, all the copy for them, make sure the pictures are very nice.

Charles:

And you can put this all together on the folder for your VA. I keep track of all your non-urgent repairs and setting up handyman at a few hours of work. Like we talked before that list could be held with your VA, but it’s also something that when it gets to a certain limit, you can then call up on your handyman and say, Hey, come out. Schedule me for the next you know, four to eight hours, one of these next weeks. And we have a few different things I need taken care of. You can help with collecting rent or setting up online bill pay. So that’s gonna be something really important. Some, some apartments, some are still going to be collecting payment by same money order, which I don’t suggest. I suggest to put all that on online bill paying, but that’s something that you might have to do in the beginning, approving new tenants, new applicants once the agent that’s running your apartments, sent you an applicant on the application, you review it, you can do your background, check through your system and you can review it and then make your decision.

Charles:

If it’s something that you want to move forward with, you can also have your agent do the background check as well. Just depends on your relationship with them engaging attorney when required. So this can be something when someone’s not paying. And you can look into your software and say, wow, this person is late. And I have to start moving forward with you know different notices or to move forward with an actual eviction. And that’s when I should be alerted. And you can do that speaking to tenants. So a lot of tents are going to reach out to you would have a lot of potential tenants reach out to the VA. And a lot of current tenants reach out to you unless you have gotten your your VA seasoned enough, where they can handle speaking to current tense as well, which is the best situation, and then reviewing the property and any project. So if there’s any projects or any cap ex or any repairs that need to be done in the future, that’s when you can start going out and sourcing those bids from other contractors. So I hope you enjoyed, please remember to rate, review, subscribe, submit comments, and potential show topics at global investors, podcast.com. Look forward to two more episodes next week.

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