Finding time for doing deals

[Zevi Arem]

So I am married with 2 kids and work a full time job, I know there are people who are in the same situation but are very succesful with Real Estate Investing, My question is when do they find the time to look for deals, go down to the properties and close on deals without taking away from the other aspects of their life?

[James Kojo]

Really, it's just like any other activity that consumes your time. The basic strategy is: prioritize, optimize and leverage.

Prioritize: How important is the whole REI thing to you? More important than watching a game on TV? I'm guessing yes. But how about spending that extra hour with your wife and kids? Well, that's a a lot tougher. Your primary relationships should come first, but there is a point of diminishing returns even for high-priority activities. I'm sure your wife would love to have some extra time with you, but after the 10th hour in a day of buzzing around her, perhaps she'd be ok with you doing something else. :) Figure out what's "enough" time to put into your primary relationships and responsibilities, and allocate what's left over to your ambitions.

Optimize: You can spend a lot of time working on things that don't make much of a difference. Figure out which activities really "move the needle" for what you want to do, and focus on doing those things. Again, beware of the point of diminishing returns. Figure out exactly how much effort, time, and money should go into any one REI activity.

Leverage: @Chris Tracy already mentioned this.  After you've figured out what the highest and best use of your time is, figure out how to best leverage other people's time, efforts, and expertise. Don't spend your days unclogging toilets. Pay somebody else to do that.

A bonus step for you: take an inventory of your core assets, and backwards engineer a REI strategy that takes advantage of them. Some example core assets: Time, Hustle, Money, Relationships, Expertise, etc. It sounds like you don't have a lot of time, but do you have money? If that's your core assets, then maybe passive investing is the way to go. If you have hustle and relationships but little money, then you can be a money raiser for syndications. There's pretty much a niche for all types of people in REI. Find one that suits you.

Hope that helps!

James Kojo