02.21.14 Book Review: Landlording on Autopilot

My February read is Landlording on Auto-Pilot: A Simple, No-Brainer System for Higher Profits and Fewer Headaches by Mike Butler

What I liked:

·Emphasis on using the term investor instead of landlord, since landlord has such a stigma.

·The rent rebates to reward long term tenants. Giving a free month rent every three years is possible.

·Concept of tenants doing the legwork to research upgrades and replacements (carpet, AC, paint, landscaping) and cost sharing or paying; put the time sucking activity on them, give them more ownership in decorating their home. Author makes the point that we are one percentaers, the top one percent of people who are crazy busy getting more out of life. Delegate tasks to our tenants who have more disposable time.

What I didn’t like:

·The author repeats information a lot. There are some good examples and great forms, but I came away feeling like there was not a lot of content, as is normal for these types of books.

·I suspect that a lot of the success of the authors systems and processes rely on his charisma. I gathered that by reading about his Christmas party and how he treats tenants.

What I learned:

·Seems a bit biased, but has me convinced that SFR are a better buy than duplexes and apartment complexes. I knew that the SFR have better exit strategies, have been experiencing the more drama and costs at duplexes, but the apartment analysis was interesting. If the heater goes out or a disaster strikes, it impacts all tenants, and posting a lower rent level can be problematic with existing tenants.

·We could train our low income tenants to mail in payment monthly. I liked the idea of having tenants mail a check on time with a note to hold it to a date a few days out if they get paid a few days later.

·Tools for getting rid of riff-raff right away before lose good surrounding tenants. Options: give notice to tenant ("this just isn't working out"), install cameras, hire off duty police, or have empty police car parked in front of unit. The point is to show visible progress fast.

What I plan to implement:

·Calling the unit their home instead of our house. I’ve started using the word “home” to applicants and tenants already.

·Train tenants like train employees. Bag boy gets 6 hours of training, but we spend less than an hour with tenants before we let them loose on our property. I want to adopt the Rent Talk concept, important points on 8.5x11 sleeves in a binder, to cover in addition to walking through the rental agreement. It could ensure I discuss everything and set the right tone about repairs/wear & tear.

·Using the term animals instead of pets. Our newest tenants didn't declare a fish and rat to us because they somehow don't consider them pets, I guess.

·Add detailed list with cost of not returning items in move in condition. Harder for judge to throw out, sets expectations in terms tenants can understand, includes cost to go run and fetch the items.