If you was to hire an employee??

Question

If you was going to hire someone to work in your real estate business what would the job description be? Also would you get an physical office to ensure that your employee is putting in quality time? A little clarification.. This would be be an hourly or salary employee not a commission base employee.

JD Martin · Answer

I have hired and managed a lot of people in my career (and fired a few). For the most part regular employees are a PITA. They come with all the baggage of your family and friends (even the best people have baggage) and few of the benefits. Unless you are creating some kind of world vision - think the Teslas, Googles, etc - the arrangement is almost purely transactional; they are looking for maximum dollars for minimal work, and you are likely looking for the opposite. That's a hard relationship to bridge. Within an organization, you can temper that to some extent by creating an attractive enough opportunity that it would be difficult for the person to replace it elsewhere, but by and large your employees will almost always fall into one of two camps:1. Ambitious, self-starters that will put it down and amaze you, and likely leave you at some point because they are ambitious;2. Lazy, do just enough to get by individuals that will likely stay but be a constant drag on your bottom line. Naturally, you want to hire #1s as much as possible, and sometimes you will get one of them that their vision of their life coincides with what you are trying to do, but for the most part you need to plan on getting #1s and replacing them on a regular basis.After three decades of managing employees I am a big fan of the contract setup. I need X job done, I will pay you Y. If that goes well, we will build upon that foundation. If not, no hard feelings and everyone goes their separate ways. I think it almost always guarantees you are going to be dealing with #1 type people that are invested in their own future and will do well for you in the long term. Without profit sharing or some other ownership incentive, employer/employee relationship creates too much dependency in both directions.

Joe Splitrock · Answer

I have hired leasing agents, lawn care, cleaning and web/graphics design. You can really hire anything this way. There are virtual assistants who will answer phones or make calls. You can get a bookkeeper on contract to handle your receipts, income, etc. Of course if you are trying to outsource property management, they will handle bookkeeping too.

Joe Splitrock · Answer

They are asking you a question for clarification, because your question didn't have enough details. Hiring someone in a real estate business could include a thousand different tasks and what they are doing makes a difference in how the question is answered.

Joe Splitrock · Answer

Hire someone on a contract basis, versus a W2 employee. You can hire a long term responsibility on a contract basis. Others mentioned bookkeeping. There are bookkeeping services who would operate out of their own office. Hiring employees is expensive and opens you to new legal requirements that you are not equipped to deal with.

Forrest Faulconer · Answer

What work/job are you looking to hire someone for? Pay them a salary, if they are getting their work done well and on-time, who cares about the time. Judge them by the work they do and not by the hours spent sitting at a desk.Forrest

Nathan Fisher · Answer

@Joe S. still putting that one together. My Broker recommended an outside company for me. Will update soon. I use an online property management software to facilitate things, but it is still a slow process.

Simon W. · Answer

What kind of person are looking to hire?i agree with Nathan, having an accountant to keep track of real estate is probably the most important to making sure your books are well maintained.

Nathan Fisher · Answer

I'd bring on a bookkeeper. having concrete accounting at the ready is a big help for getting financing or for tax season.

JD Martin · Answer

I've had employees work for me remotely, hourly, so it wouldn't bother me - but there has to be a pretty decent framework in place or a good system of accountability for you to be sure you're getting what you're paying for. It really depends on what you need - what are your needs? Some needs might be better met by outsourcing to a company that specializes in that arena rather than hiring an employee (a call center, for example).

Joe S. · Answer

Great information! Can you give a couple of examples of what you have hired out on a contract basis personally?