Essential Reports You Need From Your Multifamily Property Manager

Once you have a property manager in place to manage your multifamily property, you need to be able to track his or her performance.  There are four reports that are essential to tracking a property manager’s performance.  The information from these four reports will help you to evaluate the job that your manager is doing and alert you to whether changes need to be made.

The first report you need is the Profit and Loss statement.  This is a standard report of income from the previous month and expenses so you can see your NOI.  You should be sure that is in your hands no later than the 10th of each month.

The second thing you need to review is the check register.  You want to see what checks were written from the previous month.  If you can see where the checks are going, you can get a better idea of the cash flow and see who is getting paid what.

You also get an idea of whom the vendors are and you can question things that you do not recognize.  The check register can also alert to you any other problems with the property.  For instance, if you see an increase in the number of checks written to the plumber, you need to determine what the reason for that is.

An occupancy and traffic report can help you analyze where your tenants are coming from and what marketing campaigns are most effective.  This report can alert you to which units are empty, rent ready and which ones are not.  The worst thing to have happen is to have vacancies that are not rent ready and someone shows up who is ready to move in that weekend.

You can create the occupancy and traffic report in an Excel spreadsheet.  Your onsite manager then fills it out on a daily basis.  Each row is a day of the month and each column includes number of calls, number of showings, number of applications sent out, leases signed, follow ups, referrals, leads from ad sheets, leads from signage, leads from walk-ins, and leads from merchant coupons.

By looking at this report, you can see the relative amount of activity.  If you are getting activity but not converting, then you need to find out why.  That tells you that you need to re-evaluate your process.

The fourth report is the maintenance, or work order, report.  When a tenant calls in with a maintenance problem there should be a work order to complete and a progression of steps.  A work order summary log should include all of this information.  The maintenance work order log lets you know that your tenants are being taken care of.

Whoever is managing your property needs to have a work order log.  You want to see how long it takes for a work request to be filled.  You do not want the turn around time to be a week.  Customer service must be a priority with your tenants.

These four reports help you to monitor the overall health of your multifamily property.  Good property management is the backbone of retaining tenants and keeping your property managers accountable is crucial to your multifamily property being a money-maker for you.

How to Use Direct Mail Effectively to Find Sellers of Multifamily Properties

Direct Mail is the best technique to use when trying to generate leads and find sellers of multifamily properties. It is such a simple and effective tool and it costs you very little. Here are some tips on how to use direct mail marketing in your multifamily investing business.

Direct mail marketing merely involves mailing letters to the owners of multifamily properties in your target area and asking them if they would like to sell their multifamily property. The great thing about this technique is that you can utilize it in any city; you do not have to use it just for your hometown.

Let’s say that you go on vacation in another city. You can find out all of the people in that city who own multifamily properties in your hometown. You then send them a letter asking if they are dissatisfied with the multifamily property.

If they are dissatisfied then you let them know that you would like to buy it. You then tell them when you will be in their city and when you can meet with them. A good response rate is 1% but an average response can be anywhere from 2-5%.

Direct mail is a two-step process. First, you need to identify your target market. Second, you need to deliver your message. The more precise you are with your target market, the more precise you can get with your message.

For example, an out-of-state owner may have a different message than someone who is a local Section 8 owner who self manages the property. An out-of-state owner who does not self manage has a property management company. Your message may be tied to the dissatisfaction of the management company.

A possible message to that owner could be, “Are you dissatisfied with not knowing what’s going on in your property? If you are dissatisfied, I can alleviate that problem.”

You could send the local owner of a Section 8 property the following message: “Are you tired of waiting six months to get your first payment? Are you dissatisfied with people tearing up your property? I’m a local owner and I can quickly take this problem off your hands.”

The more precise you can get on your target market and identify with their emotional pains and create a message that connects you to relieving that pain, the better your response rate is going to be.

Once you have defined your target market and you have narrowed your message to address that target market, you need to figure out how to access those people. The simplest thing you can do is to sign- up with the subscription service at www.propertyinfo.com. It is a paid package that goes straight to the appraisal district database and allows you to sort all owners of 4-20 units; all owners of 20+; all owners in a price range; all owners in a zip code; and all owners that live in a state. An Excel file is created that you can download and that becomes your mailing list.

Direct mail marketing is a great tool for reaching out to prospective sellers of multifamily properties. You need to remember to define your target market and customize your message to address the needs of that particular market. The key to successful direct mail marketing is addressing the needs of the seller.

Law of Manifestation and How It Directs Your Ability to Succeed

The very simple law of manifestation summarizes how we manifest everything in our life.  It is not how we are taught in school.  The law of manifestation can be summed up in the acronym TFARB.

TFARB stands for Thoughts, Feelings, Actions, Results and Beliefs.

Our thoughts are the key to everything we do.  These thoughts then lead to our feelings.  Our feelings then translate into actions.  Of course, actions yield results and our results impact our belief systems.  Everything that we absorb from our environment is filtered through our belief systems.

Our thoughts are triggered by our belief systems and what is happening in our surrounding environment.  For example, let us say that you are watching CNN and you are absorbing all of the words of doom and gloom about the economy.  You then start asking yourself, “What’s going to happen to me?” and “What am I going to do?”

Those thoughts then become a part of your belief system and you take on the victim mentality.  You start to believe that you are not in control.  These thoughts then trigger the feelings of helplessness and the feelings of a lack of control of what happens to you.

This feeling of a lack of control in turn freezes your actions.  You shut down and freeze up.  You switch into survival mode.  You hunker down and wait for something to happen.  The results you are going to get are going to be the result of something is going to happen to you.  And that is going to feed on itself even more.

Here is the positive side to all of this.  You are free to choose your own belief systems.  Beliefs are not right or wrong.  They are not true or false.  Beliefs are, however, supportive or non-supportive of the results that you want in your life.

You need to choose your belief systems wisely because that is where your financial destiny begins.  You want to choose beliefs that are going to empower you.  You need to ask yourself what beliefs you have that are going to support you in having the thoughts, and feelings that will allow you to conduct the actions that give me the goals that you want for yourself.

If you want $1 million this year, then that is your goal.  If, however, you have a belief system that thinks you are not worthy of that goal, then you have sabotaged yourself and set yourself up for defeat before you have even started.

The law of manifestation can help you to take inventory of your belief systems and to check your negative thoughts at the door.  The key to your success and your ability to achieve your goals can be tied directly to your Thoughts, Feelings, Actions, Results and Beliefs.

10 Creative Applications for getting your Mutifamily Deals Done

When you are trying to figure out how to get your multifamily deals done, there are techniques that you can use to do so.  Any one of these techniques can be used individually or in a combination.  They can be applied by rehabbers, wholesalers or buy and hold entrepreneurs.

1.    First Mortgage: you go to a lender to get a first mortgage.

2.    First Mortgage Paper Cash Out: you can get a seller to carry back a first mortgage and if he wants cash instead of payments, then you can sell the note.  You can do this for private investors as well.  A seller might want to be cashed out.

3.    Second Mortgage: you can get a seller to carry back a second mortgage or you can get someone else to finance the second mortgage for you.

4.    Second Mortgage Paper Cash Out: the seller is carrying back the second mortgage and there are people who will buy the second.  You are simply keeping the first in place.  There will be a heavier discount but there are people who will buy second lien positions and you can cash out the seller that way.

5.    Blanket Mortgage:  you’re getting a seller to carry back a second but they want extra collateral.  You allow their mortgage to blanket over another piece of property that you own.

6.    Blanket Over Other Collateral: you want the seller to carry back the second mortgage but the seller wants more collateral.  So, say you have a boat or a car or something else to offer as collateral.  You can offer that piece of collateral and make that part of the lien.

7.    Deferred Down Payment: This is a way to get an interest free loan.  You buy the property and either assume that the seller has first mortgage or you get a new first mortgage.  You then give a down payment 12 months from now.  This is another way of rephrasing a second.  Calling this a Deferred Down Payment implies that there is no interest being charged.

8.    Barter: trading something for something.  This is getting in the creative arena.  Let’s say you have talent as a bookkeeper and you want to buy the property, you could barter your services against the down payment on that property.  You could provide 12 months of bookkeeping services and if you need the seller to carry back $20,000, then you provide $25,000 of bookkeeping services.  You then have the seller carry back a note on the property.

9.    Barter Assets: instead of putting a mortgage, for example, on your boat, you give it to the seller as consideration for a down payment on the property.

10.    Turn Around Joint Venture: You could approach landlords of distressed properties that may be out of state.  The landlords are amenable to terms that you can agree on so you agree to a joint venture.  You come in and turn the property around and they give you half ownership in the equity that they have.  This is a great way to get in a deal with no cash.

Your ability to put together multifamily deals is only limited by your imagination.  Think creatively.  There are plenty of other options available to you.

5-Step Process to Financial Freedom Through Real Estate Investing

You have learned how to create a real estate business.  But at the same time, you want to create your net worth.  The steps to getting this done are a 5-step process.  Not only can you apply this process to your business, but you can apply it to your personal life.

The five steps to Getting it Done are:

1.    Define what role you will play
2.    Establish your vision
3.    Create your storyboard
4.    Create your plan
5.    Create your performance dashboard

Defining your role: The roles that you can play in your business are that of bird dog, wholesaler, rehab and retail properties or rentals (income) properties.  The more focused you get in defining the role you wish to have, the more effective you will be.  Do not try to do everything or you will get distracted and bogged down by stretching yourself too thin.

Establish your vision: Your vision is your reason “why”; why you are creating your real estate business.  Make this a “three-year” vision.  Ask yourself where you want to live, what do you want to do and what do you want to have over the next three years.  This timeframe is long enough to keep you focused and energized.

Create your storyboard:  This is a physical representation of what you want your vision to be.  Your mind thinks in pictures so keep this board in front of you everyday.  Cut pictures of your “dream” items out of magazines.  Post pictures of properties that you have closed on.

Create your plan: What is the sequence of steps to get you to your three-year vision?  What are the milestones along the way?  Create a storyboard that steps out your plans all along the way.  Define the action steps that must be taken in order to reach each milestone.

Create your performance dashboard: This will be your daily and weekly “scorecard” of how you are doing in accomplishing your goals.  You will be able to see what goals you haven’t met each day and each week.  This is a great way to actually “see” where you are on your path to financial freedom.

Once you put this five step process into place, you will be able to “see” the big picture and more effectively work your business.  As you progress and begin to achieve goals that you have set for yourself, you will begin to realize your dream of financial freedom.

5 Networking Opportunities to Acquire Private Money for Your Multifamily Investment


Networking should be a primary form of marketing for all real estate entrepreneurs who are seeking investors. One reason is because networking costs very little but that connection brings with it a lot of trust, so it’s easier to ask for, and get, investors. Another reason is because the SEC has strict rules about how you can get private money and advertising for it is illegal. And the third reason that networking should be on your to-do list is because it’s something you’re always doing; you’re always meeting people, shaking hands, and connecting.

Sometimes, new real estate entrepreneurs ask me about where they should be meeting potential investors. My first answer is: “Everywhere!” It doesn’t matter where you are, if there is someone else in the room, you can network with them. They might invest with you or, just as often, they’ll know someone who might be interested.

Networking Opportunity 1: Your friends
Your friends are a great source of private wealth because they trust you and they want to succeed and they want you to succeed! Understandably, some people are hesitant about asking their friends for money but I can’t think of a single friend who wouldn’t want me to do well, and would be interested in sharing the wealth and the risk if the opportunity presented itself. Even if you don’t want to ask your friends for money, talk to them about your deal because they know dozens, maybe hundreds, of people and their trust in you will be “passed on” to their friends. Some of the sweetest words any investor can hear are, “we have a mutual friend who suggested that I talk to you about investing some of my money”

Networking Opportunity 2: Associations or clubs
It’s likely that you belong to an association or a club of some kind. It might be a social club or it might have a purpose (like business networking, or learning to speak in public, or an industry-specific organization). These groups are breeding grounds for deals and opportunities because many of these groups are formed for like-minded people who are driven to succeed. Openly share about your opportunities at various events. Even if you are reluctant to ask for money, share about your positive experiences and successes and you’ll likely find people asking you how they can be involved.

Networking Opportunity 3: Charitable organizations
This might surprise you because charities are usually asking for money for their own philanthropic needs, but you can still benefit. I recommend working in the fundraising department of a charitable organization so you can meet people where the money is. And there’s another reason, too. A little karma in the world isn’t that bad – give a lot and get a lot!

Networking Opportunity 4: Your job
Some of you might full time investors so this one won’t apply, but many readers will be putting together those first few deals and will still be juggling a job. Your coworkers trust you, and if you’re looking to make enough money to quit your job, they probably are, too. Just be careful: Don’t spend your work time talking about investment opportunities or you’ll find yourself out of a job sooner than you planned. Instead, invite some coworkers out after work and tell them about your project.

Networking Opportunity 5: Real estate clubs
This opportunity is gold! I’ve seen a few in action and I wish there were more. Basically, a real estate club meets periodically so like-minded real estate investors can gather to discuss who has real estate opportunities to sell and who has money available to invest. Consider starting one in your area to create one of the fastest ways to private money available right now.