Currently own 7 renatls, but looking to expand

[Tracey Thornton]

i currently have 7 rental properties (single family homes) in and around Sandusky area. I work a full time engineering job, but would prefer to do real estate full time and quit my job. Right now I am wearing myself out by trying to maintain my properties and work a full time job. I really have been trying to acquire my properties with little to no debt. Right now i only owe $55K on one of my houses, as all the others are paid for in full.

I would like more advise about how to acquire approx another 4-5 houses without absoring much debt. I could also use more advise about collecting rent through direct deposits, or accepting credit card as rent payment. Also could use advise about paying for sub contractors and using 1099's for their receipt of the labor. Any other helpful hints would be greatly appreciated.

-Trace

[JD Martin]

Well, the easy answer is leverage your cash flow directly into buying more houses since you don't want to leverage the property you have and you have a regular job. Lots of LLs on here (myself included) use electronic rent collection - I use Cozy & erentpayment, at the choice of the tenant. 

The keys to making life easy, in my opinion:

1. Automate. Have systems in place for everything. Do as much as possible online. 

2. Streamline. Don't do individual showings. Have all your regular maintenance done at the same time.

3. Outsource. Let someone else do the crap you don't want to deal with. If you have 6 properties without notes, this should be a piece of cake. No point saving 50 bucks if you hate crawling under houses.

4. Rehab. I have all of our houses rehabbed prior to putting the first tenant inside. If I can't buy a house that already has a new roof, new heating system, etc, I budget for these items on the front end. Most calls you get will end up being from things you decided to shortcut that break/get damaged at an inopportune time. I have a house I let a tenant get into, even though I felt like the bathroom needed a remodel first, and there ended up being 2 or 3 service calls for various leaks before I had to bite the bullet and have a remodel done while occupied (not fun). It worked out OK, but it went against my "fix it before they're in it" motto.