Investor Handyman Manager

[Daniel Brown]

Hello BiggerPockets family, this is my first post but I've been lurking the forums for awhile. I recently made the first step in investing and bought a single family wedge deal in Boise, Idaho. It's a 3 bed 1.5 bath that in the last 6 months has gained 30k in equity (the Boise market is insane right now) without considering improvements. I'm about 1/4 of the way fixing it up myself. Idaho has very lax laws when it comes to contracting licenses and home-owner remodels. I'm living in the house as I fix it up, but next year I plan on doing a cash-out refinance and buy a duplex that needs work. To save money I want to do my own handyman work and management for the houses I own. Does anyone have any experience with being a one-man/woman army in this investing game? Any tips on trying to separate the owner/handyman mentality? I don't want to be a call at anytime concierge for my tenants, and I don't exactly want them to know I'm the owner but I see how that would be difficult to avoid. I plan on setting specific times that a tenant can call or text for small items and only call outside that time for emergencies. Over time when I own more properties I plan on eventually hiring a PM company and start outsourcing the handyman/contracting work. Any advice is welcome!

[Terrell Garren]

My buy/repair/hold journey over 11 years -

SFH 1 - Took it on as a hobby. Did all the repairs myself except for HVAC. Bought used appliances off CL. Took 6 months. Self managed. Impossible to lose money in 2008.

SFHs 2-8 Continued doing all repairs and buying used appliances off CL. Self managed. Making money, not scaling well though.  

SFHs 9-14 Began establishing relationships with good contractors for paint, floors, electrical, plumbing, roofer, tree guy, cleaner, etc. Used local high school labor at $15/hour for simple labor - initial clean-out, removing old floors, yard work etc. Buying new appliances from the big box. I mostly do the project management and simple repairs you can hardly pay some for - door locks, light fixtures, blinds, ceiling fans. Still self manage. Harder to find new deals. 

SFH 15-19 Moved to Cozy for automated rent collection and M2M leases only. Got much better at tenant selection. Still self mange, too easy with class B and good tenants. Can only find new deals at auctions. Retired from W2 job early. Work maybe 4 hours a day, quit when I want to and vacation when I want to. Life is good. Clocks and calendars are for kids.