Ask too many landlords about their goals for the coming year and you get answers such as, “Just get that place rented,” or “Get them to pay the rent close to on time,” or “Boot out that rotten tenant in 3B!” These are landlords who have allowed their rental property to get out of their control.
Are simple wishes for getting one unit rented, the rent on time or a bad tenant out really enough? The “whines” above aren’t really goals, they are just complaints from landlords who feel beat up by their rental properties and their tenants. At the risk of presuming to tell you what your goals should be, the best goal for anyone who is in a bad situation is to take control of his or her rental property.
Taking control of your rental property means that while you will still have vacancies and possibly even a bad tenant here and there who can’t quite seem to get the rent paid when it’s due, those will be just challenges and opportunities on the road to ultimate success in the rental property business.
Years ending in zeros bring out the goal-setting in all kinds of folks, far more so than just plain old January firsts. So if some major goal setting is in your plans for the next month or two, here are some thoughts to consider as you create goals and plans for your rental property investment.
Four characteristics are required for goals and plans to become actual goals and plans, rather than just wishes and hopes.
1. They have to be definite. That means that if you insist on wanting to “get that place rented” as a goal, it will work better if you say “I want to get that place rented by January 15 to a qualified tenant at $550 a month.”
2. They have to be written. Something almost magic happens when you actually get out your pen and write down a definite goal or plan: it starts to put itself into action. Don’t ask me why that is, ask the cosmologists; all I know is that once it’s written, it’s no longer just something you would like to happen, rather it is something you have committed to.
3. They have to be measurable. That hearkens back to number one, but there’s more. Measurability works best with ongoing goals and plans. A goal such as “I want to get good tenants in 90 percent my units” requires that first, you define what good tenants are and second, count the good ones. Too often landlords have to “wait and see” if this one will be “any good.” Being in control means you know up front if a tenant will be “any good” before you ever hand them the keys. The ones that don’t pass muster never get close to moving into your properties.
4. They have to be believable. If you don’t believe you can be in control of your property, there’s simply no way it will happen. It would be like having a goal of finding a million dollars when you walk out your front door tomorrow morning. Whatever your brain rejects as ridiculous, you can never accomplish as a goal.
That means that if you don’t know what it will take to put yourself in control, another goal needs to be to find out. That’s where the Rental Property Reporter and landlord and apartment associations come in. With these sources you’ll get the tools to put yourself in charge.
As a landlord you probably had some good-sized dreams and were genuinely excited when you acquired your first rental property. The only thing preventing you from experiencing that excitement again is you. Taking control of your property by creating goals for its management, buying and selling can make being a landlord exhilarating again. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to know that you are in charge rather than your tenants? All it takes is deciding to put yourself back in control, then going to work to do the things necessary to grab and hold that control.
When January 1, 2000 rolls around, promise that you’ll give yourself good reason to be excited and enthusiastic again. Here’s congratulations in advance for your success.
