If you don’t know everything about your investment, who does?
Investing is not a hands-off process. The most successful investors are the ones who know precisely when to buy or sell, when to evict a bad tenant or hire a new manager. They are more relaxed because they know everything that’s going on, and they can predict when things are about to turn sour.
A friend recently asked me why I wanted to sell one particular property I have. To my surprise, my friend was amazed when I could list seven reasons off the top of my head. Her first response was to ask me how I knew all this! When I quizzed her back, she had no idea how much her two investment properties were worth, what their yield was, what simple capital improvements she could make, when her contracts expired, and so on. It’s no surprise she wasn’t sure whether her investments were making her money (fortunately they were).
The lesson to be learned here is that you need to keep your finger on the pulse, and it’s not hard. A set of simple spreadsheets with you incomings and outgoings is a great place to start. Don’t forget to file all your paperwork so you can easily find it.
But first, why not ask your property manager for a valuation of your property, a rental appraisal and suggestions for how to easily increase both.
You’ll put yourself right back in the driver’s seat. And isn’t that where you belong?