Working 9-5 while buying Property?

JD MartinBusiness Member

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Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes

1. I have a lot of flexibility in my schedule in that I lead the organization, but I still used paid time off as needed. I also tried to structure things around long weekends such as holidays, evenings when possible, etc. We don't use lawyers in TN for closings so that was simple. Title work was done at my agent's office. Inspectors only work during the day for the most part so that was a scheduling thing, but I have (well, had) an inspector that did a lot of Saturday work.

2. No, not everything could be done in the evening. I find a lot of people have some slack time right after lunch. I don't usually schedule anything close to the end of the day because people want to go home and will rush.

3. No, I did not feel unprepared. We looked at a lot of properties before we even made our first rental offer, so we had a pretty good idea what we were looking at. Also, I had owned private homes and even built a home as my own builder/contractor before so I had all of that experience and information as well. If you don't know anything about real estate, that gets a little trickier.

3A. Buying turnkey doesn't mean you won't have anything to do. Unless you cannot ever arrange a day off or don't have any vacation time at all, you should be able to squeeze it together.

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Amil D.

OP

Rental Property Investor · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2017 · 54 posts · 18 votes

9y

JD,

Appreciate the reply!

Regarding (3): Yes, I'd say I know nothing about real estate. I've never done any maintenance or owned a home before. So would you suggest spending some time physically familiarizing myself with a various properties before getting into the deeper mathematical analysis and details? What type of subject matter should I focus on understanding during such visits?

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Tom Ott

Equity Raiser and Turnkey Provider · Cleveland, OH · Member since 2016 · 4k+ posts · 1k+ votes

9y

Originally posted by @Amil D.:

Greetings side hustle investors!

I'm new to real Estate and right now I'm reading the BiggerPockets book "The book on rental property investing" as my first real estate book.

The process of buying (searching for property, making an offer, doing your due diligence, paperwork, and finally buying) seems incredibly involved. And you have to be able to do all this quickly.

My goal is to buy a first property, I'm thinking either house hacking a duplex or triplex or using a turnkey like Roofstock to buy a single family home.

1) how did you manage to buy your first property while working? Did you take a lot of days off for periods such as the inspection, meeting with lawyers, realtors or title company? How many days off?

2)
Background:
I have a slightly odd schedule. I usually leave for work about 10 am and get home about 8:30pm. I also get every other Friday off (usually). I also have activities going on on weekends.

So my free days on weekends would only be 1 day per week: Every other Friday and every other Saturday.

Question:
Were you able to do it all at night? If so, how did you manage to interact with 9-5 folks like lawyers and many others? How should I change my schedule to be able to accomplish this?

3) Did you feel underprepared or that you were not able to do all your due diligence due to working 9-to-5? If so, I do not want a bad first experience and be scared away from real Estate. I'd rather take a lower return, if that makes sense. I have plenty of time to get greedy later, I should understand the basics now. Should I perhaps invest in a turnkey like roofstock instead just to get me started?

Investing in a Turnkey can be great when you work a 9-5. Ideally, they will own, renovate, and manage everything all in house. They should keep everything passive for you. I would suggest looking at:

The Best Types of Markets for Profitable Turnkey Properties

and

What to Ask When Working With a Turnkey Provider

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Brian Head

Milwaukee, WI · Member since 2016 · 33 posts · 18 votes

9y

I have a very flexible job schedule, I don't know how one would do it otherwise. If I need to be out of the office a few hours I can make it up in the evening as needed. Most of that flexibility I have earned over the years and I'm not in a "customer facing" position.

There will be some sacrifices in "free-time", there is no doubt about it. The amount varies in how dirty you want to get with your hands in your projects. Your "team" is critical - buyers agent, financing, reliable contractor or subs if you manage the projects, etc. Do things in a process that can be repeated every time- property types/location, paint colors, rent listing templates, application and rental process, on and on.

Now with a family, full-time job, and REI it makes me wonder what I did with all my time years ago ha! But, I enjoy it or I'd stop doing it tomorrow. You have to find your "why" early on and keep it in mind.

I'd recommend selling your TV set. You won't have time for that anymore :) Look for the book recommendations sprinkled through this website or on the podcasts. Brandon's book you are reading now is a great start.

Most importantly enjoy your journey!

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Ali Boone

Real Estate Coach · Venice Beach, CA · Member since 2012 · 6k+ posts · 3k+ votes

9y

Turnkey is definitely the way to go if you want to minimize how much time you have to spend. If you go turnkey, you really only have to do due diligence on the property and then manage the manager once you own it. None of that requires meetings or in-person things. Even an inspection can be done via email...get the inspector, get the report, request the fixes from the seller via email, done. Even the closing papers can be overnighted to you to sign with a notary.

I can't speak for the house-hacking route as I've never done it myself (other than I encourage you to be up on running the numbers so you know what you're getting into, as Mass. isn't usually known for high cash flow). Turnkeys I can speak for as they are all I've ever done, except not personally a Roofstock fan so haven't bought through them. Happy to chat anytime if you want to message.

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James Wise

Real Estate Broker · Cleveland Dayton Cincinnati Toledo Columbus & Akron, OH · Member since 2013 · 31k+ posts · 20k+ votes