EP. 55 Proactive Property Maintenance: Boosting Rental Income and Investment Success

Do you want to maximize your rental income without burning out? Learn how proactive property maintenance can be your golden ticket. Ibrahim and Ahmed highlight the significance of regular upkeep for sustaining and enhancing cash flow in real estate investments. Discover why addressing minor issues promptly can prevent them from snowballing into costly problems and ensure tenant satisfaction. Whether you’re short on time or managing properties from afar, you'll understand the undeniable benefits of hiring a property manager to keep things running smoothly.

Think small upgrades don’t matter? Think again. We explore how modern faucets, energy-efficient lighting, and other minor enhancements can significantly boost your property's appeal and value. Ahmed even shares a personal story about a whopping bill he received for neglected maintenance to underscore the financial consequences of ignoring upkeep. Expect practical advice on refinancing to save on mortgage payments and adding amenities like washers and dryers to justify higher rents. Plus, get top-notch tips on tenant screening to minimize risks and keep your property competitively priced.

But it’s not just about property tweaks and tenant checks—understanding neighborhood dynamics is crucial. We discuss why involving property managers early in the investment process can save you from potential pitfalls. Hear our insights on the mantra "location, location, location," and how buying in the right area can influence your investment success. Finally, we emphasize the importance of community engagement through our YouTube channel, inviting listeners to subscribe, share, and even join us as guests. Your participation helps us create a stronger learning community for everyone involved. Join us in maximizing your real estate returns!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

All right, welcome to Do the Top Podcast. It is Friday and this is your real estate podcast. We are committed to making sure real estate investment is seamless as much as possible. I am your host, ibrahim Ojerinde, and my co-host is Ahmed Lawal. We've always been here every Friday and we are committed to make sure we all learn and grow together in this community. Ahmed, how are you doing today?

Speaker 2: 0:30

I'm very excited. Coming back every Friday has always been something that I look forward to, and we are happy that we are able to make it today again. Guys, if you are watching anywhere, you are watching. Thank you for joining us, and we would like you to be active while we are doing this. We want your constructive comments. Make sure you leave your questions in the comment section so we can answer it live while we are here. This is the reason why we do it live right. We want to be able to communicate, be interactive and for this to be able to be beneficial for people that are watching you guys and people that are not here. We will encourage you to share like comment, especially sharing with your friends that are like-minded, people that think about investing as well, but they don't know how to do it.

Speaker 2: 1:19

Real estate is a very solid investment, and this is why we don't want to keep all this information to ourselves. The topic we are going to be talking about today is very crucial. If you get everything right but you get this wrong, it might lead to a big frustration at the end, so it's something that I will encourage everyone to stay tuned, because we are going to be discussing how you can sustain this level and make sure you use it as a leverage to keep investing and generating more income, because once you make more money, you will want to do it more. So this is where the gem is. So.

Speaker 2: 2:00

So take a look and let's talk about how to save and get more cash flow in real estate. So let's say you have a renter, how do you save more money and increase your cash flow at the same time? So, ibrahim, it's one thing to try to invest, it's another thing to make it work for you, and a lot of people give up when it doesn't work for them. This is very important. What are the things that you think people can do to save as well as get more cash flow in real estate?

Speaker 1: 2:39

That is a very interesting question. So, as you have mentioned in this podcast, our goal is to bring all the information and make sure everybody's educated so that we are all informed and we take the right decision as we all get into or continue this real estate investment journey. So I'm very excited that we are here today and I'm happy to share all the proven strategies and ways method that we've been using and a lot of investors are using our debt to make more money or actually maintain or sustain a regular pattern of income, because you don't want a situation where you start business today, you make this amount and you get stuck in that same amount Every single day. We have to be thinking of a way to generate more income legally, conveniently, strategically, where we don't necessarily hurt another person. So these are the things you can do as a landlord or as an investor to get ahead and make money consistently.

Speaker 1: 3:50

The fourth thing is you want to make sure you perform a regular maintenance. First of all, the house is the vehicle. The property is the vehicle where you are making money from and that's where you are able to provide value to your tenant. At the end of the day, you want that tenant to feel comfortable with the property and be happy with that home that you temporarily gave to them. So you have to make sure that home is being taken care of. By making sure, let's say, there's a crack in the roof, the landlord, you make sure it is taken care of. That way the tenant enjoy their stay and they feel happy to actually pay you the rent and everything. So by doing so, you are adding value to I mean, you are making somebody happy, someone that is staying there. At the same time, you are preventing a little issue from getting into worse or devastating situation, because it can get devastating. When the tenant inform you today there's a little crack, you didn't pay attention to it. It rains and, by the way, it's raining right now in my neighborhood. So it rains heavily, for example, and the whole house is flooded. Do you think the tenant will be happy? No, he or she won't be happy. Now, guess what the problem is? Times three or times four right now. I mean in that situation because when it was just a little crack, when you should have called.

Speaker 1: 5:19

If you have a property manager, make sure the property manager handled it. If you don't have it, if you are doing it yourself, make sure you go there and attend to that Right away, before it gets rain and everywhere get flooded. Because when it's flooded now you're not only dealing with the roof. Now you're dealing with someone else's property, someone else's belonging. So as a landlord you want to make sure that you respect your tenant. You make sure your tenant, them and their belongings are in a good shape by making sure nothing that you can control will affect their home well-being. I say the key word is what you can control, because of course, if the tenant has a dog and their dog damaged their belongings, that has nothing to do with you. But the roof, the house, the structure of the house, the property itself and the mechanics of the house, the furnace, everything it still belongs to you. So you have to make sure those stuffs are in a good shape so your tenant can enjoy it and they'll be happy to pay you.

Speaker 1: 6:26

Of course we know some situation where you don't have time to do all that and that is why you have to have a property manager, because you don't have the time or you barely, maybe you don't live in that state or whatever. It is not really an excuse in the eye of the law, because you cannot say, because I'm in California, I couldn't take care of my tenant, when something that literally should be taken care of right away, you push it aside because you are not there and now you make the tenant suffer. Ethically, state law most states will really find you guilty on that. So I would advise you if you don't have property manager and you are not able to really be there for the tenant, please get a property manager, because that will help lessen the pain that you might potentially get into in the future. Okay, so you don't want that to happen to you.

Speaker 1: 7:18

So another one I want to say I want to talk about is take advantage of tax write-off. Okay, so you get rent every month. Some repair will pop up, some like, if you are in charge of making sure the vicinity of that house is taken care of, so you have to cut the grass and all that. All those stuff are expenses. Okay, the water heater broke and you have to get somebody to fix it. Those are expenses. Okay, now a good landlord will make sure all those stuff are recorded and that way you can, you are keeping record. That way you can file it with your taxes. Yeah, if you are busy, it's still the same thing.

Speaker 1: 8:03

It goes back to the same argument that I mean point that I was emphasizing on earlier, that if you don't have time for all this, that is why you have to get a property manager, because their job it's beyond just getting you a tenant. They keep record of what they've spent. Like, let's say, there's a finance issue, the property manager is the one to probably reach out to first and he will try to, or she will try to, get someone to get that thing fixed and the cost associated with that and all that. They have a way to keep record of all that. That way, at the end of the year you are the landlord, you have a record of all the expenses. Now you can use that to file your taxes because it is genuine, it is real. It's not like you are creating a number or anything. So those are your expenses that you can use to get tax write-off. It is called deductions because those are your expenses.

Speaker 1: 9:05

So getting a property manager when you don't have that time or you don't know how to do that business correctly, it is actually an investment, not an expenses to you. We have to look at it right, because when you look at it as expenses rather than investment. It's like you don't really know the scope of what they are doing or how they are helping your business. I want you to look at it very holistically, because these people are the ones taking the call for you, like, if there's something happening, they'll be the one that will take the call. They'll be the one that will make sure the house is running well. Most importantly, they will be the one that will make sure the house is running well. Most importantly, they will be the one that will make sure the tenant is a good tenant from start. So there are a lot of things they do. That's the problem, because they it's like they are the one that making sure everything is running right in that house.

Speaker 1: 9:57

So what am I saying here? I'm saying, even with all the expenses, they will take note of that and they'll pass that to you. You can use that to leverage on your taxes. Of course, I want you to have a CPA. The CPA will tell you all the strategies that you can use to leverage and get all the write-offs you can get. But without you keeping record, without you having someone to make sure all your X-rays are documented, you might be losing on tax write-off. So anyway, I digress.

Speaker 1: 10:35

The next one I want to talk about is you want to adapt to all policies, all laws, all bylaws, all county or HOA or city laws. If you don't follow that, you don't practice what they want you to practice. It might put you in trouble. I mean, I just remember about four months ago or six months, I cannot remember the exact month it was but I ran into a little issue because one of my tenants moved out and because the tenant moved out, I know I have to renovate the house. I want to do some light renovation, and so I talked to some couple of contractors and they told me they would come and they were busy and because of that I kind of just left the house, like, okay, I'm coming back when I, after renovation, I'm going to get in and into the house and all that. So, long story short, the grass grew more than 12 inches. In that neighborhood there is no HOA. So I was thinking, well, it is fine, I mean no HOA to really question why is your grass so high and all that. So in my mind I was like, okay, when the contractor start working in the property, I probably will send somebody to cut the grass and all that. So anyway, for some reason I forget about the grass, and the grass grew more than 12 inches.

Speaker 1: 12:08

One day I went to that property. The grass was cut, the whole property was looking good and all that. So I was excited and actually I remember I came to the podcast, of course, and I think before the podcast I told you that, oh, my grass was cut, and maybe the neighbor did it, and all that. So I was excited and I think about four days or six days later I received a letter from the city. So the city sent someone to cut the grass. Guess what? I was charged about $325. Clearly I have an option not to pay the money. Clearly I have an option not to pay the money. However the money will be, will become a lien on that property. And guess what? If I choose not to pay, they won't bother to even ask me or anything. But when I'm ready to sell or refinance or transfer the house to someone else, they will question, like they will ask for the money and I'm pretty sure they won't ask for 325. Then it's going to be whatever it is then. So where am I getting to?

Speaker 1: 13:13

I'm saying, even if your property, if it doesn't have HOA, you still have to treat your property right, like you have to maintain it, cut the grass, make sure the property is looking good. If there's a tenant in that house, you have to make sure they are taking care of your property. Okay, some people will say, oh, I'm busy, I go to work nine to five or I can't. The tenant is there, why am I watching the tenant? That is why you have to get a property manager, because imagine, look at it this way Even if there was a tenant in that house, if the tenant did not cut that grass, the city would still have cut the grass and send the bill to me regardless. And guess what? They would not send the bill to the tenant because I own the property. So it will come to me. So it's still the same Like.

Speaker 1: 13:59

This is one of the things a property manager will ensure that you know it doesn't happen to you, because they have their knowledge. They know that, regardless of HOA or not, you have to take care of your property. So you don't have time. That is why you have to get someone who's going to take care of it. Make sure the house is run or is running the way the city, the government, wanted to run. If anything, you don't want to get in trouble with the government, of course. So imagine I didn't see the letter, I didn't pay attention to it. Guess what it's going to go. They will tag it to the house as a lien and who knows, maybe after 10 years it might have become $10,000. I don't know, but whatever it becomes $10,000, $8,000, whatever you're going to pay it, they don't care. So, anyway, my point is that please, please, please, take care of your property.

Speaker 1: 14:51

If you don't have the chance, no opportunity, you are far away. Get a property manager to make sure your property is running well, a professional one. Okay, you don't want to just call anyone. And, by the way, I can recommend Asia Property because I'm pretty sure that it's very competent, the company. They know what they are doing. They have various strategies to get you the big buck for your property, because we've talked about different strategies here. I mean, it's not new that Asia Property. They have a lot of strategies. So it depends on what you want. They will tell you what will work for your property in that area. They give you options and you pick the one you want. And, of course, everybody cash flows. So it's going to tell you what you can do to get that cash flow. So you want to make sure you call ASIO property so you can get the best out of your investment.

Speaker 1: 15:44

So the next one, real quick, is that you have to make sure I've talked about tax write-off. I'm sorry, okay. The last one here is get a deal on insurance, because there are a lot of insurance out there. Okay, Now, because of, sometimes, a company, maybe they are based in Florida and a lot of hurricane in Florida, a lot of damages, hurricane in Florida, a lot of damages, and they've lost a lot of money. Guess what they do? They actually will increase the coverage, the price of their policy in other states. Sometimes it's little as $15. But imagine $15 in the old Indiana, ohio, chicago, illinois, texas and all those places on. Each individual is a lot of money for them. So they kind of leverage by taxing more people, increasing their policy so they can recover what they've lost in maybe Florida, maybe California, whatever we all know natural disaster.

Speaker 1: 16:43

Of course, nobody can control that, but what I might get into here is that you don't necessarily have to pay for their loss. You have the right to shop for another one. And this is like I said. These are all the stuff that a property manager will put you through. He will tell you hey, I think this is expensive, let's shop for this, let's show for that. So at the end of the day, you will be able to leverage and keep a lot of money in your pocket instead of paying these corporations and all that. Of course, we know they are billionaire already, so you don't have to necessarily hard hand income.

Speaker 1: 17:20

So those are the ones I really want to talk about for now. I'm sure Ahmed has a lot that he wants to share with us. He's a property manager, so I can't wait to hear from him anyway. So, ahmed, what are the things that people can do? We all try to save money as much as possible. I cannot be making all the money and it's going out right away to corporations and all that. So I'm sure there are legal ways, a very strategic way, to save money in my pocket. What can I do, please?

Speaker 2: 17:51

Thank you, brian, for giving us all the knowledge. We really appreciate you and your knowledge is very valuable. I learned something today Cut your grass, guys, just cut your grass today. Cut your grass, guys, just cut your grass. I was sending a message to one of our clients this week because she hopes to be taking care of the house, like cutting grass and all that. So we are not charging her for that. And I was messaging her like, if you don't cut this within two, three days, then I will cut it and charge you. So I literally tell her that because I just drive by houses, check make sure they cut their grass.

Speaker 2: 18:27

Well, that is, by the way, as a property manager, what I've seen is the number one most single expense of a property owner is vacancy. So if you can work on minimizing vacancy in your property, nine out of 10 is going to be profitable. So vacancy is a very huge bills. People don't see it because it is not money coming out of your pockets. But think about it If you are charging 1500 per month on a property and that property stay on rent for two months, that is 3000, right. So that is very huge. But people don't see it that way because it is not money coming out of their pocket, it is not the money they already earned that is living, but it is the money that is out there that they are supposed to get but they are not getting. So I mentioned that because the topic is how can you save money and get more cash flow? These people don't think about it, but as a property manager, I see it a lot and I try to educate my client. Like your most single expense is vacancy. We need to strategize on how to minimize vacancy and this is going to be profitable. So I really want to hammer on that and I want our listeners to know that, even though that is not the money that they already have that's leaving their accounts, it is playing a huge role at the end of the year, because if you do your accounting at the end of the year and you realize that, okay, you spend 10,000 on this house, you are making 10,000, but you have three months of vacancy, that three months is supposed to be your profits, but now, because you turn a non-challenged attitude to it, now you are paying for it. So vacancy is a huge one for me.

Speaker 2: 20:21

Another one is value-add. What do I mean by value-hard? Of course you cannot do a big renovation to a house that someone is living in, but you can always upgrade some little little things that will save the tenant some money as well as make the house ambient, look professional and look more luxurious than how much they have been. Let me explain what I mean by that. So let's say you go inside the kitchen, you change the faucet. You go inside the bathroom, you change the shower head to something a little fancier, you change the bulbs, the lights, you change it to LEDs. That will save them money. The shower head will save them money, stuff like that and if they look luxurious enough, that gives them the sense of living in a house that is more than what they are paying and a lot of time. That keeps the tenants in the house for a long period of time, because now they see that you care about their house, about where they live. You are putting all your efforts in to make sure the houses look nice, at the same time updated to the standard of the year that we have so value.

Speaker 2: 21:41

Hard is a very big one. Another one is, if you have a house, especially in the market that we have right now, that the interest rates is a little high. In my opinion it's not, but I'm going to say it's high for the populace because a lot of people think it's high. Refinancing might be a good deal when the rate comes down. So let's say you are paying 1,500 right now and the rate dropped maybe by two points and you have a good credit. Try refinancing. If you refinance and the two points drop, you probably will be paying around 1,200. That saves you 400. And guess who is going to be getting that 400 every month? You, which. If you decide you can put that 400 back towards the mortgage and pay the mortgage down quickly, or put it aside in the bank somewhere and use it to buy the next investment property, the next house Stuff like that. So refinancing is another way to save money when you can. It is not always the time to refinance, don't always come around, but when they do it's a very big way to save money, a lot of money actually income stream, building income stream into your already own property.

Speaker 2: 22:59

What do I mean by this? So one thing that I've been advised my clients recently is making sure we can create a space for washer and dryer in the house If the next door is two bedroom, one bath and it's going for $1,100,. You can rent yours for $1,200 or $1,250 if you can just put washer and dryer in their house. $12.50 if you can just put washer and dryer in their house. Because people will pay for convenience and to get their time back any day, any time. Instead of them spending two to three or four hours in laundry every week, they would rather pay $1.50 at all and have that laundry day. And that is giving you extra hundred bucks, extra 150 bucks every month, just because you provide convenience, just because you save them some time.

Speaker 2: 23:53

Now they are at home, they can be in the kitchen and be doing their laundry. They can be watching movie and be doing their laundry. They don't need to drive to the laundry mat, they don't need to get out of their house to get their laundry done anymore. Just because of that competency people will pay more. So that's a better way, a better strategy to get more bulk for your rent and it's also save them some money, because I mean, it depends on this can be argued, can be debated, but a lot of time. It saves them money because you are not only looking at the money they spend on the laundromat right now, you are looking at their time, if they stay there for two hours, if you convert that two hours to someone that is getting paid $60 an hour, that is $120. Plus they spend $20 in laundromat. That makes how much $140, right Now they drove from their house. Let's say $10 gas. That makes $150. That same $150 that they are spending every week on laundry by going to laundromat is what you are charging them per month. It's win-win for everybody. So it's a win-win situation for everybody If you can analyze this the way I just did. Right, so it's a win-win for everyone. So in my opinion, I really think putting extra stream of income like washer and dryer in the house goes a long way to provide convenience and save the tenants some money.

Speaker 2: 25:34

Another one is before you get people in your house, try as much as possible to screen them very well. Try as much as possible to screen them very well. This goes with the vacancy that I talked with earlier. It goes with the vacancy and it saves you a lot of stress when you think about eviction. That's the second one. So if you get your tenant screening right, then the tenant is going to be a good tenant in the house. They are going to be paying. They are going to be responsible. They are going to take ownership of the house. Now, with that, you're going to have peace of mind. Neighbors are not going to be complaining about the tenant every day throwing a party. It's going to be very, very easy on you as well as the tenants too, because now they find peace at your home. They want to stay longer, which reduces the vacancy and you don't have to go through eviction with them, which gives you peace of mind and you spend less. So it's all crunched back to all that. Also, in order to be able to make more bulk on your house, you want to keep up with the rent rates, market rents in your neighborhood, such that if you give your house out for 1,100 right now, in the next year or two you want to check again, make sure that $1,100 is still relevant and if it is higher you can increase it. If it is lower, you find a balance or a way to compensate your tenant for paying $1,100 instead. So keeping up with market rent is another good way to actually make sure that you are getting the value and you are getting enough cash flow.

Speaker 2: 27:30

So this last one really goes back to what Ibrahim has mentioned earlier. So a lot of people actually invest in real estate not because of the cash flow. Invest in real estate not because of the cash flow. Let me explain. So you see, all these doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, these guys that make six figures every year, these guys that make six figures every year, when they invest in real estate, they are investing for tax write-off. They want to use real estate as a leverage. They want to use it as a management strategy for the money they are making on the other hand.

Speaker 2: 28:18

So sometimes you don't need to inflict suffering on the tenant by wanting to get higher bulk on the house. You need to also think about the other ways you are getting benefits from real estate and try to lessen what you are cash flow that you are trying to shrink out of the tenant. A lot of times we get zoomed in in cash flow and we forget all this other area of which real estate brings benefits to us. So Ibrahim already discussed this with us. I just want to highlight that point. I don't want to go back into it. And so, ibrahim, you mentioned something earlier. I just want you to explain what it is, just for our audience sake. You mentioned if you don't cut your grass and the city cuts it for you. They can put a lane or cloud your property.

Speaker 1: 29:26

What do you mean by that? Yeah, thank you for asking. I should have broke that down when I mentioned it. So lien is like somebody put a bill like legally attach a bill to your property that you are. It's like they're saying you are owing us a particular amount of money and it's on that property. So it means whenever that property, someone wants to exchange a property by selling it, by refinancing it, the lien will show up because it's on your property. So when title company are trying to figure out who and who you have to settle and you're trying to sell or refinance, the lien will pop up because they went through legal means to actually attach that lien on that property.

Speaker 1: 30:29

So lien is a debt that somebody is bringing forward to the court, that this person is owing me a particular amount of money and they want that person, they want the bill to be attached to that property because that individual has refused to pay me. Now the courts will look at the evidence, will look at the proof, which is the grass that they cut. You know, of course, when they cut that grass they would have taken pictures, they would have measured the grass, make sure it's way beyond the city limit and the letter that they have sent to that property or the calls that they have made to that property owner. That way the judge can see that, yeah, these people, they've made efforts to reach out to this particular landlord and because that person, he or she neglected or refused to cooperate, that is why the city or that person is moving forward with the lien. Now to make it official lien it has to be approved by the George and the George will sign it and everything. Now they take that and take it to the lien department.

Speaker 1: 31:58

I mean, I don't know who's in charge of really that, but they will not attach that to that property. So it means no matter in the next five years, but they will not attach that to that property. So it means no matter in the next five years, 10 years, 20 years. As long as you are trying to exchange a property, either for cash or for debt or anything, the lien will show up as a second debt on that property. So I don't know if I I'm trying to see if there's a better way to explain it, but it's actually a debt that is attached to that property you did answer my question.

Speaker 2: 32:32

Sorry, brian. I have a follow up question, though. My follow up question is I want us to simplify this so that people can get it right. Can someone attach a lien to my property, uh, without the money that I owe them, without directly involving the house? For example, these guys cut your grass. That is the grass of the property. That is why they can put a lien on that property. Can I owe you money on the side and decide to put a lien on your house?

Speaker 1: 33:09

So, to my knowledge, it has to be related to that property. So if you paint the house for me, for example, as a property manager, you can put a lien on the property. So you better don't mess with ASEO property. Okay, I'm just kidding, I know ASEO property. They don't like trouble so they'll try to. But you have the authority to put a lien on the property because it's related to that property. You show the judge the proof that yeah, this is my service, this is what I've been doing, and this person has not paid me. This is that. And the judge will put a lien on that property. And guess what, no matter how long, in fact, if the person declined to pay, it's increasing your lien. The lien keeps going up. So anyway, yes, to answer your question, to my knowledge it has to really be related to that property. Let's say a contractor, a painter, a plumber, an attian, but a random person on the street, I'm not sure you can put a lien. I'm not sure you can put a lien on someone else's house. I'm not sure.

Speaker 2: 34:21

Absolutely correct, Ibrahim. You're absolutely correct. I want to bring that up so that people understand that we are talking about putting a lien against a house that you have a direct contract with. You cannot say, because Ahmed owns a house, now Ahmed is paying me money, I can put no, it doesn't work that way. You have to have a contract that have you directly related to that property. Let's say you fix my door, we have a contract, we have an agreement for you to fix my door of that same house. Now I don't want to pay you.

Speaker 2: 35:02

You have the right to put a lien against the house. And the reason why I bring that up is I want to encourage our people. This is what we are discussing here is how to save money. I want to encourage our people. This is what we are discussing here is how to save money. You can save money by paying chickeny money for people to do title search for you when you are buying your house. That is another point that I want to drive the point the question to so because if you have a lien against the house, but because you have this subject to seller financing, that is too good to be true you jump on it without doing a title search.

Speaker 1: 35:38

These are the type of situation you can run into.

Speaker 2: 35:44

So, yeah, title search is not expensive. I think it's about 150 to 250. Even if it is up to that, you can call the title company in your area or the title company you use to verify. But always make sure you do title search, even if you are buying off-market. I'm an advocate of off-market, but never, ever buy a property without doing title search. So that is where I'm trying to drive to Ibrahim. I think we have a comment. I'm not sure if it is a question or a comment. I don't really understand what the Should I talk to you Like?

Speaker 1: 36:20

should I subscribe to your, to you? Oh, yes, yes, yes.

Speaker 2: 36:28

Absolutely we. We want, we want you to subscribe to our channel. We really want you to share this content. We want you to keep coming back and dropping your question in the chat so that we can answer them live. So, yes, that is a question and yes is the answer.

Speaker 1: 36:46

So, ibrahim, as a real estate broker, as a managing broker, as a real estate broker, as a managing broker, what are the common mistakes that you think people do that deter them from getting the maximum cash flow that they deserve? It's a big one. I think you've mentioned it already. The biggest really is vacancy, Because you have to have somebody to make money, and the days that you don't have anybody in your property, you're making zero dollars. Another one that I think is big is not having the right person. It's not just about getting somebody. You have to have the right person that fits that property, but you have to have the right person that fits that property. Now, no one is perfect in detecting the right person, but people that are into this business a good property manager will be able to tell you with what they've observed, with their experience, the screening they've done for multiple people, they can narrow out. It's like a game of a hundred. They can get you about 85% to 90% of the chance, a good possibility that this person that they are picking is going to be a good person, versus you doing 50-50 just because, I mean, it's not your job, it is what it is. You're just speaking based on you know, somebody tell you I'm good, I'm nice, I'm this, I'm that. So they go beyond that because they have these tools to narrow out people that are just pretending or pretenders. So I feel like getting the right person is a big one. We often don't talk about that just because as long as we get somebody there, we get paid every month. We kind of forget about the other side of it until that person stops paying, until that person is damaging your house without reporting to you, until they say that person is doing all kinds of business in that house, especially the illegal ones. Okay, so where am I getting to? It may cost you way more than you've gained in that property.

Speaker 1: 39:01

Imagine you're getting like, let's say, you are not using a property manager or you are using unupdated or old school property manager where they are stuck with just regular leasing and they don't really engage in new strategies. Because the new strategies it involves change. It involves you being open to technology, you being doing your research and all that. So not everybody want to dive into that just because it's a new generation stuff. All this technology and all that Providing management they are comfortable doing. They are normally seeing. They like that every month fix money and they like to stay with that. We all know that there are other strategies that can fetch you a lot of money, but it might not be exact. This month you can make a little way more, the next month you can make a little less, and all that. So where am I getting to Some property managers they like to do that fixed one and in that case maybe you are making $300 every month and the tenant is the wrong one.

Speaker 1: 40:09

The person stopped paying or not using your property right, and at the end of the day, when the person move out eventually, it might cost you a lot of thousands to fix that house just because this individual has not been taking good care of your property. I mean inside the property. Of course you can see outside, but inside they are the ones living there, so if the person's not taking care of it, you might not know until they move out. So then all the $300 you've made for over a year or two a year is about even less than, let me see, $300, that's about $3,600, something like that. So you barely make anything, but when that person moves out it might cost you $10,000 to $20,000 or $30,000. So technically you are not making anything because it's like all the money you've made the person took it away from you.

Speaker 1: 41:03

But now the new ways, new strategies you are able to see your house before it get damaged, before it gets worse, because, like I said, I don't need to really break all this down because we have a property manager here that can explain all that to you. If you really want to know more how you can make more money on your property, call is your property. It will break all that down for you guys and you can see how powerful are the other strategies. That is gonna, of course, enlighten you and you definitely get a lot of cashflow. So with that one, you are able to see your property before things get terrible and, of course, they will take care of that and it will be fixed. And so all the money you are making, you don't necessarily, you won't necessarily have to spend it on renovation when the tenant moves out, because in the middle of why the tenant are there, the house has been taken care of, they are keeping it clean, so it's no brainer.

Speaker 1: 42:01

Getting the wrong tenant will cost you more at the end of the day, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 42:05

So you want to get the right tenant. How can you figure out the right tenant? It is an interesting question I advise you to reach out to a property manager. They will tell you what to do to get the right tenant, because that's their job. So, ahmed, I know I keep saying property manager because I understand that some of these things we are talking about here for some people is like well, I mean, nobody writes, you cannot see it on someone's face and the person will not say, hey, I'm going to damage your property, or I'm not going to let you know if your property something's wrong with it, or I'm not going to let you know, or I'm going to stop paying rent.

Speaker 1: 42:45

Nobody writes it on their forehead. So you guys have the tools to at least narrow down and try to figure out how things are with. That person will behave and everything. What do you think people? Do you think people should actually get the property first and reach out to you when they get the property or when they are planning to get a property? They should reach out to you. Which get the property? Or when they are planning to get the property? They should reach out to you which one Is it after or before they get the property?

Speaker 2: 43:20

So either way works, but the most efficient way? I just want to do the direct answer on this. Either way works, but the most efficient way is to get all parties involved before you even buy it. So, real estate agents, property managers if you need some work, contractors, before you even pay. Why? Location, location, location that is a slang in real estate. If you buy a bad property in a good location, it's going to perform, but if you buy a good house in a bad neighborhood, you're going to struggle.

Speaker 2: 44:02

You can make it work. I have a lot that I'm making it. I'm making them work right now, but I don't just want to be making them work. I want it to be easy on me and on the owner as well, because just want to be making them work. I want it to be easy on me and on the owner as well because I want to minimize the vacancy as much as possible, right? So the direct answer is make sure you reach out to the property manager before you buy a house, because now they can tell you what do you think? What are you thinking? What do you want to do? Okay, I want to do a long listen. Okay, they will look at the neighborhood. Is this the tenant-dominated environment or owner-dominated environment? If it is owner-dominated environment, the first thing I ask is do you know if they have HOA? Because mostly if you are in a landlord-dominated environment, mostly they always come with HOA. So if it is balanced, then that is a good market because that means they're still going to have some good infrastructure, schools, resources and all that. So if it is balanced, yes, that's a good environment.

Speaker 2: 45:07

When we are going outside to a total renter area, then we need to be careful of which strategy you want to do. So this discussion needs to come before you even buy, so that you can be clear and on day one, possibly we can make sure you are getting money on day one. Because if you have a plan, once you get the key, what do you need to do? You execute Because you already have a plan. But if you are calling us at the end, we can still make it work, we can still talk to you, but your option is going to be limited because now you can't move the house. We have to work with what we have Right.

Speaker 2: 45:50

And one thing in real estate is, apart from making it work right now, apart from getting you the big buck that you want I'm using your slang right now the big buck that you want. If you buy in a good location, all you need to do most of the time is maintain the property, keep someone in there that is paying your mortgage and in three, four years, five years, 10 months, you will look like a genius, because that house will skyrocket. The value is going to increase drastically. So it is very, very important to pay attention to all these things, and the only way to get yourself the information that you need to make a informed decision is if you reach out before you buy the property. So that would be my preferred option, but either way is going to work.

Speaker 2: 46:46

Another thing I want to mention is this goes to the people that are renting the house Real estate investors putting the ad m money in all this property if you have a toilet that can flush, don't just leave it there and be using the other toilets. Call the property manager, call the property owner to come and fix it, because if they can fix it earlier, honestly, honestly, ibrahim, it sounds really funny and ridiculous how people can do that, but it happens. Honestly, and you won't believe the numbers. If I call the numbers of people that do that you will be surprised. People just want that convenience. They don't want that face-to-face. And maybe they are thinking, if I let my landlord know this is not working, again, maybe it's going to increase the rent.

Speaker 2: 47:35

No, don't do that. You are actually not doing the landlord or the property manager a favor by not calling out the maintenance they need to do, because now that thing will keep getting worse and the time that they will have to come back and fix it, they will be spending two, three times more. Yeah, definitely. So always, always, call out a repair that is needed in the house. If you can catch it early, then we can spend less. Well, if it gets worse than what it is right now and it is sometimes it puts the people that are staying in the house at risk as well. So we need to think about our safety, about our health, and just call it out. Let them come and fix it, Even if it is going to affect some other thing. Just make sure you let them know so that they can get it on time. I know that is like off topic, but it is really budding inside of me.

Speaker 1: 48:37

It's valuable. Trust me it is valuable. I mean, at least some of the landlord on our audience they'll be able to communicate that to their tenants, especially the ones that don't have a property manager. They'll be able to communicate that. Hey, please let me know if there's any damage. And also some of the people that listen to our podcast actually tenant. So they are open, striving to get into the landlord arena. So it is a good thing that they are learning from it. So we appreciate that you're passing that information over.

Speaker 1: 49:11

It's like a tip that will save everyone's, because actually, for not doing that, some landlord may actually charge that tenant as well. Yes, because definitely the toilet, the color will be different, like if that stuff has been there for a long time. A plumber, a professional plumber, would be able to tell and that person would inform the landlord, show evidence maybe take picture or anything like that. And at the end of the day, a landlord might be able to come up with some charges. And it's probably going to hurt the tenant and even more if the landlord take action by charging the tenant, whatever it is to fix that toilet. So at the end of the day, or even the tenant, everybody wants to be careful and make sure you do your part, which is take a phone and let your landlord know that something is going on with the toilet or the AC or whatever is wrong with the house. Let the landlord know so that he or she can fix it.

Speaker 1: 50:18

Anyway, guys, we are at the top of the. It's one minute after nine. So, ahmed, we've talked about what people can do and I've mentioned it multiple times that they need a property manager, especially if you don't have the time. You want a huge cash flow. You are tired of the $100, $150 you are getting every month and you want something more. You want a lot of cash flow and efficiency in your business. So how can they reach out to you? I'm sure people are listening and they will try to contact you.

Speaker 2: 50:53

Yes, absolutely, brian. Thank you for that. You can reach out to us on 317-689-7075. Or you can always message me. You can always reach out to me on our social media, especially on Instagram. I still handle my Instagram myself. Fisha Ahmed Lawal is on the screen. If you reach out to me, we can talk. People reach out to me every day and we talk, we advise, I provide my connection. If you need something that I don't do, I don't offer, I still provide my connection. Like hey, reach out to this guy, we'll be able to help you. So you can reach me on that number. Ibrahim, people need to buy a house before we manage it. If people want to buy houses, sell their house, invest in real estate, how can they reach out to you?

Speaker 1: 51:45

Yes. So, thank you, they need to go to. You know, ibrotorsus, that's the website. You can message me from there. You can text me, email me, actually or you can go to the social media on Instagram, Ibericous, dm me and if you want to call me 317-728-0213, any of it you are free to do Anything concerning real estate. That is what I do every day, every night. So I want to thank you guys for watching this episode and don't forget, please share with your friend, your family, your co-worker, your neighbors. We are dedicated to come every friday.

Speaker 1: 52:24

Trust me, it has not been like what do you call it? It has not been like someone in the I'm trying to see what kind of phrase I can use. I'm so sorry. I mean like we make it easy. It has been that easy, but we make it look like it's easy because we committed and we are passionate about what we do.

Speaker 1: 52:45

So, please, the little thing you can do to help us is to subscribe to our channel. Share this with your friend, your family. We will really appreciate this. Of course, you all know it is free to subscribe. It is free to share to anyone. All you are doing is helping this community. We are like a community here because we want to learn and grow together. So we've always said this we don't know it all. We are open to criticism, we are open to a comprehensive and, in fact, if you have any kind of profession in real estate and you want to come to our podcast, just send us an email and we will tell you when and how we can let you, when we will let you come in and what are the things we would like you to participate in our podcast. So we are open to that. Please let us know. Thank you for watching this episode, ahmed.

Speaker 2: 53:39

Peace.

Speaker 1: 53:41

All right.