Those who work full time+have rentals. Are you guys tired?

Question

I work full time+ have few rentals that I self manage+ have a family+ have to cook+clean the house+ have to excercise and I am tired!

I dont remember when I had a day off when I did not have to do anything at all. (Like stay in bed the whole day and read a book or watch movies).

Of course my family helps me, but I am just mentally tired, I think.

I want to go into my childhood when my main job was to go swim at the local lake and clean the house on Saturdays..

How do you guys balance your life?

Bill B. · Answer

If there is ANY way to afford a PM you go that way. For almost 5 years I worked full time while buying a new primary and a new rental every year. With a dozen properties I didn’t and still don’t spend an hour a month on them. If you’re spending more than 1 hour a month figure out much time you’re spending on them and divide the PM cost by that. Then you decide if you would pay that much per hour to not do it.

You may have so much free time that you buy one more property, and that property pays for your PM costs.

Owning my own retail computer stores for a dozen years gave me the money to invest (though I never made more than maybe $60,000/yr and give credit to my wife working as well and our middle class Midwest lifestyle.). This allowed me to retire after just 5 years of real estate investing.

That used to be impressive. Now people do it in 1-2 years. But I did it pre-BP, pre-everyone owns a rental. In the first 30 years of my life I think I knew 2 people that had summer cabins, nobody had 2 houses. I also stopped when I had succeeded beyond my goals with just a dozen properties. You can be rich beyond most people’s dreams from real estate but I simply wanted freedom and quadrupling my income with basically passive income was beyond any goal I could have set.

You will never be as young as you are today, or probably as healthy. Enjoy the time you have left. You’ll PROBABLY be alive at the end of the year. But there’s a non-zero chance you won’t be. Suddenly today’s worries don’t seem to big. GL

Jonathan R McLaughlin · Answer

@Mary Jay I bet it’s not the rentals wearing you down…get the husband to do some cooking and cleaning. This ain’t 1950

Mary Jay · Answer

Thank you guys! Ive been feeling like that for a few years.

I think I should go part time at work and it will help. Also, I am looking to hire PM and see if that will help me.

Recently I had a health scare (luckily the lump went away quickly so it was not a cancer) but when you are faced with: "OMG, I might die soon" you start thinking: "All my life Ive been working and accumulating rentals and I may not even enjoy the fruits of my labor"

So I feel like I need to make a transition in my life, where I enjoy my life more

Mike Dymski · Answer

Good question and nice work on the introspection.

There is a big difference in not being to do everything you want to and being okay with it...and being tired or tired of it.  The former is where most of us are...the latter is problematic.

Real estate is supposed to make life better; so, getting a PM or selling and investing passively instead of actively may be in your best interest.  The alternative is to scale and quit the W-2, which is a common wish but uncommon path.

Curtis Mears · Answer

@Mary Jay

I understand all the demands on your time, but really, rentals should not be one of them if you are doing ltr. Sure there will be times you have to get a new tenant and that can take a week or 2 of consistent work. But other than that, rentals should not be sucking up your time. If you have a few good contractors when issue arise, then use them.

Also, if your kids are old enough put them to work. Let them earn an allowance by doing some cleaning etc. I am shocked by how few parents expect their kids to do anything around the house. When we were kids, we were the part time help.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

Everything has value, including your time. If you hire a PM, it costs you 10% but it may result in better management, lower vacancy, higher rent rates, etc. If you do things yourself, you may save that 10% but you are tired, may lose money by making a major mistake, may not keep up on market rent rates resulting in less income, etc.

Figure out your priorities. I'm a Property Manager and most of my clients make more money after hiring me than they ever did trying to manage on their own. I've hired my company to manage my own rentals. Sure, it goes right back into my pocket, but I intend to continue using a PM because I understand the value they bring to the table and I want to enjoy my life and my money, not spend my days fixing leaking toilets or chasing rent checks just to squeeze another % out of my investment.

Brian Liscio · Answer

@Mary Jay

I work full time and self manage 13 doors.

No PM can manage my properties like I can; until I can’t! I got to a point in my life that my time/health/family are worth more than 10% of gross income, but I think there’s a right way to make a transition. I started to just sub out task I just didn’t feel like dealing with.

Anyone feel free to send me a PM to setup a Google Meet to go over thoughts and processes.

Mike Reynolds · Answer

Try buying something like a mobile home park and just rent the lots. It is a game changer.

Scott Mac · Answer

Get a maid, a backyard hot tub, a wine cooler and some scented candles.

Chris Seveney · Answer

@Mary Jay

I worked five plus years working full time and had over 200 notes in our portfolio. It was a lot but also put a team in place to handle the tedious activities. For rentals get a property manager if you can.

Those who work full time+have rentals. Are you guys tired?

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