Table of Contents
In honor of my family: Renda, Adam, Eric, and Muriel Lederer;
To Jill, John, Robert, Sarah, and Edward Doherty; Peggy, Marc (one of Americas great real estate investors and landlords), Josh, Davis, and Chloe Blum;
And in memory of Frederick Lederer, Beverly and Irwin Lippmann, and Stella Natenberg, anyones idea of a great real estate asset and team member
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am pleased to acknowledge those without whose help and guidance neither this series nor my landlording odyssey would be complete:
My copy, editorial, graphics, and marketing team of Bridget McCrea, Shannon Vargo, Linda Indig, Mohammed Ejaz Ali, Brian Neill, Beth Zipko, and Kim Dayman, who really pulled through for me and to whom I am much indebted. A big thank you and recommendation to the best non-fiction literary agent in America and my great friend, Cynthia Zigmund.
My inspirations: the courageous, selfless and impactful John Wood of Room to Read, business leader and good friend Dean Debiase, and real estate entrepreneur/attorney/friend Dr. Arnold S. Goldstein, Esq.
My wife Renda and mother Muriel deserve much credit for this ultimate series, our education in landlording, and the staying force to persist. Too seldom do family members get their due in these endeavors. I have been blessed beyond belief.
My long-time colleagues Enid Becker, Jonas Hedsund, and Jay Rawlings; accountant and lawyers Harry Kramer, Stewart Schechter, Peter Lieberman, and Todd Mazur; and my former colleagues Bruce Masterson, Cindy Fitzgerald, and Paul Barrett.
Mona Hellinga as my favorite and utterly professional residential real estate agent.
My friends and business partners at Buildium property management software, including Michael Monteiro and Dimitri Georgakopoulos.
LIST OF ICONS
Money Savers
These sections are designed to save you money. Use the information in them to make frugal decisions regarding your cash outlay when investing in and running your properties.
Money Makers
Heres where youll learn how to make money in real estate. Ferret out the best possible tips and advice from these sections of the book and youll be well braced to earn a living and more from your real estate investments.
Time Savers
We know there are only so many hours in a day, so use these areas of the book to shave precious time from your schedule and maximize the time spent on your landlording and real estate investment business.
INTRODUCTION
Congratulations! You are about to embark on an exciting new path that many successful landlords before you have come to enjoy. Whether youre new to the business, or looking for ways to improve your current rental property ventures, youve come to the right place. This book, combined with the real estate investment and real estate property management books that complete this series, will equip you to take on just about anything that comes your way as a landlord.
This book is designed to serve you, the reader, in several ways. You can read it from cover to cover, stick to those sections that are most applicable to your situation, and/or supplement it with the knowledge that youll find in the other two volumes. Regardless of how you tackle it, the key is for you to come away with a broad knowledge of exactly what it means to be a successful landlord.
In this book, youll learn about the pros and cons of landlording, learn how to determine which rental properties will be best for your individual situation, get the inside track on sourcing those properties, learn how to maximize cash flow as a landlord, andperhaps most importantlyfind out how to recruit and retain good, paying tenants.
If you want to know what makes us experts in this field, consider the fact that CompleteLandlord.com has already helped hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized landlords, who together own millions of rental units, save time and money. We believe life is short and its important to manage properties efficiently, easily, and profitably.
The editorial team at CompleteLandlord.com, publisher of the Landlord Profit Letter and numerous special reports, books, and monitors of the CompleteLandlord Forum, has more than 25 years of landlord, property investment, rental management, and overall real estate experience. We also have a dedicated staff of attorneys and advisors who review our articles and forms library to ensure accuracy and compliance with all federal, state, and local real estate laws.
CompleteLandlord.com is for people like you: landlords and property investors. Its the online destination that thousands of savvy landlords and real estate investors go to for real-world advice on managing properties and tenants, as well as to pick up products, services, and essential forms. All our efforts are aimed at helping people run a more profitable and successful real estate business.
Weve also assembled a diverse advisory team of more than a dozen landlords from diverse places such as Ohio, Texas, Georgia, and Illinois (just to name a few). This team is not afraid to mix it up and share the real scoop on what its like to be a landlord. They review and comment on (and sometimes argue about) our product in order to share insights with us (and you) on money and time-saving strategies and tips to help build real wealth with investment properties. The advisory team includes landlords who own, manage, and have sold both large and small multi- and single-family properties, as well as other investment real estate.
And with that, we invite you to turn the page and find out how to start and run your own successful landlording business. Well be with you every step of the wayboth online and offlineto help you manage the rough patches and celebrate the good times. So sit back and get ready to learn the ropes!
SECTION ONE
What Are You Getting Yourself Into?
CHAPTER 1
Residential Real Estate as the Ultimate Storehouse of Value(s)
Have you heard someone say, real estate never loses its value? If you look historically at the segments performance over the past few decades, you will see that the statement is true. So while market fluctuations may have made naysayers out of some investors in recent times, a look at the bigger picture proves that real estate is a solid investment that, over time, earns its owner(s) money.
Unlike the stock market and its paper-based investments, real estate is a solid, tangible product that investors purchase, upgrade, rent out, live in, andif so desiredeventually sell at a profit. While they own the property, they either live in it full-time, reside in it part-time (as in the case of a vacation home), or lease it to one or more families in exchange for a monthly fee.
