The 15-Minute Landlord
by
Scott Taylor
To your landlording success!
S Taylor
No part of this e-book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher and author.
“The 15-Minute Landlord” is a registered trademark of Scott Taylor. “Prioritize, Systemize, and Capitalize” is a trademark of Scott Taylor.
© 2011 by Scott Taylor. All rights reserved.
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-0652-7
Scott Taylor
(800) 545-3650
(661) 414-8588 [Fax]
DEDICATION
To Mike. Thank you
for making me a better person
than I would have been
had we never met.
To Jeannie. Thank you
for making me the person
that I am
since we met
PREFACE
The 15-Minute Landlord came about from watching landlord after landlord suffer under the weight of their rental properties. Perhaps they never wanted to be landlords in the first place. Perhaps they wanted to be landlords, but did not have the skills to succeed. In any case, they only succeeded in making themselves and their tenants miserable.
As a professional property manager, my job is to guide and watch over my client’s real estate rental investments. I am good at this job when allowed to do it. But more and more, property owners want to be increasingly hands-on in the process even though they have neither experience being a landlord nor running a business.
I do not want you be miserable. I want you to succeed and be happy as a landlord. I truly believe that the buying, holding, and renting of real property is a wonderful way to build wealth and should be a part of every person’s diversified investment portfolio.
Your ability to be happy as a rental property owner comes down to three factors: your priorities, your system for success, and your ability to capitalize on your investment. In essence, these three items represent your goals, how you are going to achieve those goals, and the reward for achieving those goals.
My purpose in publishing this book is to guide anyone who wishes to know the strategies to being an effective landlord. You already possess the ability to succeed; my job is to simply show you ways to help that innate ability to flourish. There are shortcuts the professionals use and I want to show you those short cuts.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many people inspired the book, read drafts and all deserve thanks and praise. My first acknowledgement goes to my business partner, Mike Bjorkman, who set me on the road to this project long before I knew it myself. Mike is a mentor, a coach, a business partner, a family member, and a friend. I am clearly a better person than I ever would have been had I never met him.
Thank you to Jon Mahn, who saw my potential, encouraged me to push my boundaries, challenged my thinking, and supported my vision. Your business experience, landlord experience, observations, and word-smithing have been extremely valuable during this project.
Next, I acknowledge and give thanks to the entire team at SCV Leasing. The words and ideas in this book are the result of systems that our team uses everyday. However, while I am out writing about it, they are out actually doing the heavy-lifting. There is no doubt that their experiences and expertise has led directly to the book you now hold in your hands.
Finally, and most importantly, to my wife Jeannie. Thank you for reading all the early drafts late into the night. Thank you for not being mad at me when I did not accept all of your feedback in the spirit in which you gave it. In short, thank you for your support during the writing of this book.
INTRODUCTION
I recently read an article about owning rental property that was written by a person who was both a CPA and an attorney. His advice included assuring that the property had positive cash flow, the placement of yard and window signs as an example of effective marketing, and eventually selling as an exit strategy.
That all sounds reasonable and the author was technically not wrong. It is true that positive cash flow is a good thing, that you want to put up a sign so that people know your property is for rent, and someday you may want to sell.
But that author is expressing a conventional and conservative way of thinking about owning, holding, and managing rental property. By the time you finish this book, you will have learned why negative cash flow is not always a bad thing, that there are about a dozen ways to attract tenants that are more effective than simple yard and window signs, and why selling does not always make sense.
Who Should Read This Book
Current and prospective landlords will find a great deal of valuable content in this book. The advantage for a new landlord is obvious; they do not currently possess the entire skill set in order to be an effective landlord. You will learn the necessary strategies to become an effective owner of rental real estate.
Current landlords will benefit as well. I know all about their frustrations; they may have the right tools, but they may need some insider information to round out their knowledge. This book provides that insider knowledge.
Whether you want to spend 15-minutes a day, week, month, or year, this book shows you how to be a successful landlord.
How the Book is Organized
The 15-Minute Landlord is arranged in three parts: prioritize, systemize, and capitalize. Each part covers a different aspect of being an effective landlord.
The first part of this book helps you set priorities. Why are you entering the rental business? Is it to diversify your investment portfolio or because you are trying to save your house from foreclosure? The person who wishes to diversify is in it for the long haul and understands that real estate will not make you rich overnight. The landlord who is simply renting in an effort to avoid foreclosure, or any reluctant landlord for that matter, is acting from a point of desperation. He or she is more likely
