REI Wealth Monthly Issue 09 | Page 6

IT’S NOT YOUR MANAGEMENT – IT’S YOUR BUILDING BEN LEYBOVICH Real estate is still as privileged as it ever was; only It falls outside of the scope of this article to today it is not bloodline that determines one’s address the notion that it is necessary to have a lot capacity to enter and remain in the game – it is of money in order to invest in real estate, although intellectual worth. The mainstream wisdom is that considering that 100% no-money down creative buying real estate is a very cash-intensive finance is my area of expertise, I will most certainly proposition. address this in future publications. Although this wisdom is quite Today, erroneous, it nevertheless keeps most people from however, I’d like to discuss the aspect of real ever getting into the sport real estate investing. estate investing that is most crucial to our success and that scares most people away from investing Not only that, but many of those who do find their in real estate – tenants. You’ve heard the horror way in, do not last. Why? Because while buying stories and you’ve seen the movies – tenants any old piece of real estate is about as difficult as trashing units and intimidating the owners. falling out of a tree – anyone who has cash can do it, buying a piece of property which makes sense It happens, but it doesn’t have to today and will withstand the test of time is the realm of the sophisticated and highly educated few. Thus, belief that a person has to have a lot of money, combined with inability to choose investments wisely due to a lack of perspective and education is why real estate investing is very much out of the mainstream. Few players make it… The simple truth of the matter is that while there can be no absolutes in the world of investing, there most certainly is a method and a process of selecting your long-term holds in a way that addresses this issue proactively. In fact, I have come to believe that the manager’s ability to place “responsible” tenants, those tenants who are not likely to trash your unit, is 90% a function of the property itself and only 10% of the management and/or the tenant screening process. Though there are exceptions to the rule, most often when landlords struggle with trashed units and other management issues it is because for one reason or the other this unit attracting the type of tenant who thinks that it is OK to destroy someone’s property. Simply put, if you are having these issues in your business, you’ve bought the wrong kind of property, and now you are paying for it. This is why you may be burnt out on landlording!