It’s tough having multiple properties, because you can’t be in more than one place at any given moment.
I have a few properties that I use myself or rent out to family members and friends. My other condos and houses are all rental properties 24/7. I don’t have a property management team handling my rentals, but I’m starting to think that I should. Just hiring an outside handyman and maintenance team isn’t enough to lighten my heavy workload. I’m driving from one location to the next on a daily basis. Even though I don’t have a second job, I’m easily working so much that it feels like I have three jobs. It’s hard when you have a tenant in one unit waiting on a new air conditioner installation, while you have a tenant in a different unit calling about a leaking pipe. Now that we’re in the grips of the cold winter season, my work has doubled with the needed preparations from one place to the next. I tell my tenants to run their furnaces to keep the pipes from freezing downstairs. A frozen pipe can lead to a massive water leak large enough to flood an entire basement. In one of the properties that I keep for personal and family use, I am always making adjustments to the smart thermostat from my smartphone. I have to turn the furnace on high enough to keep the water running without using so much heat that I’m wasting electricity. The last thing I want is a catastrophic flood inside my house while I’m away at a different location. Even with flood insurance, severe water damage can be difficult to completely reverse if drywall and wood framing are exposed.