Making a rental business better

[Brandon Schlichter]

I know it's pretty generic, but still something I want to figure out.

I already run a rental business, mostly low end property in my section of Ohio, however we do have plenty of properties in nicer areas. The nicer properties rent easily, have great tenants and rarely have problems.

The lower end properties on the other hand tend to have more tenant problems, higher upkeep issues, and other 'headaches' to put it nicely. 

The thing with the low end properties is that they cashflow pretty darn nicely. Yes, I don't like the fact that this year I've had a meth lab, a machete fight, a room covered in feces and enough bed bugs to win some sort of award. I certainly don't hate the low end property game, especially since there seems to be fewer people in it rather than medium to high end rentals in the area. 

Looking at cashflow statements over the past 2 years, I come to the realization that every time I get a little better at the rental game, it has a major effect on my yearly earnings. This year my net margin will improve 10% to 15% from last year, without adding any new properties to my portfolio. I've accomplished this by changing how I handle utilities and got faster on vacancy turnovers. To this point it has been trial and error, reading articles on BP and talking to other established landlords at my local REI.

What keeps coming back to me though is that I need to continue to improve what I do with regards to properties to continue to increase my effective net margins per rental. So, I'm curious what you all do to become more efficient at the way you handle rentals? Is there a good source of information out there (Other than BP) that you have learned alot from? I've looked locally for education, like maybe CE classes (Since I'm an agent) but find what is out there quite lacking.